Tutti & Bing Crosby

"Why would I want to own a studio," Walt Disney responded to the suggestion of his company’s director of recording Tutti Camarata. "I’d rather be a client." Was this gentle Walt’s way of asking his music man to seek employment elsewhere, or a subtle nudge to encourage entrepreneurship? Tutti presumed the latter, and so it began.

Tutti & Annette in Studio 1

It was a perfect little brick structure, once an automotive repair garage.

The walls, ceiling, and floor all slanted toward one corner of the cavern where the excess automobile fluids trickled into a drain. Non-parallel surfaces are ideal for acoustic control---and ideal for a studio! Tutti kicked the tires a few times and declared "I’ll take it!" Little did he know that the small step he took in 1958 on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood would soon be joined by the stampede of giants.

Jim Morrison & producer Paul Rothchild in front of Sunset Sound taking a break from “Strange Days” sessions in the summer of 1967.

Once he got the engine up and running, Sunset Sound’s one studio began cranking out Disney recordings for "Bambi", "Bedknobs & Broomsticks", "Mary Poppins", "101 Dalmations" and dozens of others, many in the then state-of-the-art format: magnificent mono. Fortunately the formats evolved as quickly as the stellar giants revolved in and out of the studio’s doors over the next few years. In short order, it was "Goodbye Goofy, Hello Rock’n’Roll."

Oh, there were a few sputters along the way, even a backfire or two, but that Studio 1 eventually grew into a three-room complex, driven by a credo of technical and musical excellence without compromise. Sunset Sound geared up from a Model-T, added RPMs of horsepower (including the Sound Factory in 1981), and cruised into the classic collection it is today. No one can yet refer to the company as an Edsel: now with son Paul in the driver’s seat, it’s too busy racing into the future!

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