Westlake Recording Studios is a well-known music recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 in West Hollywood, CA.

History

The studio was founded as Westlake Audio in the early 1970s by Tom Hidley, and is credited as "one of the first big commercial efforts to produce acoustically standardised 'interchangeable' rooms". Their rooms aimed for an acoustic design that could give a fairly flat frequency response at the recording position, with the ability to control reverberation delay. They were popular, and "Westlake-style" rooms spread to a number of other studios by the late 1970s.

A number of well-known artists have recorded at the studio, including: Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

, Men at Work

Men at Work

Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...

, Josh Groban

Josh Groban

Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...

, Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones

Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

, Alanis Morissette

Alanis Morissette

Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...

, Dave Matthews

Dave Matthews

David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...

, Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

, Rihanna

Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...

, Aaliyah

Aaliyah

Aaliyah Dana Haughton , who performed under the mononym Aaliyah , was an American R&B recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside...

, Britney Spears

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

, Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake

Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...

, Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...

 and Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber

Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...

. A number of films and television shows have also recorded their audio at Westlake.

Recording Studios

Westlake has a total of seven recording studios, including four with full size live rooms, two production rooms and a mixing suite. Studios A and B are located on Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles, CA and Studios C, D, E, Production Room 1 and Production Room 2 are located on Santa Monica Blvd, CA in West Hollywood, CA.

Studio A

Studio A is one of the most historic rooms at Westlake. This room was where Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

's "Thriller" was recorded, the #1 selling album of all time. The control room of Studio A features a 60 channel Neve V3 console and a 1200 square feet (111.5 m²) tracking room, including a large piano isolation room.

Studio B

Studio B is a full size studio that features a 72 channel Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic is a manufacturer of high-end mixing consoles and recording studio hardware headquartered in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, UK.- Company information :...

 4072 G series console and a large selection of outboard gear. It has a 500 square feet (46.5 m²) tracking room and a 65 square feet (6 m²) isolation room.

Studio C

Studio C is a full size studio that features a 72 channel Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic is a manufacturer of high-end mixing consoles and recording studio hardware headquartered in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, UK.- Company information :...

 9072 J series console and a large selection of outboard gear. It has a 1000 square feet (92.9 m²) tracking room and a large private lounge.

Studio D

Studio D is Westlake's largest room. It features a 72 Channel Neve VR console and a large selection of outboard gear. The main tracking area is 1120 square feet (104.1 m²) and there is a 200 square feet (18.6 m²) piano isolation room and a 176 feet (53.6 m) isolation room. Studio D has a private entrance and features 3 lounge areas including a loft that overlooks the tracking room.

Studio E

Studio E is a mixing suite that features a Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic is a manufacturer of high-end mixing consoles and recording studio hardware headquartered in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, UK.- Company information :...

 9072 J Series console. Out of all the studios at Westlake, Studio E has the largest selection of outboard gear. Studio E has a 52 square feet (4.8 m²) vocal booth and a private lounge.

Production Rooms 1 & 2

In addition to the five studios, Westlake has two smaller production rooms designed for overdubs, writing and mixing. Both of these rooms contain Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic is a manufacturer of high-end mixing consoles and recording studio hardware headquartered in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, UK.- Company information :...

AWS 900+'s, 24 channel digitally controlled analog consoles. Both rooms contain small tracking rooms fit to record vocals, guitar, bass and many other smaller instruments.