York Street Recording Studio was a

Recording Studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

based in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. Founded and built by producer and engineer Martin Williams, producer

Malcolm Welsford Malcolm Welsford is a New Zealand Record Producer and is best known for his work with Shihad, The Feelers and Supergroove. Early career Welsford's professional recording career began in 1984 at a small largely unknown Studio called Frontier Stud ...

and

Jaz Coleman Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman (born 26 February 1960) is an English singer and musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the lead vocalist and keyboardist of post-punk group Killing Joke. Coleman is known for his unique raspy baritone voic ...

it quickly became New Zealand's leading music recording, mixing and mastering facility. In 2000 the studio was purchased by

software developer Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, Computer programming, programming, software documentation, documenting, software testing, testing, and Software bugs, bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applic ...

Adrien de Croy and was then managed by Jeremy McPike. In April, 2014, though at that time still very busy, the Studios closed due to its 21-year lease, and was sold. Manager Jeremy McPike then went to work at

Roundhead Studios Roundhead Studios is an Auckland-based sound recording studio owned by singer-songwriter Neil Finn. It was officially opened in June 2007, however by the time of its opening, several international artists had already used it whilst the studio was ...

The Studio

The studio had a

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

1974

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Neve. One of only 7 made. The recording area was a main room and

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

, with two adjoining isolation rooms and a third separate

isolation booth An isolation booth is a cabinet used to prevent a person or people from seeing or hearing certain events, usually for television programs or for blind testing of products. Its most visual use is on game shows, where an isolation booth (either po ...

. The main room was high and was New Zealand's only high-stud professional studio live room. It had virtually no permanent acoustic absorption, relying on room shape and deflective elements to achieve control of

reverberation Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...

Artists and producers

The studio was frequented by various artists from throughout New Zealand and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, as well as several other artists from around the world. The list of the studio's clients include:

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

Crowded House Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later ban ...

Bic Runga Briolette Kah Bic Runga (born 13 January 1976), recording as Bic Runga, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the Recording Industry Association of New Ze ...

Shihad Shihad are a rock band formed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1988. The band consists of founders Tom Larkin (drums, backing vocals, samplers), Phil Knight (lead guitar, synthesiser, backing vocals) and Jon Toogood (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), ...

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

Che Fu Che Kuo Eruera Ness (born 1974), better known by his stage name Che Fu, is a New Zealand hip hop, R&B and reggae artist, songwriter and producer. A founding member of the band Supergroove, as a solo artist he has gone on to sell thousands of ...

Dave Dobbyn Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then he ...

Daniel Bedingfield Daniel John Bedingfield (born 3 December 1979) is a New Zealand-British singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the eldest brother of fellow singers Natasha Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle. He was a judge on '' The X Factor New Z ...

Goldenhorse Goldenhorse are a pop band from New Zealand. Release Goldenhorse's debut album ''Riverhead'' was released in October 2002, to a small fanfare. But over the next 18 months various singles from the album started to be played on the radio. The ...

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...

Fur Patrol Fur Patrol is a rock band, originally from Wellington, New Zealand. The band formed in Wellington in 1996. Their debut EP, ''Starlifter'', was released on the independent Wellington label Wishbone in 1998. Their debut album ''Pet'' was produced ...

The Feelers The Feelers is a New Zealand pop rock band formed in the early 1990s in Christchurch by James Reid (singer/guitarist) and Hamish Gee (drums/guitar). History The Feelers was signed by Warner Music and released their first album, '' Supersyste ...

, Strawpeople,

Killing Joke Killing Joke are an English rock music, rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Ki ...

, Black River Drive, Bailterspace,

Semisonic Semisonic is an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1995, consisting of Dan Wilson (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), John Munson (bass, keyboards, backing vocals, guitar), and Jacob Slichter (drums, percussion, keyboards, ba ...

The Exponents The Exponents, formerly The Dance Exponents, was a New Zealand rock group led by vocalist and songwriter Jordan Luck. Their major hits were "Victoria" " Why Does Love Do This To Me" and "Who Loves Who The Most". History 1980s: Dance Expone ...

Headless Chickens The Headless Chickens was a New Zealand band. Going against the grain of the Dunedin sound that dominated the Flying Nun Records roster at the time, the Headless Chickens made extensive use of electronic instruments in their music. History Th ...

