When we stepped into The Power Station, it was a magical feeling! We have done so many videos on records that were recorded here!
So excited to take you all on a tour with us of The Power Station! After a 15 million dollar renovation, the Power Station is now reopen for professional sessions and industry events.
The Power Station has set the bar for professional facilities throughout the world!
To revive the historic Power Station Studios on West 53rd Street, a historic public-private-nonprofit partnership was established, bringing together Berklee, the City of New York, musician/investor Pete Muller, and members of the Founder’s Advisory Board.
The building was originally built as a Con-Edison power relay station, which provided power to Manhattan’s elevated train, which has since been converted into the High Line.
The recording studios—where Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, Madonna, Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Bob Dylan, the cast of Hamilton, and many others recorded iconic albums— has been transformed into a state-of-the-art recording and video production facility for the city’s music, theater, television, and film industries, as well as a campus for Berklee to provide music and performing arts education just blocks from Broadway.
In addition to the studio renovations, the building’s lower level now houses a flexible-use black-box theatre, featuring state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and LED screen XR technology. The adjacent video control room captures video from 26 PTZ cameras facilities-wide, and a green room, dressing rooms, writing rooms and an additional performance space fill out the lower level.
A flagship classroom/rehearsal space named “The Arch” and additional Music Technology, Virtual Reality, and DJ Labs are located on the third floor.
Stephen Webber, Executive Director of BerkleeNYC and Dean of Strategic Initiatives at Berklee, is in charge of the project. Ian Kagey, who joins Power Station at BerkleeNYC as its director of operations, has taken over daily management of the area.
History
Tony Bongiovi and his business partners established Power Station Studios in 1977. The Let’s Make a Deal with Monty Hall TV show originally called the ancient Con Edison power relay station home. Thanks to Bongiovi’s now-famous acoustical design, which included rooms created expressly for multitrack recording to recreate a live sound, the studio rapidly became a big success.
Power Station Studios won Mix Magazine’s coveted TEC Award (Technical Excellence and Creativity) for an unprecedented six years, the maximum number allowed, thanks to this ground-breaking design. Power Station Studios won the first Les Paul Award from Mix Magazine for audio quality and originality in 1991.
With hundreds of gold and platinum albums under its belt, Power Station Studios is one of the most celebrated and honoured recording studios in the world. Numerous legendary albums were created in the renowned studio by artists like Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Madonna, Bob Dylan, the Clash, John Lennon, Pat Metheny, Sting, Joan Jett, Chic, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Aerosmith, George Michael, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, the Kinks, and Billy Joel.
Chieko and Kirk Imamura bought the building in 1996 and ran it as Avatar Studios. They also constructed additional studios and integrated contemporary digital audio capabilities during that time. The artists they hosted included Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Herbie Hancock, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Bruno Mars, and Berklee alumni John Mayer, Diana Krall, and Esperanza Spalding.
Some artist records that we have covered that have recorded their records at The Power Station in BerkleeNYC:
Bob Clearmountain mixed Born In The USA
and many more!