Gold Star Studios

Gold Star Studios was a major independent recording studio located in Los Angeles, California. For more than thirty years, from 1950 to 1984, Gold Star was one of the most influential and successful commercial recording studios in the world.

Founded by David S. Gold and Stan Ross, and opened in October 1950, Gold Star Studios was located near the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood; the studio name was a combination of the names of the two owners -- (Dave) GOLD and STA(n) R(oss). The studio was renowned for its unique custom-designed recording equipment, which was designed and built by Gold, as were its famed echo chambers.

In the mid-1950s aspiring pop star and future recording legend Phil Spector began hanging out at local studios, including Gold Star, hoping to learn about recording. He eventually won the confidence of Gold Star's house producer-engineer Stan Ross, who took Spector under his wing and taught him the basics of record production.

In the early 1960s Spector used Gold Star as the recording venue for most of his famous "Wall of Sound" recordings. It was also the venue for many important recordings by The Beach Boys including portions of their 1965 LP Pet Sounds LP, the 1966 international #1 hit "Good Vibrations" and recordings for the aborted Smile project.

The studio was renowned for its famous echo chambers. According to Gold, who designed the chambers after years of research and experimentation, they were built in an area of about 20' x 20' and were complementary trapezoids 18 feet long. The walls were thick, specially-formulated cement plaster on heavy isolation forms. Entry into the chambers was through a series of 2' by 2' doors, and the opening was only about 20 inches wide and high!

Gold Star was responsible for what is believed to be the first commercial use of the production technique called "flanging", which was featured on the single "Big Hurt" by Miss Toni Ross. Another of Gold's innovations was a small transmitter that allowed him to broadcast mixes so that they could be picked up on a nearby car radio, which was especially important to recording artists in the era when AM radio was the dominant broadcast medium.

The studio was the venue for hundreds chart-topping recordings by scores of leading pop and rock artists including Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochrane, The Chipmunks, The Cascades, "Route 66" composer Bobby Troupe, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Sonny & Cher, The Rose Garden, Buffalo Springfield, Duane Eddy, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, The Ronettes, Dick Dale, The Righteous Brothers, Iron Butterfly, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Joan Jett, Cheri Currie, Meat Loaf, The Champs, The Baha Marimba Band, Bobby Darin, The Cake, The Who, The Monkees, Tommy Boyce, The Band, The Go-Go’s, The Ramones, The Association, Art Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Ty Wagner, John Lennon and Maurice Gibb.

It was also widely used by music, film, television, radio and Broadway artists including Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer, Sammy Fain, Bob Sherman, Dick Sherman and Dimitri Tiomkin and it was the recording ‘home’ of the pioneering ABC-TV prime-time pop show Shindig!. Jazz artists who recorded there include Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Oscar Moore, The Hi-Los and Louis Bellson.

The studio closed in 1984. A fire occurred in the structure after it had been closed. All contents had been removed prior to the fire. The building was later demolished.

References & Links

• Official page
• Shure Notes studio profile

Thompson, Dave
Wall of Pain: The Biography of Phil Spector
(Sanctuary Publishing, 2004)