Intermedia Sound Studios
For thousands of people who walk down Boston’s Newbury Street on a daily basis, the space at number 331 looks like any other address on the city’s busiest shopping thoroughfare. Behind the current storefront, however, lies a deep history and a key musical connection that helped shape the local area’s scene and provide more than a few classic albums by artists known to music lovers across the globe.
Opened in 1971, Intermedia Sound Studios was the early home of broadcasts from legendary FM powerhouse WBCN, which had high-quality stereo lines connected to the studio and aired shows featuring artists such as Jerry Garcia, Canned Heat and Loggins & Messina. Fred Taylor-owned Paul’s Mall also had stereo lines connected to Intermedia for such purposes, and local musicians would often stop by and hang out during such live broadcasts, which turned out to be a harbinger of the studio’s future. The frequent radio exposure provided Intermedia with a significant amount of free publicity, which led to up-and-coming artists and recording engineers cutting their teeth inside its soundproofed walls on Intermedia’s 16-track equipment, which featured a unique design that limited ambient noise and was state-of-the-art at the time.
NOTABLE 1970S RECORDINGS
Throughout the 1970s, the creative diversity inside Intermedia was nothing short of remarkable. In late ‘71, Boz Scaggs recorded a 14-song collection at the studio and in ‘72 Aerosmith recorded their eponymous debut album there, which Columbia released in January ‘73. The comedy duo of Cheech and Chong recorded their 1976 album Sleeping Beauty at Intermedia. Hyannis native Paul Pena recorded LPs there, produced by Ben Sidran, who also produced Steve Miller Band; Pena contributed his original song “Jet Airliner” to Miller, whose rendition hit #8 in the Billboard Hot 100 in ‘77.
Bonnie Raitt used Intermedia for mixing and overdubs of her debut album in 1971 and Livingston Taylor, among others, did live-mix recordings that were broadcast on WCAS-AM in Cambridge at the studio. Production mastermind Maurice Starr, the man behind New Edition and New Kids on the Block, recorded at Intermedia early in his career. In between gigs at The Boston Tea Party and the free music in the park series they started in Cambridge, Ill Wind also took part in live broadcasts from the studio. Many Intermedia-made recordings by local and national acts were not released by record labels for one reason or another.
THE CARS, SYNCRO SOUND STUDIOS, NOTABLE 1980S RECORDINGS
Fast forward to 1981, when Boston’s own The Cars bought the aging studio in an effort to bring bands to the city and keep the musician-driven vibe of Intermedia alive. They wanted to create a studio that was truly a “musicians place,” said Ric Ocasek, the band’s iconic frontman. “It’s the sort of place where people talk about music, meet other people,” he said in 1983. “It’s a place to get updated in.”
When The Cars bought the studio, it was in tough shape and they had to deal with issues ranging from an outdated control room to heating and plumbing problems; the band wound up hiring an architect to redesign the space and a construction company to totally gut and rebuild it. After making it fully functional in only eight months, the new owners renamed the space Syncro Sound Studios and it drew a broad swath of both local and national acts. Cars’ members themselves had solo projects they produced at Syncro in addition to recording their fourth album, Shake It Up, there in 1981. Romeo Void, The New Models and ‘Til Tuesday also recorded LPs at Syncro Sound in the 1980s.
HOME STUDIO IMPACT, CLOSING, LEGACY
Like most professional recording studios of that time, Syncro’s business began to fade in the early 1980s – almost immediately after The Cars became owners – as musicians became increasingly software savvy and started to build home studios; they could record and do their own production work for a fraction of the cost of studio time. By the summer of ‘83, The Cars were absentee landlords of a studio that was often empty and decidedly unprofitable. They even cut their Heartbeat City LP at Battery Studios in London that year, not at Syncro.
In December 1986, Billboard magazine announced that the studio was closing and that the entire operation would be sold. Despite its sudden, rapid decline into oblivion, though,, Intermedia/Syncro’s contributions to the Boston scene over 15-odd years and the legacy left by the artists who recorded there are permanently etched in the cement of New England’s rich musical heritage. The computer- and software-driven world may have made the studio obsolete in one sense, but it could never replace the sense of camaraderie that Ocasek mentioned. Intermedia is fondly remembered for its unique spirit of being with, learning from and helping artists capture the vibe from those of the same ilk. Ocasek put it perfectly: “a place to get updated in” is exactly what the cozy little studio at 331 Newbury Street was.
(by Mark Turner)
