Lucky Number 53

It’s an awfully cliché way to start an article, but the third time truly was a charm for Jim Johnson, owner of Planet10studios in Palatine.

Planet10 is what used to be Studio 53, an iconic Chicagoland recording studio home to iconic Chicagoland recorders like Bob Blum, Don Griffin, and the late Jerry Soto. It was also one of the first places Johnson worked at when he moved from Los Angeles to Chicago in 1990 as a 27-year-old.

It was love at first session, you could say.

“I did a couple projects [at Studio 53], one of my [bands] and one for another band, and I really liked the place,” Johnson remembers. “I just kinda, I really liked this place and I started working at other smaller places and stuff, and they weren’t as cool as this place.”

In 2000, after a decade rotating between the usual suspects like StudioChicago and Chicago Trax for projects, Johnson opened Planet10 in Barrington, but he never forgot Studio 53.

“I’ve tried to get this place many times, and was always like a day late, or a week late from signing the lease,” he says. “I was here when Don Griffin had it; I heard that he was leaving and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I’ll go see if I can get that place.’ I came down here and I had just missed it. Then Jerry Soto [Soto Sound] had it for about five years, and he passed away [in 2005] and I heard through the grapevine [the space would be available] and called over here and the guy’s like, ‘You know, we just leased it last week.'”

Tenacity, though, is obviously one of Johnson’s stronger traits. He heard whispers from “inside sources” that Tony Doppke, who turned Soto Sound into Cleancut Recording after Soto’s death, was disillusioned with the recording business. Good taste in reading material is obviously another of Johnson’s better traits, because early this year he noticed Cleancut was no longer advertising in Illinois Entertainer. Johnson did the math and was determined not to be just late yet again.

“I kept tabs,” he says slyly. “I went on his Web site, and that was gone. Went to his Myspace page and he hadn’t looked at it for a few months and stuff. So I put a couple calls into him to see what was going on, and never got a call back.

“Then in May I noticed everything was gone; there was nothing. Called over here in the middle of May and the leasing guy says ‘Well actually, it’s going to be available June 1st,’ and I said ‘I’ll take it.'”

But when Johnson and his partners, Frank Lucas and Vince Console, officially took over June 1st, they saw a very different space than the one Johnson remembered.

They found a legendary studio, robbed of its legend. “It was just disastrous,” Johnson says bluntly. “It didn’t look good, it wasn’t taken care of and it really made me upset, because the place . . . everybody worked here; major people came in here and did work, and to see it fall apart like that just kinda blew me away.

“I was very anxious to get this place because I know what it was about. I know the history of this place. It deserves to be on the map.”

So the work began on the 2,800-square-foot (the Barrington counterpart was less than half that size) studio. Two solid months of work, to be exact. Two solid months of . . . painting? Most of the trio’s elbow grease went to cosmetics, not the working elements. After all, six days after Cleancut officially became Planet10studios, Johnson was in session. Having a good-working studio wasn’t the problem – having a good-looking one was.

“The color scheme was just really drab, and carpets were dirty. It was just not, it didn’t feel good at all and there were no pictures on the wall, just nothing. It didn’t seem like anything. We painted everything,” Johnson says with a sigh, “the kitchen, the bathroom, the hallway, the lounge. We got really cool, colored furniture in there, and we have one-off artwork that a friend of mine paints. [The studio is] just, it’s awesome.”

There was one non-cosmetic concern, actually: the acquisition of a Neve 8108 console. After a extensive research and hunting, Johnson tracked down an 81 being recapped and refurbished in New Jersey, on target to be done by October. Perfect, he thought. The only problem? “He called me and said everything was done and all the parts are finished, and I said, ‘O.K., well we’re gonna come pick it up,’ and he said, ‘Well, I’d really like to have it turned on for two or three months solid and tweak it.’

“Unfortunately for us, that wasn’t gonna work, because to drive out there in the winter time, would not have been a good thing,” Johnson laughs. “To drive through Pennsylvania and Ohio in December or January, no fucking way man. No way.”

The Neve was the final piece in Johnson’s restoring-a-legendary-studio jigsaw puzzle, and the reaction, he says, has been nothing short of spectacular. “Paul Wertico has been coming here. He’s done two sessions here, and he’s like, ‘You know, I’ve got a studio at the house, but I just want to come here!’ The [October] EARS [Engineering And Recording Society Of Chicago] we hosted here, and that was the sentiment of everybody here: ‘Wow man, this place feels like a studio. This place feels cool.’

“[Producer] Michael Freeman came out and he’s like, ‘Man, this place is just vibing now, you really transformed it. I want to live here.'”

While Living at Planet10 isn’t an option, Johnson stresses working there is. “We look at it as a public facility,” he says. “I would like to see other producers and engineers take advantage of this facility. We want to be able to let these guys who have their project studios take advantage and use this space for what they don’t have. This place is open for anybody who wants to come in. If they want to mix here; if they want to track drums and bass here; if they want to just do vocals here; if they want to track everything here and mix it at home.

“We’re one of the few [local studios] that really has all the elements to make these things happen.”

Planet10studios is located at 800 E. Northwest Highway in Palatine. Call (847) 221-5676 or visit www.p10studios.com for more information.

Local drummer, producer, songwriter, and muti-instrumentalist Gabriel Anthony (Radakka, Sgt Roxx, Tyrant’s Reign) has been recording his solo debut effort called G.A.G.ORDER13 throughout 2008 at BAREFOOT STUDIO in Beecher with owner/tech Dave Knuth (Steely Dan, Written In Red). A 2009 release is anticipated, but pre-production demo samples can be heard on Myspace.com/gag order13.

At PARAGON RECORDING STUDIO in Chicago, Joe Connors mixed Chicago native Tey Punsalan‘s Christmas album . . . Sadat “Sawdapop” Mohammed recorded his debut record . . . Engineer Michael Blum recorded Julia Cameron‘s stage play, The Medium At Large.

At RIVERSIDE STUDIO in Chicago, African singer/bandleader Samba Mapangala recorded “Obama Ubari Kiwe (Obama Be Blessed).” He was accompanied by his own group as well as guitarist Nathaniel Braddock and saxophonist Greg Ward, both of the Occidental Brothers Dance Band . . . Riverside Studio is Delmark’s house studio and features analog and digital solutions for recording, mixing, and mastering. Head engineer Steve Wagner and staff have recorded the spectrum of musical styles in the North Side space. E-mail wagadelic@delmark.com or call (773) 539-5001 for availability.

Hey Studiophiler: To get your studio or band listed in “Studiophile,” just e-mail info on whom you’re recording or who’s recording you to ed@illinoisentertainer.com, subject Studiophile, or fax (312) 930-9341. We reserve the right to edit or omit submissions for space. Deadline for the January issue is December 15th.

Category: Columns, Monthly, Studiophile