The mastering department of the famous Capitol Studios in Hollywood was closed, with several employees laid off, Universal Music Group confirmed on Tuesday night after news of the closure started circulating on social media.
The recording studios themselves, a tourist spot and magnet for the main artists since their inauguration in 1956, will remain open. But Capitol Studios’ mastering rooms, which were almost as revered by engineers and producers, will not, as these spaces will be converted into recording studios – presumably much smaller than Studio A, where Frank Sinatra used to record with a complete orchestra.
A Universal Music Group spokesman said: “At Capitol Studios, while demand for recording studios remains high, there has been a general decline in requests for mastering services – to the point that we decided to close Capitol’s mastering facilities and focus on other areas of the recording process that are in high demand by artists, including using space to build additional recording suites. “
Also ending: the tape restoration department at Capitol Studios, where the oldest recordings from the UMG catalog were digitized. According to UMG, much, if not most, of this work has already been outsourced to Iron Mountain in Hollywood in recent years.
UMG did not confirm the number of employees cut, but the mastering department had four employees. But an important employee affected by the changes taking place this week was not connected only to the mastering or tape restoration departments, but to Capitol Studios in general: Paula Salvatore, a vice president of the studio who recently celebrated her 30th birthday with the company , and that was widely considered the face of the entire facility.
Salvatore will no longer continue in this role. The news spread to the music community on Monday and Tuesday that Salvatore had been fired, with growing dismay over the possible departure from an institutional device that many considered the face of Capitol Studios. UMG sources say she will remain with the company in a different role, yet to be defined. It is not yet clear, externally, whether she will continue as an employee or as a consultant. Variety was unable to contact Salvatore for comment.
All recordings have to be mastered for the release, so it’s not entirely intuitive because the demand for studio sessions would still be so great, but the mastering work would have decreased as much as the UMG statement suggests. It may be that additional recording studios in such a famous location may require more than a mastering job, which can be outsourced. UMG has external facilities that it uses for mastering in Los Angeles, which must take on jobs that were previously done internally. The company does not project cuts in the mastering facilities of the studios it owns in New York, Nashville, Canada and Mexico.
Mastering rooms at Capitol Studios, with Ron McMaster, already retired, working in 2018
Chris Willman / Variety
The great engineer Steve Hoffman, who oversees the popular message boards of the Hoffman Forums, was one of those who was surprised by the closure of the mastering department. On his Facebook page, he expressed relief at the reopening of recording studios, contrary to initial rumors that they too could face permanent closure. “I hope it’s true,” he wrote, “but why shoot and dominate up close? Will they ever release music? “
Capitol Studios as a whole was closed in the early stages of the pandemic and then reopened under the COVID protocols, with a slowdown in activity, as fewer people were allowed on site and extensive cleaning had to be carried out between sessions. The entire facility was temporarily closed again recently when Los Angeles County imposed new restrictions on entertainment production due to a serious increase in COVID infections; there are hopes that the studio could be reopened if cases decrease in late January, although it seems less likely as the days go by and hospitalizations increase.
The mastering department at Capitol Studios has been particularly known in recent years for its participation in the vinyl revival, although mastering the CD was also done there. The studio’s website, which has not been altered to reflect the department’s closure, still boasts: “Capitol Mastering proudly boasts the living legacy of vinyl lacquer mastering with two legendary Neumann lathes in full-time service. We cut lacquer masters for all shapes, including 7 ”, 10” and 12 ”.”
Sources say lathes and other old or analog equipment will be kept in place and not sold, although they are removed from the mastering rooms as they are converted into recording spaces.
The oldest veteran in the department, Ron McMaster, made headlines (including a Variety profile) when he retired in 2018 after 38 years at the Capitol Tower. He then said he was retiring because the flow of orders for vinyl masters was so intense – sometimes involving cutting four lacquers a day – that he no longer had the energy to keep up with that pace.
Rumors continue to circulate about the future of the Capitol Tower, which was sold in 2007 and then rented to the Capitol label group. The building has landmark status and the studio floors are at least considered safe from conversion to other uses. UMG stated that any conversion of rumors into condominiums remains off the table.
Salvatore’s tenure at the company had not gone unnoticed internally recently. In November, another Capitol Tower tenant, Capitol Records, posted a video on his Salvatore Facebook page touring the famous basement studio, with a caption stating it was “in celebration of Paula Salvatore’s 30th birthday” (below ).