Fry Pharmacy Studios

Music:

Member Since: 10/8/2005
Band Members:
Influences: For years I have been known as a hardcore analog tape and tube guy. I don't know if you know, but when I lived in NYC I worked for Electro-Harmonix / Sovtek. When I worked there I started putting together a ragtag bunch of vintage recording equipment, and amassing a decent stockpile of NOS USA tubes and amps (between Phil and I, we have a shit load of FENDERS and Ampeg gear that is waiting for you to use on your next record).

My first tapedeck (other then my beloved cassette 4 track from high school) I bought was a Ampex 300 (with mono and stereo heads) from RCA Studios. It is the actual deck that was in the RCA mobile truck throughout the sixties...very well maintained because it was RCA. It is also the same model that my idol Rudy Van Gelder used to record all the beautiful Blue Note records. We still have it and use the preamps daily...almost every overdub goes through it, and two things when we track a band.

We also have a Ampex AG440 from the 60's that we mix to, WE ALSO HAVE AN AMAZING 1974 AMPEX MM1100 2 INCH 16 TRACK, bought from Detroit that IGGY POP and the STOOGES recorded on! (we are Ampex freaks) Sometimes we track bands to tape then transfer to Protools to overdub if they need more tracks, but we prefer to stay in analog for most projects, it is worth it for the open clear but round and thick sound. We think that having only 16 tracks makes for better musical choices.
-Scott
Sounds Like:
Some thoughts on recording at the Fry Pharmacy by Michael Tarbox.

RECORDING. THE FRY PHARMACY.

Waiting for morning coffee, I'll tell you something about the music we've recorded for the new CD... first of all, though, you must know someting about The Fry Pharmacy, the studio the songs were recorded in... It's in Nashville, or more specifically in Old Hickory, just outside Nashville, out by the lake that Johnny Cash made his home on. (Parenthetically: Johnny's old house burnt to the ground last month. We in the Ramblers have theorized that it committed suicide upon learning that it had been recently acquired by one of the Gibb Brothers, of Bee Gees fame.)

Anyway, back to The Fry Pharmacy. It's owned by Scott McEwen, the Ramblers bass player, and his recording pal, Phil Hummer... the place was indeed a Pharmacy, built in the 1920s (or was it the 30s?), and operating for thirty-odd years until closing its doors in the early 60's.

It remained dusty and shuttered until Phil and Scott opened its doors and walked into a ghosted time capsule... Tin ceilings. Cryptic graffitti scrawl on the walls in childlike hand. Walls the weird institutional pale green that was everywhere in the 50s and 60s but is rarely seen today (needless to say we think of that ghastly green as one of the colors of a lost childhood and so, perhaps perversely, it evokes pleasant memories).

The Fry Pharmacy Studio graces the hills of Old Hickory with a certain dusty primitive splendor. It's a grimy gem whoses essence was sensed and only enhanced when Scott and Phil filled it with the tape machines whose acquisition has, over the years, become a life pursuit. These tape recorders are the faithful relics of the pre-digital; their whirring, mechanical personalities have largely disappeared from the studio scene as computers replaced them.

But who can deny the beauty of the sounds captured by these creaky beasts? The Fry Pharmacy’s crazy treasures include a machine that has recorded the pride of Michigan - The Stooges, The White Stripes and The Detroit Cobras... machines like it also recorded masterpieces like "Sticky Fingers." Tucked away in a corner is an old machine of the sort used to capture the exquisite genius of "Kind of Blue."

And when these machines are turned on, they produce smells - the slightest scent of dust burnt off as tubes warm up - and heat. Like all living animals do.

- Michael Tarbox
Record Label: Old Hickory Records
Type of Label: Indie