Fantasy Studios was a music recording studio in Berkeley, California, United States, at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums including Journey's Escape and Green Day's Dookie. Built as a private recording studio for artists on the Fantasy Records label in 1971, it was opened to the public in 1980 for recording, mixing and mastering.[1] It was permanently closed on September 15, 2018.
Saul Zaentz, who joined Fantasy Records as a salesman in 1955, assembled a group of investors in 1967 and purchased the label from the Weiss brothers.[4] In 1968 Fantasy Records signed Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), who soon became extremely profitable for the label. Within eighteen months, twenty of CCR's singles made Billboard Hot 100 list and nine were consecutive Top 10 singles in the US. The band also earned 21 RIAA-certified gold or platinum records with total sales of over 100 million worldwide.[5] These successes for CCR made Fantasy the most profitable independent record company in the U.S.[6] and directly resulted in the expansion of Fantasy Records.[7]
In 1971 Fantasy Records relocated to Berkeley, California.[8] In addition to a lobby area, the building included a sauna, an exercise room and a lunch room, which until 1981 was catered daily by Narsai's Restaurant in Kensington. The sauna and exercise room were later rebuilt for other purposes.
In the early 1970s, under the leadership of label president Ralph Kaffel, Fantasy Records purchased the catalogs of three independent jazz labels: Prestige, Riverside (established in 1953 by Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews) and Milestone, which Keepnews started in 1966 after the demise of Riverside. After the acquisitions the company became known as "Fantasy Inc."[9]
Recording studios
Fantasy Records built Fantasy Studios to accommodate its growing roster, which remained primarily jazz artists but included some in rock, soul and disco. The building went up at 10th and Parker Streets in the western industrial area of Berkeley. Because of the source of funding, it was nicknamed "The House That Creedence Built."[10] Fantasy was the most profitable independent record company in the U.S.[10] Jim Stern, who had served as producer for the Sons of Champlin and Van Morrison, was chief engineer from 1974 until 1981. Jesse Osborn was another early engineer along with Eddie Bill Harris and Don Cody.[11]
Studio expansion
In 1980, Fantasy Records hired a new Studio Director, Roy Segal. One of Segal's first initiatives was to the addition of Studio D, as well as upgrading the acoustical treatment and equipment in the existing studios.[12] Such upgrades included removing carpet from the studio floors and installing bass traps and tiling for the walls in an effort to acoustically tune the rooms. Equipment upgrades included replacing the original consoles in Studios A and C with Neve 8108s and a Trident in Studio B.
In 1982, Segal was asked to manage the three-year-old Saul Zaentz Film Center, at which point he brought in Nina Bombardier to manage the studios. Bombardier started with Fantasy in 1973 as a receptionist,[13] then moved to manage the Record Plant in Sausalito. She served as the director of Fantasy Studios from 1982 to 2007.
In addition to recording music, Fantasy Studios saw clients in the film, television, gaming and audio book industries for additional dialog recording sessions. All studios were ISDN-compatible, providing full-frequency audio and real-time connectivity to other recording studios around the world.[3]
Concord Records acquired Fantasy in late 2004 and the two labels merged to form Concord Music Group. Concord Music Group owned the studios through 2007, at which point the new owners of the Saul Zaentz Media Center, Wareham Property Group, purchased the studios.[15] The role of Studio Director was filled by music producer Jeffrey Wood upon Bombardier's departure.[4] Staff engineers at the time were Adam Muñoz, Jesse Nichols and Alberto Hernandez.[16]
In 2018 Wareham Property Group decided to permanently close the studios.
Facilities
Each of Fantasy Studios' three studios were built to serve a specific purpose. There were five working natural echo chambers of varying sizes and tones, accessible from all three control rooms.
In 1980, bass traps and wall tiling were installed to improve acoustics. Studio A's mixing console was replaced with a Neve 8108, which was eventually replaced with an SSL Duality SE.[17]
Studio B
View from control room to live room of Studio B
Studio B, at 546 square feet,[19] was used mostly for smaller acts and comedy records, and was typically used for overdub sessions. Like Studio A, it too used a DeMedio console.[7][12] In 1980, bass traps and wall tiling were installed to improve acoustics. Studio B's mixing consoles replaced with a Trident, which was eventually updated to a Digidesign C24. Studio B is where Journey's Faithfully, from their Frontiers album was recorded.[19]
Studio C
Studio C was built expressly for CCR, with a separate entrance.[20] Parts of their albums Mardi Gras and Pendulum were recorded there, and the Live in Europe album was mixed there. John Fogerty recorded The Blue Ridge Rangers in Studio C and was in residence there until he left Fantasy in 1974. At 888 square feet, Studio C was also the site of a film soundstage and Foley pits. Studio C was the only studio at Fantasy which used an API console.[12] Studio C was closed to the public in 2008 with the space taken over by another Zaentz Media Center tenant.[7]
Studio D
Main tracking room of Studio D
From the profits of the 1975 Zaentz-produced film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fantasy Studios expanded further in 1980 with the addition of an adjoining seven-story building which included a fourth recording room, Studio D.[7] It also marked the point at which all rooms became open for use by the public for recording, mastering and film scoring.
The new Studio D was designed by Tom Hidley and constructed by Sierra Audio. The control room featured an automated Neve 8108 board, Hidley monitors, Ampex 16- and 24-track recorders and a Studer 24-track recorder. At 1,500 square feet, the live room was built with multiple interior surfaces (unlike the other three rooms): one side of the room featured bass traps, cork and rock on the walls for a "dead" sound; the other featured hardwood floors and ceiling, and mirrored walls for a more "live" sound.[21] Studio D's mixing console was later updated to an SSL SL 4000 E.[21]
One of first albums to be recorded and mixed in its entirety in the newly opened Studio D was Journey's Escape, which reached #1 on the Billboard 200 Chart. The album contained such hits as "Open Arms" (which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 List), "Who's Crying Now" (reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 List) and "Don't Stop Believin'" (reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 List).[22] Fantasy Studios' staff engineer Wally Buck worked as Assistant Engineer on the album.
In November 2011, Studio D's original half-wood, half-carpet floors were updated to hardwood cherry flooring.
Johnson, Heather (2006). If These Halls Could Talk: A Historical Tour Through San Francisco Recording Studios. Thomson Course Technology. ISBN1-59863-141-1.
