Ocean Way Recording was a series of

recording studios A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single sin ...

established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, and

Saint Barthélemy Saint Barthélemy, officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, also known as St. Barts (English) or St. Barth (French), is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. The island lies about southeast of the island ...

. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates recording facilities, but Ocean Way Nashville continues to operate under the ownership of Belmont University.

History

Background

In 1972, Ocean Way founder Allen Sides opened a studio he had built in a 3 1/2-car garage on Ocean Way in

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 ...

, for the purpose of demonstrating tri-amplified loudspeakers of his own design. In 1977, Sides, who had worked as a runner at

United Western Recorders United Western Recorders was a two-building recording studio complex in Hollywood that was one of the most successful independent recording studios of the 1960s. The complex merged neighboring studios United Recording Corp. on 6050 Sunset Boule ...

in the late 1960s, purchased enough equipment from

Bill Putnam Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (February 20, 1920 – April 13, 1989) was an American audio engineer, songwriter, producer, studio designer, and businessman. He has been described as "the father of modern recording". He was the inventor of the modern ...

's company UREI to completely fill the garage space for just $6,000, attracting the attention of Putnam. Sides and Putnam became friends and business partners, and Putnam offered Sides exclusive rights to sell UREI and United Western Studios' surplus equipment, providing Sides and his studio with a wide variety of studio equipment.

Ocean Way Hollywood

In 1976, after the lease on Sides' garage studio was abruptly canceled, Putnam provided space at United Western Recorders, leasing United Studio B to Sides. Six years later, Sides lease at United Western expanded to include United Studio A. When Putnam sold his companies to Harman in 1984, Harman sold the Western building and its contents to Sides, who later also acquired the United building. Sides renamed the United Western Studios complex Ocean Way Recording after the location of his former garage studio. Ocean Way Studios operated the two-building complex from 1985 until 1999, when the former Western Studios building at 6000 Sunset Boulevard was partitioned, sold, and renamed Cello Studios. In 2006, the studio again changed ownership, and has since been in operation as EastWest Studios. Ocean Way Studios continued operations in the building at 6050 Sunset Boulevard until 2013, when it was sold to Hudson Pacific Properties. Since 2015 it has been known as United Recording Studios.

Ocean Way Nashville

In 1995, Sides and Gary Belz purchased the 1911 Church of the Advent, a 100-year old Brownstone church building in Nashville's

Music Row Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as ...

district, converting it to open Ocean Way Nashville the following year. In 2001, Sides and Belz sold the studios to

Belmont University Belmont University is a Private university, private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporate ...

for use by the

Mike Curb Michael Curb (born December 24, 1944) is an American politician, record executive, and philanthropist who served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California, lieutenant governor of California from 1979 to 1983. He is the founder of Curb Recor ...

College of Entertainment & Music Business (CEMB). The university continues to operate the commercial studios, while also utilizing them as hands-on classrooms to teach audio engineering. Belmont University maintains license of the Ocean Way name and Sides remains a consultant.

Other Ocean Way studios

The Ocean Way Studios Group also included

Record One Record One is a recording studio complex in the Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Originally founded in 1979, the studio has been the site of numerous commercially successful and award-winning record ...

studios in

Sherman Oaks, California Sherman Oaks (founded in 1927) is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California within the San Fernando Valley region. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density ...

, which was acquired by Sides in 1988, and another Ocean Way Studio location in Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates recording facilities.

Other Ocean Way companies

Sides is also the founder of Ocean Way Audio, a manufacturer of speaker systems. Ocean Way Drums, a partnership between Sides and producer Steven Miller, produces virtual instrument software.

References

External links

Ocean Way Recording - About