After years of restoration, research and archive digging, the Les Paul Foundation has opened the Les Paul Recording Studio as part of the historic United Recording facility in Los Angeles, California.
Anyone who rents out the new Les Paul Recording Studio will have full access to record with Paul’s immaculately restored 8-track mixing console, known as The Monster, and Paul’s Ampex 5258 Sel-Sync 8-track recorder, known as The Octopus, which is widely credited as the first-ever 8-track recorder. The gear has also been revamped to allow for it to be hooked up to a digital audio workstation and used as a modern console.
“It’s like having the Wright brothers’ plane and actually being able to fly it,” says Tom Camuso, director of audio engineering.
The new studio brings Paul’s recording equipment back to Hollywood, where he first invented them, after a long stint in the Mahwah Museum in Mahwah, NJ. Paul built these tools in the 1950s in the garage of his nearby Hollywood home when recorded music technology was incredibly limited. Over time, the multi-genre guitarist, producer and inventor developed what he called his “New Sound,” which included pioneering revolutionary techniques like multi-track recording, sound-on-sound, close miking, overdubbing, speed manipulation, echo and more.
Paul also had a hand in creating the solid-body electric guitar, of course. Among the other perks of the Les Paul Recording Studio, musicians will now be able to check out a number of Paul’s early electric guitars as well as a vast archive of his photos.
“We’ve painstakingly restored Les Paul’s original gear to working condition, allowing today’s artists to record using the exact tools that revolutionized popular music. Combined with the newest technology and digital recording tools, the Les Paul Recording Studio will welcome musical artists, producers, engineers and students to a new and innovative studio environment that is the only one of its kind in the world,” says Michael Braunstein, executive director of the Les Paul Foundation.
The studio will also act as a place for students to learn about Paul’s contributions to the history of recorded music and to record their own compositions. For more information about the studio, visit les-paul.com.
