Quad Studio Owners Keep Nashville’s Musical Heritage Alive

For the past several years, a fight to save famous commercial recording studios has entangled Nashville.

Some studios have closed to make room for redevelopment, some have made international headlines as they dodged the wrecking ball, and then there’s Quadrophonic Studio.

As the Outlaw movement ushered in a new era and Nashville dug its stake even deeper into the ground as the world’s country music capital in the 1970s, the city also broadened its musical horizons. Pop stars such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Linda Rondstadt and Neil Young came to Music City to record albums that would become classics.

And Quad Studio, founded by revered studio musicians David Briggs and Norbert Putnam, was the place where many of these pop stars chose to record their masterpieces.

Without the fanfare of Studio A, which was saved in 2014, Quad Studios was quietly saved last year when songwriter Marti Frederiksen partnered with Round Hill Music CEO Josh Gruss to purchase the Midtown building for just less than $1 million. The new owners did more than preserve the famous studio — they refurbished the recording space and moved Round Hill’s employees into the upstairs offices. The facility is home to eight full-time employees and about 20 songwriters. The studio’s new name is Sienna Recording Studio.

A tour through the building is a tour through Nashville’s proud musical heritage as a town about more than country music.

Shortly after Briggs and Putnam opened the studio in 1970, Baez recorded “Blessed Are” there. Dobie Gray followed with “Drift Away.” Then Young made “Harvest” at Quad, and the studio cemented itself as the place for pop stars to record.

Round Hill’s commitment to the facility is evident by the fact that the company has continued to field offers to sell. By preserving the studio facilities, the company has given a critical win to preservationists worried that Nashville’s musical heritage is under attack from developers.

“People come in all the time,” studio manager Kari Smith said. “They walk in and offer double what was paid for it. Marti bought it because he gets to use the studio; he thinks this is a great studio.”

Quad was creative hangout.  Quad Studios wasn’t built to become a pop music mecca. Putnam said he and Briggs were cash-strapped and couldn’t put in all the improvements they wanted when they bought the building in 1969.

But one asset they did include is an isolated drum room, something Putnam believes was the first in Nashville.
“I wish I could tell you David and I knew what we were doing,” Putnam said. “Almost all of the good things that happened there were a matter of necessity.”

In order to foster a creative atmosphere where musicians and songwriters hung out even when they didn’t have projects at Quad, Putnam said he and Briggs copied an idea from Music Row executive Bob Beckham, who gave out free beer at his Combine Music offices each day around 5:30 p.m.

“Combine had a ton of great writers including Kris Kristofferson,” Putnam said. “He was next door to RCA Studio A in one of those old houses, and Beckham had free beer every day from 5:30 to 6. That was the exact time the studio musicians got off, so you could just get off work and go over to Beckham’s and have a beer, and half the city would be there.

“We thought, wouldn’t it be great if people came over here? Beckham has free beer, so let’s put in a fully stocked bar.”

Briggs said hosting 40 to 50 people per day for drinks, and later food as well, got too expensive, and eventually they had to trim their happy hour offerings.

But the successful albums recorded there and the creative people who gathered at Quad made the studio a special place.

“It was quite a group of people who came in,” said Briggs, who went on to open the House of David Studio, where many famous artists also recorded.

The studio became a magnet for creative people. When Putnam and Baez needed singers for their chorus on “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” they just went out to the bar area and wrangled a collection that included Dave Loggins, Guy Clark and Jimmy Buffett.

“We said, ‘Let’s get all the drunks in here and see what it sounds like,’” Putnam said.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum historian Michael McCall said Quad benefited from the “The Johnny Cash Show,” because pop artists who would come to Nashville to perform on the show would stop by Quad, where many decided to record their projects.
The studio remained in operation after Briggs and Putnam sold it in 1980. Like other commercial studios, it faced tough times as many projects went to home recording studios in recent years, but was available for rent for the general public.

Smith, the new manager, said the goal is to reserve the refurbished, modern main recording room for “VIP clientele” and not the general public. The renovated building includes new writer rooms, which Round Hill hopes will foster a comfortable and creative atmosphere such as the one Briggs and Putnam imagined when they opened the studio.

Round Hill takes a creative approach to the music business. The company has gobbled up lucrative back catalogs, but also signed up-and-coming writers. The company, based out of New York, bought Frederiksen’s catalog, which was the genesis of Round Hill in Nashville.

Round Hill also bought the catalogs of Big Loud Shirt and Big Tractor Music. Veteran Mark Brown, who serves as vice president and general manager of the Nashville office, said the goal is to give the songwriters a creative atmosphere.

“We want to do special projects with special people,” Brown said. “The way we’ve reimagined all of these rooms will be spaces for writers to utilize. It’s a special place.”

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and on Twitter @tnnaterau.

 

Quad Studio owners keep Nashville’s musical heritage alive

For the past several years, a fight to save famous commercial recording studios has entangled Nashville. Some studios have closed to make room for redevelopment, some have made international headlines as they dodged the wrecking ball, and then there’s Quadrophonic Studio.