Studio Convergence: The Pigeon Club Moves into Kaleidoscope Sound
In the music production world, convergence today is about more than just styles combining – it can also refer to studios coming together.
That’s exactly what’s happened in the busy New Jersey scene, with the recent integration of Wayne Dorell’s Hoboken facility, The Pigeon Club, into The Patio at Union City’s Kaleidoscope Sound Studios. Working together in a flexible arrangement, the two studios have constructed a cooperative of sorts that’s quickly benefiting everybody – engineers and clients alike.
(l-r) Wayne Dorell and Randy Crafton have joined forces at The Patio in Kaleidoscope Sound.
The Insurmountable Storm
The co-creation had its roots in Hurricane Sandy, which was the third storm in recent years to immerse the Pigeon Club. Founded by Dorell in 1998, the modern/vintage studio was built within an ex-pigeon club racing house, and became renowned among a who’s who of indie and major label artists for its laid-back atmosphere. Just a small list of clients include Yo La Tengo, Marc Ribot, Jill Sobule, GE Smith, Tom “T-Bone” Wolk, Tom Verlaine, Steve Holley, John Wesley Harding, Bernard Purdie, Richard Lloyd, The Minus Five, Fred Smith, Steve Wynn, Whiskeytown, John Agnello, Swingin’ Neckbreakers, and Chris Stamey.
Pigeon Club’s artists came for Dorell and his impressive collection of desirable instruments and gear, which included a Trident 80c console, MCI JH24 2” 24-track and Studer B67 ¼” two-track tape machines, mic pre/EQs from Neve/Daking/Calrec/API/Universal Audio/Valvetronics, Urei/Altec/DBX dynamics/Smart, effects from t.c. electronic, MXR, Lexicon, a mondo batch of mics, and much more.
But Sandy wound up really socking it to The Pigeon Club. Although Dorell managed to save a lot of outboard gear, mics, most of his amps and keyboards, and his Yamaha piano, there were also devastating losses: Just a few of the precious assets totaled by the storm included Pigeon Club’s Trident board, the MCI and Studer tape machines, Hammond B3 organ and Leslie 122 cabinet, and multiple amps.
Soul survivors: vintage Pigeon Club amps high and dry in their new home.
A Safe Haven
Understandably, Dorell was reluctant to go for a third rebuild. Meanwhile, not far away on neighboring Union City’s higher ground, Kaleidoscope co-founder Randy Crafton was just completing The Patio. A Fran Manzella-designed hybrid analog/digital studio with 5.1 surround mixing capability and Dyanaudio monitors, The Patio was created as an ideal complement to Kaleidoscope’s 48-channel API-equipped Studio A (also designed by Manzella).
As Dorell contemplated his next move, he booked a session originally slated for The Pigeon Club into Kaleidoscope’s Studio A. And although they had both been contemporaries for over a decade in the Hoboken/Union City recording scene, Dorell and Crafton had never communicated – until now.
Always gifted at identifying win-win situations, Crafton realized there was another one in the offing, which was to invite Dorell to relocate The Pigeon Club over to the Patio. He devised a plan where Dorell would wire select gear into The Patio, and be able to book his clients there. In turn, Kaleidoscope would receive a portion of the revenue from any Pigeon Club sessions that took place, and have access to Dorell’s array of gear.
“I emailed Wayne and said, ‘Let’s talk – I’ve got an idea that may be good for both of us,’” Crafton recalls. “When I explained it to him he said, ‘I’m sorry, come again? You’re saying that your studio’s done, and I should work there?’ He was waiting for the catch, but there was no catch. I didn’t expect that I’d fill up the room for 30 days a month right away, and we only seemed to have one overlapping client.
“He was doing the whole Hoboken indie rock scene,” continues Crafton. “I thought it was perfect. I’d rather have something cool going on in the room than not, and plus it was a chance to have another more senior engineer in there without actually having him on the payroll. Wayne couldn’t think of why it wouldn’t work – he was able to continue serving his clients, without the expense and time loss of re-building – so we set up a trial basis.”
Gear influx — Dorell’s rack joins the Patio party.
Perfect Harmony
As it turns out, the concept was right on. Thanks to Dorell’s residency, The Patio instantly became populated with artists who came in for tracking and mixing, and Dorell’s choice gear collection got wired into the patch bay. The Patio also gained a Yamaha U3 upright piano — a nice complement to the 1909 Steinway B in Studio A — additional keyboards, more mics, and a large influx of vintage amps and guitars.
“The gear has fit together perfectly,” Crafton says. “The Patio already had the meat and potatoes of a great room, but Wayne brought in all of the boutique stuff, and esoteric things that accumulate in a studio over time. It makes it a very creative and formidable space right out of the gate.”
No matter what your trade, keeping an eye out for mutually beneficial relationships is always a valuable skill. After years in a highly competitive business, Crafton has learned to apply cautious optimism to his quest for productive partnerships.
“You can definitely feel like you’re under siege sometimes, and that you have to be careful,” he observes, “but you try not to let that jade you against finding cool opportunities with cool people. My whole thing is simply forging relationships, based on what’s actually happening – not what you hope will happen, but the reality. In this case it was all about, ‘How do we amp this situation up, and divide it in a good way?’”
— David Weiss
Union City hospitality — Randy Crafton’s Patio rack is a sonically sound host.
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