Sunset Sound

Sunset Sound is a three-room recording studio complex on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles. According to the studio, it was founded in 1960 by Disney recording director Salvador “Tutti” Camarata in a former auto repair shop whose angled walls, ceilings and floors suited it to recording, and it is still family owned and operated. Sunset Sound says more than 300 gold albums have been made here, by artists including The Beach Boys, The Doors, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen and Prince, and more recently The Black Keys, Beck, Paramore and Maroon 5. Early on it also recorded Disney scores such as Mary Poppins.

Studios and consoles

• Studio 1: a 56-input Sunset Sound custom console with Sunset Sound mic preamps, API 550A EQs and Flying Faders automation, a 12-channel sidecar and a 1918 Steinway Model B grand piano.
• Studio 2: a 48-input Neve 8088 console with Neve 31102 EQs and Flying Faders, and a 1905 Steinway Model B grand piano.
• Studio 3: a 32-input API-DeMedio-Sunset Sound custom console with an 8-channel API 312 sidecar, and a 1908 Steinway Model B grand piano.

All three control rooms have Augsperger-designed JBL main monitors and Avid HD digital recording systems. For analog sessions the studio keeps a Studer 827 24-track and Ampex ATR-100 two-track machines.

Echo chambers

Sunset Sound has three live echo chambers. Chamber 1 was built when the studio opened in 1960, and according to the studio it can be heard on original recordings by The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Chambers 2 and 3 were added with Studio 3 in the late 1970s and were loosely modeled on the Capitol chambers; the studio says Prince used them on his 1980s records.

Hours and booking

Sessions run 24 hours a day, and the front office is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time. Sunset Sound does not take same-day bookings, and it also books its studios for video shoots. Mic lists, studio layouts and lists of outboard gear available to rent are posted for each room.