Randy McNutt: Historic Recording Studios (book)

This 399-page, large format book, Historic Recording Studios: America’s Sound Factories and the People Who Made Them, is actually Volume One (A to M) of “A Scrapbook and Encyclopedia” by producer, musician, journalist, and music fan Randy McNutt. It’s an updated and reformatted continuation of his 2001 tome, Too Hot to Handle: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Recording Studios of the 20th Century, which (in a pre-internet world) attempted to document classic studios across the US and was a spectacular resource and favorite read of mine. He mostly focuses on what he calls “the tape-recorder years from 1948 to 1995,” with the core of the publication featuring an alphabetical list of studios across the US – he even authored the Vintage Tape Recorders: A Pictorial History of Professional Tape Recorders, Long-Forgotten Studios, and Assorted Gear book as well! In Historic Recording Studios, each studio gets a short history, notes on the gear used there, plus many personal anecdotes from studio visits and interviews he’s done. The scrapbook section is filled with old studio advertisements, photos, and more. Special attention is paid to recording spaces found outside the New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville studio axis – something that really adds to the value of this book. I will note that there is a listing for my Jackpot! Recording Studio, plus a photo of the original studio building and myself in the scrapbook, which I am not deserving of – I have many peers that could/should be in here as well! Get a copy of Historic Recording Studios, scour it, and learn more about the history of recording studios and music across the US in the 20th century!