memphis tennessee 1956 headquarters memphis tennessee united states key people willie mitchell owner lawrence boo mitchell owner website williemitchell.com royal studios is a recording studio located in memphis tennessee united states . established in 1956 it is one of the oldest continuously operated music recording studios in the world . it is widely known for producer recording artist and owner willie mitchell 1928 2010 and notable productions of al green chuck berry john mayer buddy guy my morning jacket robert cray de la soul otis rush keith richards solomon burke the bo keys bobby blue bland ann peebles ike & tina turner tom jones anthony hamilton rod stewart cody chesnutt as well as the barnyard and soul men soundtracks . 1 2 3 the studio is operated by the family of willie mitchell with son lawrence boo mitchell serving as manager engineer son archie mitchell serving as an engineer and granddaughter oona mitchell serving as administrator . 4 contents 1 establishment 2 history 3 present 3.1 operation and facilities 3.2 vintage tape machine collection 4 notable recordings 5 references 6 external links establishment edit royal studios was founded in 1956 in memphis tennessee as the operating studio of hi records . 5 the original structure was used as a movie theatre with shamrock theatre opening at the location in 1915 . early theatres of this type showed silent movies and were called nickelodeon theatres because of their nickel admission . the rex theatre a previously open air theatre took over the location and replaced the shamrock theatre . it was converted to sound in the early 1920s and renamed as royal theatre . 6 7 8 royal theatre remained a neighborhood theatre until it closed in 1955 . 7 8 in 1956 the theatre was rented by hi records president joe cuoghi his partners quinton claunch and john novarese as well as three silent partners including cuoghi s lawyer nick pesce . hi records converted the theatre into royal recording studios and opened the doors in 1956 . 5 history edit soon after its establishment in 1956 royal studios became known as the house of instrumentals . this name was due to its production of instrumentals hits including bill black combo s smokie part 2 josephine white silver sands and don t be cruel with each selling over a million copies . 5 in the early 1960s hi records hired willie mitchell as a recording artist and producer . his involvement with royal studios steadily evolved over the 1960s . 5 hi records founding president joe cuoghi died in 1970 and the hi records label had to restructure . attorney nick pesce became president and willie mitchell was promoted to vice president . the royal studios facility came under the direction of willie mitchell and was renamed mitchell s royal sound studio . 9 in 1968 willie mitchell met al green and offered him a record deal . willie mitchell and al green began producing and co writing an album titled green is blues al green s first album released on hi records . after this start willie mitchell and al green collaborated on seven consecutive gold singles starting in 1970 . al green sold over 20 million records during his career with hi records . for the purpose of perspective and comparison to a similar label this was more than the combined album sales of stax records top recording artists otis redding sam and dave and booker t. & the m.g. s during their entire careers . 10 11 other notable artists with albums produced at royal studios during this time include bobby blue bland chuck berry ike & tina turner otis clay ann peebles rod stewart and syl johnson . 2 reaching its commercial peak in the early to mid 1970s hi records declined during the late 70s as a result of soul music being replaced by disco . 5 despite the decline of hi records royal studios remained continuously in production of consistent hits from the 1957s through the present . 9 present edit operation and facilities edit royal studios is in operation at the original location under the management of lawrence boo mitchell one of the sons of willie mitchell . his credit roster includes independent artists and notable acts such as anthony hamilton rod stewart al green cody chesnutt and 8 ball . 4 12 royal studios features two vintage mci recording consoles along with other rare equipment including two original pultec eqs universal audio la2as and la3as . 13 vintage tape machine collection edit royal studios remains in possession of one of the widest collections of studio grade vintage reel to reel tape machines . several of the tape machines are unique and customized . the collection includes a uniquely modified 8 channel ampex 351 with tube circuits replacing the entire transistor circuitry a standard ampex 351 studer b 67 sony apr 5000 mci jh24 and mci jh16 . 