Ardent Studios
The Ardent Studios in Memphis , Tennessee is a professional recording studio . It comprises three individual studios for music recording, a mastering studio and its own music label called Ardent Records . The studio was founded in 1966 by John Fry (born December 31, 1944 in Memphis) and developed into one of the most famous independent recording studios in the United States from the end of the 1960s , initially through close cooperation with Stax Records , but also through other famous ones Clients like Led Zeppelin , Joe Cocker and Bob Dylan .
The work of the studios was largely shaped by producers and sound engineers who have worked there for many years, such as Jim Dickinson , Terry Manning , John Hampton and Joe Hardy. Founder John Fry himself was involved in recording sessions as a sound engineer for a long time and made sure that the equipment in the studios was at a high technical level. Fry also operated the record labels Ardent Records and Ardent Music .
history
The beginnings (1958–1965)
John Fry was interested in electronics and radio technology from an early age . He enjoyed experimenting and tinkering in his spare time with school friends John King and Fred Smith (later founders of FedEx ) from Memphis University School . The three friends were also very interested in music and enjoyed listening to local radio stations such as WDIA and WHBQ with presenters such as Dewey Phillips and Rufus Thomas . Since they were not able to realize their wish to set up their own radio station as young people, they instead began to deal intensively with recording technology . In order to be able to apply their knowledge practically, they looked for bands to record. At the age of 14 they finally managed to make the first recordings of a band they had discovered in a rented studio. However, they were not satisfied with the outdated technology of this studio, so they began to set up their own recording studio in 1959. At the home of Fry's parents, who put her son no obstacles in the way, they converted a former garage that had recently served as a sewing room of Fry's grandmother, a home studio with separate control room to, equipped with an Altec 250 - tube mixer , two Ampex 354 -Zweispurrekordern for recording and overdub , a Pultec EQP 1A - equalizer and a series of modified or self-made devices. In addition to commissioned work in local music clubs, four singles by local bands were published under the label Ardent Records until 1962, the year the three young people finished school . While Smith went to study at Yale University , Fry went to Pine Bluff , Arkansas , where he had the opportunity to help set up a private radio station. The suggestion to continue the label and studio came in 1964 from Jim Dickinson (* November 15, 1941; † August 15, 2009), who later, in addition to his solo career, worked as a studio musician with Ry Cooder , The Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin and up to regularly recorded and produced at Ardent Studios after his death.
Cooperation with Stax Records (1966–1974)
When John Fry's parents sold their house in 1966, he was faced with the decision to turn his hobby into a profession or to give up music production entirely. Eventually, at the age of 21, he rented a store on 1457 National Street in Memphis and set up a professional recording studio there with Jim Dickinson and Terry Manning, who had already gained experience as a sound engineer with Stax. This event is considered to be the official founding date of the company. They started with an Auditronics mixer, a 4-track Scully recorder and the production of radio jingles . As early as 1967, some of the Box Tops songs were recorded by Ardent. In a very short time, a good reputation for personnel and technical equipment was established. Among other things, in 1968 the 4 was replaced by an 8- track recorder and in 1969 by a 16-track recorder from 3M . Overall, the equipment was adapted to that of the Stax Records studio, so that the record company could easily send artists and technicians to the Ardent Studios when their own capacities were exhausted , without them having to get used to. Since Stax only had a single recording studio of its own at that time, this happened frequently, so that Ardent was able to benefit enormously from this cooperation from 1967 to 1975.
Ardent was also regularly commissioned to mix other recordings, for example by Willie Mitchell from Hi Records and Al Bell from Stax, who edited the songs "I'll Take You There" and "Respect Yourself" from the Staple Singers at Ardent let. According to Bell, these songs should deviate from the typical “Stax sound”. To do this, he had the Staple Singers in the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio accompanied by the studio musicians there , who otherwise worked with the Rolling Stones and Bob Seger , for example , and commissioned Ardents Terry Manning to record further vocal and instrumental tracks and the final mix. Steve Cropper also brought the at that time unfinished instrumental piece "Soul Limbo" by Booker T. & the MG's to Manning, who added a self-played marimba track and other instrumental tracks. The single was sold around 470,000 times in a short time and helped the badly shaken Stax label to a new upswing in 1968, which had recently sold large parts of its back catalog and its stars Sam & Dave to Atlantic Records and Otis Redding as well as several members of the bar Kays was lost in a plane crash. The album Led Zeppelin III was also mixed at Ardent in 1970 by Jimmy Page and Terry Manning, who had become friends a few years earlier, after individual parts had already been recorded in the studios.
