The Studio:
Stratosphere Sound's new rooms were designed by renowned studio architect Fran Manzella, (who recently completed Sterling Sound's new mastering facility just down the street). The variety of recording spaces includes a huge main live room with a twenty five foot ceiling, as well as a choice of smaller live spaces for different ambiences. The control rooms are spacious and comfortable, as well as sonically accurate. Both studios are linked together via tie lines and swappable disc drives, allowing for projects to move easily between rooms if need be.
Up one flight of spiral stairs, clients can enjoy natural sunlight and an Empire State Building view through the floor to ceiling windows of our loft-like lounge and dining area which also looks down "Abbey Road" style on Studio A's main live room.
Owners:
James Iha was a member of the Smashing Pumpkins. He also plays guitar in A Perfect Circle, records as a solo artist, produces, and is co-owner of the indie label Scratchie Records.
Adam Schlesinger is an Academy and Grammy Award nominated songwriter, ("That Thing You Do" and "Stacy's Mom" respectively), a member of the bands Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy, and a record producer. He also co-owns Scratchie Records with Iha.
Andy Chase is a member of the band IVY, as well as his solo band Brookville, and a songwriter/producer/engineer/mixer with several gold and platinum credits. He was also the original founder of The Place studio, which later became Stratosphere Sound.
Staff:
Chief Engineer Geoff Sanoff: Geoff hails from Washington, D.C. and while he hasn't lived there for many years, his musical sensibilities were shaped growing up in the DC music scene. After college Geoff played in an indie rock band called Edsel and during that time he was bitten with the recording bug, ultimately leading him to New York, and to a studio called the Place.
Fast forward several years as the Place evolved into Stratosphere, and Geoff has been involved with the studio's growth for over a decade. In that time he has had the pleasure of working on projects both within the studio's family (Ivy, Fountains of Wayne, James Iha) and outside of it (Television, the Secret Machines, Nada Surf).
Geoff has worked on all manner of musical projects ranging from rock bands like Green Day and Dashboard Confessional to country folk artists like Hem. He has worked on songs and soundtracks for major Hollywood films, mixing or recording music on films like Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and El Cantante with Jennifer Lopez. And he has worked on music for television, most recently the Steven Colbert Christmas Special which featured Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Toby Keith and Feist.
His most recently completed projects include producing and mixing the new album for Sub Pop artists Obits, recording the A Camp and Tinted Windows records, and mixing the new album for South African indie rockers Blk Jks. Last year, Geoff worked with Green Day, Michael Stipe and Keith Urban, while so far in 2010, Geoff has engineered and mixed tracks for the likes of Asian Kung-Fu Generation, The Soundtrack of Our Lives (for Limewire's Live at Lime session), Lloyd Cole and Nada Surf.
Engineer Rudyard Lee Cullers: Originally from a farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Rudyard Lee Cullers (aka "Ruddy") started his music career managing the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, while attending college at UGA. During his time at the 40 Watt, he was treated to many amazing shows: from Nirvana, Jesus Lizard and Fugazi to REM and Arlo Guthrie. After recording his own music for years, Ruddy branched out, and began working at Water Music in Hoboken, NJ, before finding a new home at Stratosphere Sound in 2001. While at Stratosphere, Ruddy has worked with the likes of Ryan Adams, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yoko Ono, REM, Bright Eyes and Depeche Mode, and has produced albums for The Diggs, Kudu and BMLINX. Most recently, Ruddy's been engineering and mixing the soundtrack for comedian Louis CK's upcoming TV show on FX (tentatively titled "Louie", and due out in the Summer of 2010). Additionally, Ruddy has been engineering and mixing tracks for Green Day, and producing New York band Delilah's debut.
Engineer Arjun Agerwala: Arjun hails from a small town in Westchester County, New York. He began his life at Stratosphere in the early 2000's as an intern, and quickly worked his way up the ranks, assisting bands like Depeche Mode, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and The Secret Machines. He graduated to being an engineer, bringing in his own projects - like Swervedriver's Adam Franklin, and manning the consoles for the likes of Fountains of Wayne, Josh Freese, comedian Dan Fogler, Motion City Soundtrack, Hem, and Liam Frost. When he's not working at Stratosphere, Arjun is writing and performing his own music, with his band the Still Out.
Studio Manager Sophie Smith: Sophie's career began as a publicist at Big Hassle Media, working with the likes of Metric, Kaki King, The Wallflowers and the Bonnaroo Festival, She also worked extensively with acts on Scratchie Records, which introduced her to Adam Schlesinger and James Iha. After six years at Big Hassle, Sophie moved onto digital distributor The Orchard, where she was a Product Manager, overseeing labels like the Wu Music Group, SST Records and Lou Adler's Ode Records. However, throughout her short career, Sophie has always harbored a passion for the studio life, even interning at Q Division Studios in Boston for a brief Summer, so when the opportunity arose to work for Stratosphere in January of 2009, it seemed like a natural move.
