FAME's legendary Studio A and Studio B offer state-of-the-art facilities for hitmakers, hits and emerging talent on almost any budget. This thriving studio produced one hit album after another, starting with Jimmy Hughes' classic, “Steal Away”. We just want to make sure you understand that some of these costs depend on something other than the length of a recording session, the size of the control room, and the quality of the recording equipment. Word spread from the studio and, over the years, musicians from Otis Redding to Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Osmonds came to record there.
The original production of the label was between 1964 and 1974, and distribution was handled by Vee-Jay Records from 1964 to 1966, Atco Records from 1966 to 1967, Capitol Records from 1969 to 1972 and United Artists Records from 1972 to early 1974. For example, an inexperienced engineer could record a live band and do a quick one-hour live mix on an old console. Soundbetter, which is an online mixing service, has a calculator for apparently calculating the cost of producing and mixing a song, but since the site works with fixed prices, it seems to me that the prices on the calculator are actually higher than the average price my customers pay. The cost of recording a high-quality demonstration in a professional studio can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the reputation and amenities of the studio. If you are new to the music industry, you can work song by song and rent studio time and sound engineering services as you have the funds, or you can record albums in one session for several days.
With DAW like Pro Tools or Ableton Live, it's literally possible to record an entire album on a laptop with a microphone and a bit of hardware. I have seen albums that people enter, having worked a lot on them at home, and they come to a very good studio to cut vocals with an experienced vocal producer. And a state-of-the-art recording studio in Ames, Iowa, will probably cost less than any of those California locations. Aretha Franklin recorded on FAME only once, in early 1967; her hit I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You was recorded at that time, with the Swampers as an accompaniment.
This hall accessed from the control room has been renovated with memories of FAME's historic past, including original recordings by masters, along with artifacts, documentation and photographs that highlight a unique musical legacy of its kind, a legacy that continues to grow with every artist who walks through the sacred ones FAME doors. Hall soon recorded the first hit album from the Muscle Shoals area, You Better Move On, by Arthur Alexander, in 1961. They seem to learn later that when they record on a budget, it's better to make a song or two at a time. A recording studio isn't just for record labels, pop singers and rock stars; it's a place to record voice-overs for radio or television commercials, turn that love song for your partner into a special birthday gift, add vocals to an existing composition, record podcasts, do professional interviews, record music or sound for video games, record audiobooks, create video narrations for videos on your website, record documentaries and, yes, record the debut album of your band that is destined to conquer the world.