Isaac Hayes ' influential album Hot Buttered Soul was recorded for Stax in June / July 1969 . Numerous other artists and studio musicians of the "Memphis-Soul" also recorded in the studios between 1967 and 1975. B. Sam & Dave , Eddie Floyd , The Staple Singers , Booker T. & the MG's , Don Nix , The Memphis Horns , The Emotions , pianist Marvell Thomas and the newly formed Bar-Kays , but also Albert King , Ike & Tina Turner , James Taylor , Lynyrd Skynyrd , Freddie King and Leon Russell , who realized a number of the projects on his label Shelter Records at Ardent.
In November 1971, the company moved to the now built studio building on Madison Avenue 2000, which is still the current location of Ardent Studios . There they initially had two recording studios, and a third was added in 1980. Al Bell, one of the owners of the soul and gospel label Stax, intended in the early 1970s to enter the “white” pop and rock music market. For this project he won Fry, who for this purpose revived his label Ardent Records . Bell gave Fry a free hand in choosing the artists, but promised to organize promotion and distribution through Stax. The first band on the label was the power pop band Cargoe from Tulsa , whose first two singles received a lot of radio airplay . The second band was Big Star , a band from Memphis around Chris Bell and Alex Chilton , whose two LPs for Ardent Records are now considered classics. Despite good reviews, both albums were a commercial failure because the distribution via Stax and Columbia Records did not work and the records were nowhere to be found. The band's third, later also highly acclaimed, album, produced by Jim Dickinson, initially found no label at all. The little success of the other artists on Ardent Records , the great economic difficulties of Stax and the resistance of Columbia led in 1974 to the temporary end of the studio's own record label.
Out of great disappointment over this failure and the foreseeable loss of business partner Stax, John Fry sold Ardent Studios to Tim Riley, music producer and former customer of the studio, and temporarily withdrew from the music business. However, after a few months he bought the studios back after the new owner ran into financial difficulties.
1975-1989
Despite the bankruptcy of Stax Records in December 1975, Ardent Studios, under Fry's direction, continued to do well because of its well-equipped facilities and staff. Some of the Stax sound engineers such as William Brown, Robert Jackson and the 1972 Grammy- winning Henry Bush and Ron Capone were taken over (in the Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical category for their work on Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft") ). In 1973, ZZ Top had the third album Tres Hombres mixed with Ardent, then in 1975 recorded the studio tracks for Fandango! there and developed into one of the studios' most loyal customers for over 20 years; the band recorded eight albums there with Manning and Joe Hardy by 1985 and returned to Memphis in 1999 to record the album XXX .
Fry's schoolmate John King, who was involved in the earliest recordings in 1958, worked temporarily as the label's PR man in the 1970s, but was otherwise active in radio and internet radio . Fry himself turned increasingly to the Christian faith in the late 1970s, also inspired by the accidental death of his close friend Chris Bell. The studio also opened up the customer base of Christian pop and rock musicians in the following decades .
In the 1980s, Memphis' music industry was in crisis. Few recording studios survived the 1970s; However, Ardent was one of the most successful of the remaining studios. At that time, many outside blues musicians began recording there, such as George Thorogood , Stevie Ray Vaughan , Jimmie Vaughan , Robert Cray , Luther Allison , Jeff Healey , Albert Collins , Bernard Allison , BB King and also bands like REM , The Replacements , The Cramps , Cheap Trick, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds .
Terry Manning founded in the late eighties own studio in Memphis before he, along with his wife Sherrie, after 1992 Nassau on the Bahamas to there in order moved Chris Blackwell , the Compass Point Studios revive.
1990 until today
After 1990 a number of country musicians , such as Travis Tritt , Steve Earle , Tanya Tucker , Little Texas , Montgomery Gentry and Mark Chesnutt , came to Ardent Studios , but also Bob Dylan , John Hiatt , The Reverend Horton Heat , Cat Power , Ruthie Foster , The Tragically Hip , Soundgarden , the North Mississippi Allstars (with Jim Dickinson's sons Luther and Cody), The Allman Brothers Band , Dave Matthews , MIA , 3 Doors Down , Afghan Whigs , 16 Horsepower , Huey Lewis , Primal Scream , the reunited Big Star , Mudhoney , Klaus Voormann and Jack White with his bands The White Stripes and The Raconteurs . In addition, rap artists such as Three 6 Mafia , Juvenile , Yo Gotti and soundtracks for Hollywood films such as Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan were increasingly produced.
