On Tuesday, NME
reported that a London location of fried chicken chain Nando’s built a
recording studio in their restaurant. The studio features “pioneering”
recording equipment and an in-house engineer to help aspiring artists create
the perfect sound. According to the story, the studio is an extension of chain’s
“Nando’s Music Exchange” program.
Inspired by this unique recording experience, Vinyl Bay 777,
Long Island’s music outlet, has collected a list of other odd places artists can
and have recorded music. From coffins and bank vaults to bodegas, electronics
stores and record shops, here are seven of the most unique recording spots in
the world.
1.
Apple Store: While a handful of Apple store
locations have programs where you can learn how to edit photos and audio, it is
less common for an artist to record an entire album there. But that is what
Brooklyn rapper Prince Harvey did. Upon losing his friend’s apartment and all
of his equipment, he decided to set up shop in one of Apple’s NYC stores and
complete his debut album.
2.
Record Shop: At most record shops, one can only
purchase albums and possibly see an in-store performance. But Nashville’s Third
Man Records goes a step further. The shop owned by former White
Stripes frontman Jack White gives you the opportunity to record and press it on vinyl, all in one place. There are two options for recording there:
an old-style record booth where you can
record on the fly and a “live venue with direct-to-acetate recording
capabilities.”
3.
Bodega: In 2015, soda brand Sprite decided to
advertise their product and support hip-hop music at the same time with a
bodega-style pop-up shop in New York on the Bowery. Besides selling Sprite and
Sprite-themed products, the shop also had a stage and recording facility, and
held events throughout that summer. Artists that recorded there included Vince
Staples and Wale.
4.
Coffin: Sometimes you have to do something
drastic to get the sound you want. Such was the case when metal band Sunn O))) were
recording the song “Bathory Erzebet” for their album ‘Black One.’ The story
goes that when it was time for guest vocalist Malefic of Xasthur to perform his
vocals, the band handed him a microphone and made the extremely claustrophobic
artist record from inside a coffin.
5.
Bank Vault: Many artists create music in their
own home studios. However, not many people have a home with a bank vault in it.
Aphex Twin allegedly bought an abandoned bank in the mid-1990s and kept his
music equipment set up in its vault.
6.
Science Lab: A lot of artists nowadays like to “go
back to basics” when they record. But none have done this quite like They
Might Be Giants. In 1996 during the recording of their sixth album ‘Factory
Showroom,’ the duo decided to record the track “I Can Hear You” in the most
analog way possible: using Thomas Edison’s 1890 wax cylinder recorder. The
recording was done at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey in front
of a small audience, where, according to a press release, they were “singing
and playing acoustic instruments as loud as we could into a pair of enormous
metal cones…which fed the sound into a hundred year old non-electrical
recording device…The wax cylinder recorder carves a groove into a rotating tube
of softened wax with a needle that is vibrating from the sound pressure
collected at the small end of the cone.”
7.
Dungeon: Again, a castle doesn’t necessarily
sound like that crazy a place for a band to record music. But Black
Sabbath isn’t just any band. When they decided to record their album ‘Sabbath
Bloody Sabbath’ at the Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, they decided to do
all their rehearsing in its dungeon. The band’s members claimed to have seen apparitions
down there, which inspired some of the albums darker songs, such as the title
track.
Artists have recorded music in a lot of strange places. Retail
spaces, science labs and coffins don’t seem like locations you would ever think
to combine with the recording process. Nando’s restaurant recording studio
seems just as outlandish. But who knows, maybe the next breakout star will
record a monstrously popular album there while enjoying a chicken sandwich.
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Find music from these creative artists and more at Vinyl Bay
777, Long Island’s favorite new independent record shop. We have thousands of
titles to choose from in a wide variety of genres. Browse our selection of new
and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia in store at
our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being
added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at
Vinyl Bay 777.
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