愛惠旗艦店

位於紐約，素以生產排行金曲著名的錄音室 The Hit Factory 即將關門大吉。The Hit Factory 是大牌們的最愛，John Lennon在這邊錄完死前的最後幾首歌，Bruce Springsteen在這錄了 Born in the USA，惠妮在這邊飆出她的最高音。1994年 The Hit Factory更創下一個紀錄，當年獲葛來美獎提名的所有歌曲中，有41首是出產於這裡，其中包括惠妮的The Bodyguard原聲帶。這個傳奇的錄音室將會在這個月正式關閉並搬遷至佛州邁阿密。(紐約日報消息)

The Hit Factory - the famed Manhattan music studio where John Lennon spent his last hours, Bruce Springsteen laid down tracks for "Born in the U.S.A," and Whitney Houston hit her highest notes - is shutting its doors.
Doomed by the digital revolution, the rock 'n' roll temple's owners said yesterday they will move their W. 54th St. headquarters to a smaller facility in Miami within a month.

The news saddened industry veterans and employees of The Hit Factory, which for three decades has been home to music royalty from Barbra Streisand to Beyonce.

"Every major artist has worked here," studio tech Luis Ghigliotty, 52, said outside the building, where the hallways are lined with platinum records.

Music producer Jerry Ragovoy opened the studio on W. 48th St. in 1968, initially as a place in the city where his own artists could record.

Pretty soon, other musicians were clamoring to work there, and Ragovoy began renting the room to the likes of Roberta Flack and Iron Butterfly.

"The studio was a Who's Who of rock 'n' roll," Ragovoy said. "Before you knew it, the calls were coming in all day long, and I found it difficult to book time myself."

In 1975, he sold the place to Ed Germano, who eventually moved it six blocks uptown to a plush 100,000-square-foot facility with seven recording rooms and five mastering suites.

Under Germano's ownership, the studio lived up to its name.

Stevie Wonder, his first customer, recorded some of "Songs in the Key of Life" there. Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Madonna and David Bowie were regulars.

Lennon and Yoko Ono set up shop at The Hit Factory when they recorded "Double Fantasy." The ex-Beatle was on his way home from the studio when he was murdered in 1980.

In 1994, The Hit Factory made musical history when it collected 41 Grammy nominations for songs recorded, mastered or mixed there - including Houston's soundtrack for "The Bodyguard."

Germano believed the key to his success was his willingness to cater to any artist - unknowns and superstars alike.

He would fly equipment across the Atlantic on a day's notice or rip up a carpet if a singer didn't like the color. He once put 40 bales of hay in a studio to make a country singer feel comfortable.

The Hit Factory's streak was hottest in the 1970s and 1980s, but it remained one of the top studios in the hip-hop era - even becoming a battlefield in the rap wars when 50 Cent was stabbed outside in 2000.

Germano, who died in 2003, also expanded to Miami, merging with Criteria Studios, which will be the company's new base.

Big-name studios like The Hit Factory once had a lock on the recording industry, but technological advances have made it cheaper and easier for stars to build their own state-of-the-art facilities, often in their homes.

In a statement, The Hit Factory acknowledged the industry is moving away from large-scale studios to "destination" locations like Miami that offer sunny weather and a hot nightlife.