The record label Ardent Records was revived in the 90s. Successes were achieved above all with the production of Christian pop music. Since 2004 Ardent has also cooperated with the Visible School in Memphis, a private, Christian-oriented college that trains students in audio production , sound engineering and songwriting, among other things .
Jim Dickinson was active in the studios until shortly before his death in 2009; Studio founder John Fry, who was also a visiting professor at the University of Memphis , last no longer worked as a sound engineer himself , but was still part owner of the studio until his death on December 18, 2014 and ran it together with manager Jody Stephens, who also worked as a drummer from Big Star and Golden Smog .
Studio equipment
The Ardent Studios include three recording studios of different sizes, a mastering studio that has been independent since 1985 under the direction of Larry Nix and video editing equipment on over 900 m 2 . In addition to modern digital recording technology, the equipment includes an SSL 6056E mixer from 1985 and two consoles from Neve Electronics . There is also a collection of studio technology, amplifiers, multi-track recorders and musical instruments from several decades, which are available for recordings.
Two Auditronics consoles decommissioned by Ardent , built by Welton Jetton, who also worked for WDIA , and Steve Sage in 1969 and 1972, can be viewed at the Stax Museum and the Rock N 'Soul Museum in Memphis, respectively. Amplifiers and equalizers from Spectra Sonics from Ogden , Utah were installed in the consoles . The mixing console, built in 1969 and in use in Ardents Tonstudio B until 1985, is identical to the model that was used in the Stax studio from 1970 to 75 and comes from the same manufacturers. Larry Nix, brother of Don Nix and responsible for mastering at Ardent and formerly also at Stax, reactivated an old Neumann VMS70 cutting machine for vinyl records in 2009 , which he had been using at Stax for all vinyl cuts between 1970 and 1975 for 20 years had not been used. The machine has since been used again for various professional projects.
Ardent Records and Ardent Music
The Ardent Studios also include the music labels Ardent Records and Ardent Music , which were also founded by John Fry and which have been operated with varying intensity and focus over the years. The name Ardent Records was first used in 1959-62 for the four singles that were recorded and distributed by John Fry with his school friends in his home studio, even before Ardent Studios was officially founded. The first single from 1959 was a recording by the group The Ole Miss Downbeats with the titles "The Hucklebuck" and "Slewfoot" (Ardent 101).
With the official founding of Ardent Studios in 1966, Fry initially concentrated on building and operating the studio, until the label was revived in the early 1970s at the suggestion of Al Bell of Stax Records. His attempt to expand Stax's musical spectrum to include the "white" rock and pop market failed, however. None of the label's releases from this period were a commercial success, which, however, especially in the case of the bands Cargoe and Big Star, is attributed to poor distribution by Stax and Columbia Records . The former had no experience of distributing white pop and rock music and had a distribution network of record stores, most of which specialized in soul, gospel and blues music. The latter spoke out against the distribution of the second album after they had taken over distribution for Stax from 1972 and had already taken control of the Stax catalog by the time the album was completed in 1974. Attempts Frys to organize the distribution himself had little success, as he also had little experience and contacts in record distribution. In 1975 Ardents label business came to a standstill again.
The label's early, commercially unsuccessful activities in the 1960s and 1970s were also documented on the 2007 double CD Thank You Friends - The Ardent Records Story . The collection contains mostly unpublished recordings by various artists from the Ardent Studios and alternative song versions and demos by the band Big Star .
Despite Fry's original resolution not to run his own label anymore, Ardent Records was reactivated by him in the early 1990s and occasionally released CDs from the indie rock sector, including by Alex Chilton , Techno-Squid Eats Parliament , Neighborhood Texture Jam and Jolene . While this line of business was gradually abandoned in the mid-1990s, Ardent established itself as a label for Christian pop and rock music from 1995 . With artists such as Skillet , Todd Agnew , Big Tent Revival and Smalltown Poets , more than 35 albums have been released since then, which have received a total of seven nominations in the Grammy category Best Rock Gospel Album since 1996 (as of 2010). Since 2005, Ardent has been cooperating in the areas of marketing and sales with INO Records , a subsidiary of Integrity Media , a mobile company that specializes in the worldwide distribution of Christian music and films.
