Beach Boys Studio (also known as Brother Records Studio, Brother Recording Studio, and 10452 Bellagio Road) was a private

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

owned by

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. It was located within

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

's home at 10452 Bellagio Road in Los Angeles. Six of the band's albums were recorded there in addition to his " Bedroom Tapes". In 1972, the studio was dismantled and later succeeded by

Brother Studios Brother Studios (later renamed Crimson Sound) was the name of a recording studio located at 1454 5th St, Santa Monica, California established by brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, co-founders of the Beach Boy ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Background

The studio was built in 1967 due to various issues Wilson regularly experienced when working at commercial studios, such as being hassled by owners for touching the control board (a violation of union regulations), as well as to eliminate the inconvenience of booking time in advance. It is sometimes referred to as "Brian Wilson's home studio". Band engineer

Stephen Desper Stephen W. Desper is an American audio engineer who is best known for his work with the Beach Boys and for inventing the Spatializer. The Spatializer is an effects unit which employs psychoacoustic techniques that emulate three-dimensional ambienc ...

said that the studio was funded and intended for use by everyone in the group, not just Wilson, and disputed its characterization as "Brian's studio". Because his bandmates took much of the recording equipment with them when they left for concert tours, Wilson was not typically allowed to use the home studio unless the band was present.

Technical details

Recording capabilities at Wilson's Los Angeles residence were made possible by his band and engineer

in the midst of recording ''

Smiley Smile ''Smiley Smile'' is the twelfth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 18, 1967. Conceived as a simpler and more relaxed version of their unfinished ''Smile'' album, ''Smiley Smile'' is distinguished for i ...

'' in mid-1967. For the first few months of operation, the makeshift studio was installed with a Gates Dualux radio broadcasting console as the quick recording of ''Smiley Smile'' didn't allow enough time to acquire a conventional mixing board. By the recording of ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' in early 1968, the studio continued to use the Dualux console yet the rest of the chauffeur's quarters had been converted to feature a more permanent set-up. In October 1969, the console was upgraded to a 16-track recorder with quadraphonic capability. From 1967, until its dismantling in late 1972 by

Marilyn Wilson Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford (née Rovell; born February 6, 1948) is an American singer who is best known as the first wife of Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson. She was also a member of two girl groups, the Honeys in the 1960s and American Sprin ...

, the studio recorded a mix of artists with personal ties to the Beach Boys, including

American Spring American Spring (known as simply Spring before 1972) was an American pop music duo formed in Los Angeles, California. It consisted of sisters Marilyn Wilson and Diane Rovell, who had earlier been members of girl group the Honeys. As with the H ...

The Flames The Flames were a South African musical group formed in 1962, with their best-known lineup consisting of guitarists and vocalists Steve Fataar and Blondie Chaplin, bassist Edries "Brother" Fataar, and drummer Ricky Fataar. Considered one of ...

, Stephen Kalinich and

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...

.Charles Manson, Simon Wells, 2009, Hachette UK.

Dismantling

The studio was dismantled by Wilson's then-wife Marilyn in mid-1972. Wilson later remarked, "If I could have anything in the world, I'd have a studio in my house again. That's the one thing I want more than ''anything!''"

Sessions

References

Bibliography * {{coord, 34, 4, 51.12, N, 118, 26, 19.51, W, type:landmark_scale:2000_region:US-CA, display=title Recording studios in California Buildings and structures in Los Angeles The Beach Boys Brian Wilson The Beach Boys music 1967 establishments in California 1972 disestablishments in California Bel Air, Los Angeles Former recording studios