Blue Jay Recording Studio

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Blue Jay Recording Studio is a commercial recording facility outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1979 the studio has been in operation longer than any other facility in the Boston area.

[edit] A Rich History

Bob and Janet Lawson built Blue Jay in 1979 for the right reason, love of music. They chose Carlisle, Massachusetts, for its rural setting and easy access to the vitality of Boston. Their choice proved to be a wise decision, since clients have always enjoyed the relaxed and private atmosphere at Blue Jay. And the Lawsons built the facility from the ground up, giving them the opportunity to do things right, without compromise.

They created one of the quietest recording spaces to be found anywhere in the world. Bob Lawson explains, "Shortly after opening, we were put to the test when Aerosmith called to cut some basic tracks. They finally got cranked up at about 5 am, and the volume was deafening. I went outside to check out how we had succeeded in our sound isolation. Standing outside, right above Tom Hamilton's wall of bass cabinets, all I could hear were the sounds of early morning birds starting to chirp.^{[citation needed]}" Right, without compromise.

Aside from a well-designed and well-equipped facility, what has distinguished Blue Jay since its early days is its elevated level of professional service. This is owed, in large part, to its first engineer, Glenn Berger. In 1980 Glenn left New York City where he had been working as Phil Ramone's engineer for years. Glenn brought the work ethic from Phil Ramone's legendary A&R Studios to the early Blue Jay. His standards of excellence got passed down to engineers like Ed Goodreau, and Rob Jaczko, who passed it down to guys like Mark Wessel and Mark Tanzer, then to Will Sandalls and Giles Christenson, and on to James Zaner. Looking back, Blue Jay's greatest strength has always been the passion and professionalism of its people.

Blue Jay was home to the First SSL Console in New England. In 1986 the SSL worldwide directory was a thin little pamphlet. There weren't a lot of these consoles around anywhere, and they were in big demand. Suddenly Blue Jay was getting work from England, Nashville, and of course, more from New York. Billy Joel came in with his band. Tom Jones, Carly Simon, Boston and Terence Trent D'Arby came through the doors. Roy Orbison was in for tracking a re-make of his hit, Crying. He brought in an unknown girl from Canada with an amazing voice to sing the duet with him. Her name was k.d. lang. The record won a Grammy, and she said years later that that session was the start of her success.

An interesting assortment of musicians and producers began to work at Blue Jay. During those first few months George Thorogood and the Destroyers came in to track what would be their second album, which went gold. Bill Scheniman came out of the Power Station in New York, and brought in acts like Jonathan Edwards, NRBQ, and Buster Poindexter. Joe Perry came in to record and mix a solo album.

Blue Jay has always prided itself for the diversity of genres that enjoyed working at its studio. Blue Jay could be cutting tracks for Alice Cooper on one day, and mixing for John Williams and The Boston Pops Orchestra on another.

Scott Billington, of Rounder Records, would track a huge number of records all around the country and bring them into Blue Jay to mix; artists like Solomon Burke, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Buckwheat Zydeco. Folk, New Age, and film score composers recorded at Blue Jay. And Jazz artists, like Pat Metheny and Artie Shaw, found a comfortable home at Blue Jay, largely because they liked the feel of the room.

When the SSL went in, Blue Jay committed to upgrading the control room. Hardware is one thing, but to attract the world-class producers, Blue Jay worked with Russell Berger, out of Dallas, to create a mixing space that was absolutely solid. He also made improvements in the studio room, and in the years after that, Blue Jay continued to make tweaks on the rooms, using acoustical engineer Michael Blackmer. And the producers and engineers liked what they heard.

Tom Lord-Alge traveled to Boston a handful of times to mix records at Blue Jay. Mike Shipley teamed up with Larry Klein and spent a whole summer here, overdubbing and mixing a solo album for Ben Orr of The Cars. Rhett Davies mixed a record for Aimee Mann and 'til Tuesday. John Potoker came to Blue Jay for many projects including Amy Grant and Genesis. Oscar Castro-Neves came in with Yo-Yo Ma to track songs for Soul of the Tango, which won a Grammy. Other engineer/producers that came through included Tom Dowd, Michael Brauer, Peter Asher, Tchad Blake, John Jansen, Danny Kortchmar, Ed Stasium, Desmond Child, Pete Anderson, Rob Eaton, Brown Bannister, Josh Abbey, and many more.

It would be misleading to mention just major-label acts and top producers. Blue Jay has worked with hundreds upon hundreds of regional and local acts. Indeed, this is Blue Jay's heart and soul. There is so much incredible talent that doesn't make it onto the Billboard charts. Sometimes for reasons that are totally inexplicable, and sometimes their style of music is simply not of a commercial genre. But they still create new and amazing music. These artists are wonderful people and masterful musicians. Blue Jay has always been inspired to work with them, artists like Dispatch, Darkbuster, The Dubnicks, Bleu, Soulwork, Pressure Cooker, Kristen Cifelli, Megan Toohey, Twin Killing, and Six Day Slide.

[edit] A New Beginning

After twenty-two years the Lawsons felt it was time for a change in ownership. They found Marcus Siskind to preserve their legacy and to transform Blue Jay into a state-of-the art facility once again, a studio for the new millennium. Bob Lawson describes what Blue Jay's new owners have done : "Marcus Siskind and his team have created an absolutely stunning facility in every way. It's amazing. The Blue Jay legacy lives on.^{[citation needed]}"

Artist credits include: Billy Joel • Yo-Yo Ma • Terence Trent D’Arby • Genesis • Aerosmith • Tracy Bonham • Aimee Mann • LFO • Backstreet Boys • Pat Metheny • K.D. Lang • Boston • Alice Cooper • Lyle Mays • Marky Mark • The Story • Carly Simon • John Williams • The Boston Pops Orchestra • Roy Orbison • Amy Grant • George Thorogood • Johnny A • Lauryn Hill • The Platters

Producer/Engineer credits include: Tom Lord-Alge • Chris Lord-Alge • Clif Magnus • Steve Kipner • Eric Dawkins • Michael Brauer • Tchad Blake • Tom Dowd • Danny Kortchmar • Peter Asher • Rhett Davies • Peter Walsh • Mike Shipley • John Porter • Josn Abbey • Larry Klein • Pete Anderson • John Alasia • Jay Healey • Oscar Castro-Neves • Brown Bannister • Desmond Child • John Jansen • Ed Stasium • Bill Scheniman • Warren Riker • Mike Tucker • Jimi "Bonzai" Caruso • Sean Garrett • Greg Collins