Since 2008, CDs by secular independent bands from the Memphis area, such as Jump Back Jake and Star & Micey , have again been produced and distributed under the name Ardent Music .
Web links
- Official website of Ardent Studios
- Official website of Ardent Records
- Interview with John Fry from April 1, 2010 (video and transcript) on the pages of the “Crossroads to Freedom” project, led by Courtney Eskew and LaKevia Perry
Individual evidence
- ↑ James L. Dickerson: The fabulous Vaughan Brothers: Jimmie and Stevie Ray . Taylor Trade Publications, Lanham 2004, ISBN 978-1-58979-116-9 , pp. 95 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Article 10 Things You Didn't Know About Fred Smith, July 24, 2008 on usnews.com, compiled by Jennifer O'Shea
- ↑ a b Article Classic Tracks: Big Star - September Gurls by Richard Buskin in the online edition of Sound on Sound magazine, published in April 2006
- ↑ Article Something Good Happens Here ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Robert Gordon on the history of Ardent Studios, published on March 29, 2010 on thevinyldistrict.com (copy on archive link ( memento of the original from March 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )
- ↑ a b c d e article Company You Keep: Ardent Music ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Andy Pareti in the online edition of Soundcheck Magazine , published April 7, 2009
- ↑ a b c d e f g Article 40 Years of Ardent by Andria Lisle on the 40th birthday of Ardent Studios, published in the MemphisFlyer on October 26, 2006
- ↑ a b Article Ardent Donates Console to Stax Museum ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated October 24, 2008 on prosoundnews.com
- ↑ Article Ardent Still Molds Sounds Of Memphis by Christopher Walsh in Billboard Magazine from February 2, 2002 (copy available on allbusiness.com ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , p. 1–5)
- ↑ Press release Willie “Pops” Mitchell Dies at 81 ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Daniel J. Russo on the Ardent Studios website, published January 8, 2010
- ↑ Article Classic Tracks - The Staple Singers I'll Take You There by Richard Buskin in the online edition of Sound on Sound magazine, published January 2006
- ^ Rob Bowman: Soulsville, USA: the story of Stax Records . Schirmer Books, New York 1997, ISBN 0-8256-7284-8 , pp. 236 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ^ Rob Bowman: Soulsville, USA: the story of Stax Records . Schirmer Books, New York 1997, ISBN 0-8256-7284-8 , pp. 150 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ panel review of Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul Review of Daryl Easlea of 23 November 2009 on the pages of the BBC
- ^ A b Rob Bowman: Soulsville, USA: the story of Stax Records . Schirmer Books, New York 1997, ISBN 0-8256-7284-8 , pp. 265 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Big Star's band biography in the All Music Guide , written by Jason Ankeny
- ↑ Article The Legacy of the Lucky Losers by Edo Reents in the online edition of the FAZ from January 11, 2010
- ↑ Article Riley Firm Obtains Ardent Record Studio In Memphis in Billboard Magazine, Sep. 7, 1974, p. 3
- ↑ a b Band biography of the band Cargoe: The Story of Cargoe - Beautiful Sounds and Memphis Blues , Chapter Five: The Painful Look Back and ..... ( Memento of the original from June 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on rockandreprise.net
- ↑ Article ZZ Top: Cars, Guitars, & Three Unlikely Rock Stars ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Alan di Perna from July 2, 2008, in the online archive of guitarworld.com, p. 7 of 12
- ↑ a b Article Ardent Sees Potential in School Partnership by Christopher Walsh in Billboard magazine of January 24, 2004, p. 50
- ↑ Portrait of Larry Nix's mastering studio on the Ardent Studios website ( Memento of the original from February 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ List of mixing consoles of the Ardent Studios (clickable; one click leads to the introduction of the corresponding recording studio) ( Memento of the original from January 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Article Ardent Studios Re-Masters Chris Bell for Rhino Records ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on mixonline.com from October 23, 2009
- ↑ Article Stax Records Lathe Back In Action ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from September 30, 2009 on blurt-online.com
- ↑ Eric Segalstad, Josh Hunter: The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll . Samadhi Creations, Berkeley Lake 2009, ISBN 978-0-615-18964-2 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ↑ Review of the double CD Thank You Friends - The Ardent Records Story (including interview excerpts with John Fry, Jim Dickinson and others) by David Cavanagh on uncut.co.uk
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