The Stereo Bus The Stereo Bus are a New Zealand band, formed by David Yetton, formerly of the Jean-Paul Sartre Experience. The band recorded two albums: ''The Stereo Bus'' in 1997 and ''Brand New'' in 1999 and were originally active between 1997 and 2000. I ...

, Engelbert Humperdinck, Hello Sailor,

Blindspott Blindspott is an alternative metal band from West Auckland, New Zealand. After performing under the name Blacklistt for several years, the original line-up got back together in 2018.Kellman, Andy " Blindspott Biography, Allmusic, Macrovision ...

Tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

Head Like A Hole "Head Like a Hole" is a song by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single from the group's debut album, ''Pretty Hate Machine''. Although one of the more rock-oriented tracks on the album, many elements of ...

Zed Zed is the pronunciation of the letter ''Z'' in Commonwealth English ("zee" in American English). Zed or ZED may also refer to: Entertainment Characters *Zed (comics), a character from the ''Hellblazer'' comic series *Zed (Kiba), the main chara ...

, Ben King,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

Scarf A scarf, plural ''scarves'', is a piece of fabric worn around the neck or head for warmth, sun protection, cleanliness, fashion, religious reasons, or used to show the support for a sports club or team. They can be made in a variety of diff ...

Supergroove Supergroove is a New Zealand funk rock music group. Their debut album ''Traction (album), Traction'' was released in 1994. The group disbanded in 1997 but reformed in 2007. History The band was founded on New Year's Eve 1989/1990, having pre ...

Brooke Fraser Brooke Gabrielle Ligertwood (née Fraser; born 15 December 1983) better known by her maiden name Brooke Fraser, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter best known for her hit single " Something in the Water", released in 2010. Fraser released two ...

Payola Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as spons ...

Carly Binding Carly Binding (born 2 February 1978) is a New Zealand pop singer-songwriter, and former member of the girl group TrueBliss. In 2000 she left the group, citing personal differences, and decided to pursue a solo career. Her debut solo album ''Pass ...

48May 48May is a New Zealand pop rock group. The band consists of Jon Austin (vocals, guitar), CaptainHook (guitar, vocals), Stan Bicknell (drums, vocals) and Shannon Brown (bass, vocals). Hook and Jon went to Hamilton Boys' High School together, wh ...

Phil Rudd Phillip Hugh Norman Rudd (born Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke Rudzevecius, 19 May 1954) is an Australian drummer, best known as the drummer of AC/DC across three stints. On the 1977 departure of bass guitarist Mark Evans from AC/DC, Rudd became ...

, The Dukes,

The Lookie Loos The Lookie Loos are a New Zealand rock band formed in 2005 at the Waikato Institute of Technology in Hamilton. The two founding members, guitarist & vocalist Tim Steers and bassist Alex Mustard, met while studying. Steers moved from the U.K. t ...

and Zero T. Producers who have worked at the studio include;

Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma (band), Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is currently the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, ...

Youth (producer) Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yout ...

Gil Norton Gil Norton (born in Liverpool) is an English record producer known for his work with alternative rock bands such as Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Foo Fighters, Tribe, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Feeder, The Distillers, Maxïmo Par ...

Malcolm Foster Malcolm Foster is a British musician known best for being the bass player for the Pretenders between 1982 and 1987, and a session player for Simple Minds between 1989 and 1995. Career The Pretenders Foster received an invitation from Chrissie Hyn ...

Chris Van De Geer Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

Andrew Buckton Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

, Danton Supple,

Tchad Blake Tchad Blake (born 1955) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixer and musician. A native of Baytown, Texas, he has worked with numerous artists and musicians, including Al Green, American Music Club, Ani DiFranco, Apartment 26, Arct ...

Brian Paulson Brian Paulson is an American musician, record producer and audio engineer from Minnesota, best known for recording albums by Slint, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Superchunk and Wilco. Paulson grew up in Bemidji, Minnesota, but moved about 200 miles sou ...

Greg Haver Greg Haver is a Welsh music producer, based in New Zealand. He is best known for his work with the Manic Street Preachers and Melanie C. He has worked on a number of award-winning singles and albums. With the Manic Street Preachers, he was involv ...

, Bradey Blade,

Scott Seabright Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

P Money Paris Moore-Williams (born 8 April 1989), better known by his stage name P Money, is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter from New Cross, South East London, who is also active in the drum and bass scene. He is best known for his live per ...

, and Jonathan Campbell.

References

{{Reflist Recording studios in New Zealand Recording studios in Auckland, New Zealand