NAMM Report: What Recession? Let’s Party!
On Saturday night I attended what very well may be the most memorable party of my life. The invitation said, “Dress to impress,” and many guests did just that. The champagne flowed, the bar was open, and the entertainment—well, more than one person in the crowd said it was “Fellini-esque.” Actors, mimes, and dancers from a performance-art troupe called Lucent Dossier appeared in costumes best described as “naughty Elizabethan Cirque du Soleil.” They performed acrobatics while suspended from the ceiling, froze into human statues, served trays of top-shelf hors d’oeuvres, and performed onstage in a series of musical pantomimes. 
The event was the grand opening of EastWest Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The studios, designed in the early ’60s by Bill Putnam himself, were formerly known as Western Recorders and later Cello Studios. Many well-known records were produced there, including albums by Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, the Grateful Dead, Madonna, Buffalo Springfield, Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney—the list goes on and on. In fact, the RIAA says that more gold and platinum records were recorded there than anywhere else.
EastWest Sounds, developers of such acclaimed sample libraries as Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra, Stormdrum, and Voices of Passion, purchased and refurbished the studio after it went bankrupt and sat vacant for several years. EastWest hired renowned French designer and architect Philippe Starck to help preserve this temple of sound and reveal the magic within its walls. Outrageously ornate furniture and a general “spare-no-expense” vibe lend an air of indulgent decadence to most of the rooms, suites, and lounges. The six studios, however, are preserved as closely as possible to their original state during their heyday, from the racks of vintage processors to the pockmarked linoleum floor. After investing millions of dollars to refurbish the 21,000-square-foot facility, EastWest plans to use it both as the company’s headquarters and as a commercial studio for hire.
