(l-r) David Goggin (aka Mr. Bonzai), Chris Stone, and Martin Porter in Stone’s office. Photo Credit: KamranV. Stylin’ by MrB.
The Record Plant Diaries is an oral history project about the Record Plant recording studios and remote recording trucks. Beginning in 2015, with the donation of the personal archives of studio co-founder Chris Stone, two journalists (click here for our bios) began the task of interviewing a target list of nearly 150 engineers, assistants, producers, studio managers and artists, while assembling an archive of memorabilia, photographs, videos, book references and magazine articles.
The project began with over 50 hours of interviews with Stone, but it was always intended to be broader than just his story. In fact, Stone himself encouraged our efforts to tell the whole story – in all its dimensions and wherever the truth took us.
Early on, the sheer volume of research and “alumni” participation led us to focus “Phase One” on the studio’s first ten years, beginning pre-Record Plant (1966) with co-founder Gary Kellgren’s formative years as a New York recording engineer and ending with Kellgren’s untimely death during the summer of 1977, which was followed by the destruction by fire of Record Plant LA’s famed Studio C in January 1978.
This website will provide ongoing (published and unpublished) updates from the Diaries’ efforts to accurately chronicle the history of the studios and the artists it served, providing a historical, behind-the-scenes perspective on the golden age of recording and classic rock and roll.
The Record Plant Diaries is very much a community-effort, and the stories published here are only made possible by the gracious participation of the three, often-distinct Record Plant families in New York, Los Angeles and Sausalito.
All of your memories and corrections are welcome. Our goal is to make this website the definitive history and we are honored to help preserve your stories and the musical contribution of the Record Plant studios for generations to come.
Marty & Bonz
(To contact us click here)