|
||
 |
HistoryAvatar Entertainment Corporation was founded
in May of 1996 and opened its doors as Avatar Studios in July of
1996. Located in midtown west of New York, the company operates
a 33,000 square foot facility dedicated to providing the highest
possible quality audio recording services to the recording industry.
The building where Avatar Studios is currently
housed was a former Consolidated Edison plant located in what was
then the deserted stretch of 53rd Street between Ninth and 10th
Avenues, squarely in Hell's Kitchen. The building was then turned into the sound
stage for the popular television game show, Let's Make a Deal with
Monty Hall, run by LewRon Television. You can still read the faint
company name on the glass above the front door of the building.The
recording studio was designed and built in 1977 as Power Station
by Tony Bongiovi, a respected producer and an acoustical genius.
There are four main studios, which were custom designed with acoustics
and usability in mind and built with the utmost care. Studio A,
the largest recording suite, can fit a 60-piece orchestra. As Power
Station, the studio won five TEC Awards from 1985 to 1990
in the Recording Studio category and a Les Paul Award for Special
Lifetime Achievement in 1991. As Avatar, the studio has won
five TEC Awards in the last six years for Diana Krall's The
Look of Love in 2002, Sheryl Crow's C'mon C'mon
in 2003, Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat in 2006
and John Mayer's Continuum in 2007. Many artists, producers, and engineers have passed
through the doors of this studio. This facility served as Madonna's
home when she recorded "Like a Virgin" and played host
to luminaries including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Barbara
Streisand, the Ramones, and Mariah Carey. More recently, artists
such as Eric Clapton, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Franz
Ferdinand, Sheryl Crow, Trey Anastasio, Peter Cincotti,
Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall
and The Mars Volta recorded their music at Avatar.
Acoustically, this is undeniably one of
the great recording facilities in the world. As proof, Sony and
Yamaha both recently took sound samples for their reverb box products
as they sampled from the best acoustic environments of the world.
The acoustical and technical aspects of Avatar are always of primary
importance, but equally important is the emphasis we place on the
uniqueness of each individual artist's and producer's needs. One
major change the facility has made is to reach out to as wide a
range of artists and music as possible, from unsigned bands to up-and-coming
producers and engineers. |