13 notable recordings edit royal studios has served a variety of artists during its operation . the list below is of notable albums which feature recordings from royal studios . these albums went platinum gold or won a grammy or other significant recognition . 1966 charlie rich love is after me usa 1967 bobby blue bland a touch of the blues usa 1967 chuck berry chuck berry in memphis usa 1968 ike and tina turner too hot to hold usa 1969 ike and tina turner the hunter usa 1970 al green gets next to you usa 1971 al green let s stay together usa 1972 al green i m still in love with you usa 1973 al green livin for you usa 1973 al green call me usa 1974 otis clay trying to live my life without you usa 1974 ann peebles i can t stand the rain usa 1974 al green explores your mind usa 1975 al green al green is love usa 1975 al green full of fire usa 1975 syl johnson take me to the river usa 1975 rod stewart atlantic crossing usa 1976 al green have a good time usa 1977 o.v. wright into something i can t shake loose usa 1981 jesse winchester talk memphis usa 1985 al green he is the light usa 1986 wet wet wet popped in souled out uk 1988 keith richards talk is cheap uk 1989 al green as long as we re together usa 1992 pops staples and the staple singers peace to the neighborhood usa 1994 tom jones the lead and how to swing it 1995 toshio orito soul joint japan 1996 krzysztof krawczyk poland 1997 boz scaggs come on home usa 1998 otis rush any place i m going usa 2000 de la soul art official intelligence usa 2000 marti pellow smile uk 2001 robert cray shoulda been home usa 2001 jean jacques milteau memphis france 2002 al green i can t stop usa 2003 my morning jacket it still moves usa 2004 al green everything s o.k. usa 2005 buddy guy bring em in usa 2005 roy young memphis israel 2005 marti pellow moonlight over memphis uk 2006 axelle red jardin secret belgium 2006 the bo keys barnyard the movie soundtrack usa 2006 john mayer continuum usa 2007 bernard lavilliers france 2008 anthony hamilton soul men the movie soundtrack usa 2008 axelle red sisters & empathy belgium 2008 denise lasalle usa 2009 rod stewart soul book usa 2010 marti pellow uk 2010 axelle red belgium 2010 solomon burke nothing s impossible usa 2011 cliff richard soulicious uk 2011 cody chesnutt landing on a hundred usa 2014 mark ronson uptown funk usa 1 2 3 4 10 12 14 14 references edit a b willie mitchell memphis based producer arranger and songwriter for al green ann peebles and wet wet wet . the independent . a b c hi records cds and vinyl . discogs.com . 2016 01 06 . retrieved 2016 01 10 . a b https web.archive.org web 20111015010112 http www.bsnpubs.com tennessee hi.html . archived from the original on october 15 2011 . retrieved october 19 2011 . missing or empty title help a b c https web.archive.org web 20120502162624 http pulse.ful.com blog.php p 28 . archived from the original on may 2 2012 . retrieved october 19 2011 . missing or empty title help cite error invalid ref tag ; name delasoul defined multiple times with different content see the help page . a b c d e hazen cindy and freeman mike . memphis elvis style . winston salem john f. blair publisher . 1997 . isbn 978 0 89587 173 2 bowers david . nickelodeon theatres and their music . new york the vestal press . 1988 . a b memphis city directory . 1915 1927 1956 1957 a b andria lisle . everything s coming full circle as willie mitchell s sons carry on his memphis music legacy . mca . a b hoffmann frank w. encyclopedia of recorded sound volume 1 p. 491 . new york routledge . 2004 . isbn 0 415 93835 x a b guralnick peter . sweet soul music . new york harper and row . 1986 . parles jon and romanowski patricia ed . the rolling stone encyclopedia of rock & roll . new york rolling stone press summit books . 1983 . a b fisheye music the professional music production network for recording mixing and mastering . . fisheye music.com . a b https web.archive.org web 20120306004140 http www.livefrommemphis.com music item flipside memphis royal studios . archived from the original on march 6 2012 . retrieved october 19 2011 . missing or empty title help a b willie mitchell legendary producer at hi records & royal studio memphis passes away . offbeat magazine . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to royal studios memphis . official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title royal studios & oldid 739328135 categories recording studios in the united statescompanies based in memphis tennesseeentertainment companies established in 19561956 establishments in tennesseehidden categories pages with reference errorspages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlspages with duplicate reference namescommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial 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