Doppler Studios

Doppler Studios, a recording studio located at 1922 Piedmont Circle in Atlanta, Georgia, was established in 1969 as the one-room studio home of a jingle company; currently it is a facility that houses seven control rooms and six recording rooms.

History

Founded by original co-owners Pete Caldwell and Tom Wells to serve their jingle company, Doppler was initially a single recording studio; in 1978 the move was made to the current location on Piedmont Circle into a building housing two studios. Between 1978 and 1985, two additional studios were added to the building. In 1985, a 10,000-square-foot addition was built, housing Studios E & F; Studio E was designed by George Augspurger (of Perception Inc. in Los Angeles, CA), the acoustical engineer who designed the main monitor speakers in Studios A & E and also redesigned several other rooms at Doppler. The seventh room, Studio G (also designed by Augspurger), was added in 1995.^[1]

In 1996, Bill Quinn and Joe Neil purchased Doppler from Caldwell and Wells. Neil, who already operated his remote recording company Sam's Tape Truck, started as an audio engineer at Doppler. Neil built a second room in the original building before leaving Doppler in the late 70's to work at MasterSound Studios, returning to Doppler in 1983. Quinn came to Doppler in 1973 at Neil's suggestion, and worked as an engineer until becoming studio manager in 1988.^[2]

While at MasterSound Studios, Neil's engineering services were utilized by Isaac Hayes,^[3] Dionne Warwick,^[4] Donald Byrd,^[5] and many others; and through his live recording rig (Sam's Tape Truck), he has recorded Iggy Pop,^[6] the Indigo Girls,^[7] and many others. Neil describes his background and relates some stories from throughout his career in a radio interview conducted by Scott Glazer for Backstage Atlanta here .

Notable Recording Sessions at Doppler

While a number of different types of projects can be produced in a professional recording studio, music recordings often come to mind first. Waterfalls, a #1 hit for recording artists TLC (and considered by many of their fans to be their signature song),^[8] was recorded in part at Doppler Studios.^[9] Hip-hop artists OutKast recorded parts of their debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, as well as their follow-ups ATLiens and Aquemini, at Doppler; this was before they acquired their current studio home Stankonia.^[10] The two highest-selling albums released by Boyz II Men, Cooleyhighharmony and II,^[11][12][13] were both recorded in part at Doppler.^[10] The backing tracks for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta were recorded at Doppler Studios. Dallas Austin recorded the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra playing the music for the 2006 Atlanta branding campaign song "The ATL" at Doppler Studios.^[14] A variety of other bands, artists, producers, and singers have recorded and/or produced music at Doppler, including Aerosmith, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Jimmy Buffett, Mariah Carey, George Clinton, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, Ludacris, Wynton Marsalis, Curtis Mayfield, Nelly, One Direction, P. Diddy, Pearl Jam, Kenny Rogers, Santana, Snoop Dogg, Bruce Springsteen, Gwen Stefani, Usher, Kanye West, and Stevie Wonder.^[10][15][16]

Advertisements and public service announcements can also be produced at a recording studio, and audiobooks are often produced at such facilities as well. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated so much of the Southeastern United States, the Georgia Department of Human Resources created a toll-free help line for Katrina evacuees living in Georgia. To get the word out to those who could benefit from such a help line, the Georgia DHR produced a 30-second radio advertisement promoting the help line that played frequently in Georgia over the months following Katrina; Doppler Studios donated the studio time used to record the commercial.^[17] The 2006 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word was a tie between the audiobook for With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together, by Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, and the audiobook for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, by President Jimmy Carter; President Carter's reading of his book was recorded at Doppler Studios by staff engineer John P. St. Denis.^[18]

In addition to recording music, ads, and audiobooks, Doppler Studios has been involved in ADR (which stands for Automated Dialogue Replacement or Automatic Dialogue Replacement) for some well-known movies and television shows, including The Walking Dead, Scandal, Twelve Years a Slave, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, True Detective, The Blind Side, The Wonder Years, and Weekend at Bernie's.^[19] Staff engineer Shawn Coleman has sound designed and mixed 8 seasons (and counting) of the Adult Swim series Squidbillies in 5.1 surround sound, as well as occasional mixing, composing and performance duties for Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, Perfect Hair Forever, and the viral video Too Many Cooks.^[20][21]

References

Additional links

http://www.dopplerstudios.com
http://www.scottglazer.net/track/465646/joe-neal-recordist-doppler-studios?feature_id=46579