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, 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 enou ...

owned by

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

. It was located within

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

'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, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, co-founders of the Beach Boys. History Brother Studios wa ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

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 during the early 1970s and for inventing the Spatializer. The Spatializer is an effects unit which employs psychoacoustic techniques that emulate th ...

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 12th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 18, 1967. It reached number 9 on UK record charts, but sold poorly in the US, peaking at number 41—the band's lowest chart placement to tha ...

'' 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 and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Li ...

'' 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 the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Raised in Los Angeles, she started her singing career in the late 1950s, initially as part ...

, 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,

Stephen Kalinich Stephen John Kalinich ( ; born 1942) is an American poet mostly known for his songwriting collaborations with Brian and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. In 1969, he recorded his only album, '' A World of Peace Must Come'', with production by Bri ...

and

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

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

Dismantling

The studio was dismantled by Brian's then-wife Marilyn in mid-1972. Brian 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 * {{Bel Air, Los Angeles 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