The Village (a.k.a. Village Recorders, or The Village Recorder) is a famous recording studio in Los Angeles, California.
Since the 1960s, The Village has been the home to recordings by artists such as Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers, The Beach Boys, Mariah Carey, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Alice Cooper, Elvis Costello, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, George Harrison, Elton John, Tom Jones, B.B. King, John Lennon, Little Richard, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Ringo Starr, among others (more comprehensive list below).
Built by the Freemasons in the 1920s, the building was originally a Masonic temple. It remained that way until the 60s, during which the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi used it as his Los Angeles center for Transcendental Meditation. The Building maintains much of the original Masonic characteristics including a large Auditorium/Masonic Meeting Hall and original stained glass windows. Once converted to a studio in the late 60's the Village was the birthplace of classic records including Aja by Steely Dan, Joes Garage by Frank Zappa, Planet Waves by Bob Dylan and many more.
The Village is home to a vintage Neve 8048 console as well as two Neve 88r consoles. The Village is renowned for its extensive inventory of vintage microphones and outboard gear.
John Mayer recorded his album Continuum at The Village Recorder (among other studios), however released some of the sessions from this studio in his EP "The Village Sessions", featuring Ben Harper.
Many major motion picture and television soundtracks have also been recorded at the studio, including Ace Ventura, Dead Poets Society, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Simpsons, Toy Story 2, Walk the Line, The X Files, Wall-E, Revolutionary Road, The Shawshank Redemption and others.
The Village is also home to KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic radio show, hosted by Jason Bentley.