Stratosphere Sound's new rooms were designed by renowned studio architect Fran Manzella, (who recently completed Sterling Sound's new mastering facility just down the street). The variety of recording spaces includes a huge main live room with a twenty five foot ceiling, as well as a choice of smaller live spaces for different ambiences. The control rooms are spacious and comfortable, as well as sonically accurate. Both studios are linked together via tie lines and swappable disc drives, allowing for projects to move easily between rooms if need be.
Up one flight of spiral stairs, clients can enjoy natural sunlight and an Empire State Building view through the floor to ceiling windows of our loft-like lounge and dining area which also looks down "Abbey Road" style on Studio A's main live room.
Owners:
James Iha was a member of the Smashing Pumpkins. He also plays guitar in A Perfect Circle, records as a solo artist, produces, and is co-owner of the indie label Scratchie Records.
Adam Schlesinger is an Academy and Grammy Award nominated songwriter, ("That Thing You Do" and "Stacy's Mom" respectively), a member of the bands Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy, and a record producer. He also co-owns Scratchie Records with Iha.
Andy Chase is a member of the band IVY, as well as his solo band Brookville, and a songwriter/producer/engineer/mixer with several gold and platinum credits. He was also the original founder of The Place studio, which later became Stratosphere Sound.
Staff:
Chief Engineer Geoff Sanoff: Geoff hails from Washington, D.C. and while he hasn't lived there for many years, his musical sensibilities were shaped growing up in the DC music scene. After college Geoff played in an indie rock band called Edsel and during that time he was bitten with the recording bug, ultimately leading him to New York, and to a studio called the Place.
Fast forward several years as the Place evolved into Stratosphere, and Geoff has been involved with the studio's growth for over a decade. In that time he has had the pleasure of working on projects both within the studio's family (Ivy, Fountains of Wayne, James Iha) and outside of it (Television, the Secret Machines, Nada Surf).
Geoff has worked on all manner of musical projects ranging from rock bands like Green Day and Dashboard Confessional to country folk artists like Hem. He has worked on songs and soundtracks for major Hollywood films, mixing or recording music on films like Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and El Cantante with Jennifer Lopez. And he has worked on music for television, most recently the Steven Colbert Christmas Special which featured Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Toby Keith and Feist.
His most recently completed projects include producing and mixing the new album for Sub Pop artists Obits, recording the A Camp and Tinted Windows records, and mixing the new album for South African indie rockers Blk Jks. Last year, Geoff worked with Green Day, Michael Stipe and Keith Urban, while so far in 2010, Geoff has engineered and mixed tracks for the likes of Asian Kung-Fu Generation, The Soundtrack of Our Lives (for Limewire's Live at Lime session), Lloyd Cole and Nada Surf.
Engineer Rudyard Lee Cullers: Originally from a farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Rudyard Lee Cullers (aka "Ruddy") started his music career managing the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, while attending college at UGA. During his time at the 40 Watt, he was treated to many amazing shows: from Nirvana, Jesus Lizard and Fugazi to REM and Arlo Guthrie. After recording his own music for years, Ruddy branched out, and began working at Water Music in Hoboken, NJ, before finding a new home at Stratosphere Sound in 2001. While at Stratosphere, Ruddy has worked with the likes of Ryan Adams, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yoko Ono, REM, Bright Eyes and Depeche Mode, and has produced albums for The Diggs, Kudu and BMLINX. Most recently, Ruddy's been engineering and mixing the soundtrack for comedian Louis CK's upcoming TV show on FX (tentatively titled "Louie", and due out in the Summer of 2010). Additionally, Ruddy has been engineering and mixing tracks for Green Day, and producing New York band Delilah's debut.
Engineer Arjun Agerwala: Arjun hails from a small town in Westchester County, New York. He began his life at Stratosphere in the early 2000's as an intern, and quickly worked his way up the ranks, assisting bands like Depeche Mode, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and The Secret Machines. He graduated to being an engineer, bringing in his own projects - like Swervedriver's Adam Franklin, and manning the consoles for the likes of Fountains of Wayne, Josh Freese, comedian Dan Fogler, Motion City Soundtrack, Hem, and Liam Frost. When he's not working at Stratosphere, Arjun is writing and performing his own music, with his band the Still Out.
Studio Manager Sophie Smith: Sophie's career began as a publicist at Big Hassle Media, working with the likes of Metric, Kaki King, The Wallflowers and the Bonnaroo Festival, She also worked extensively with acts on Scratchie Records, which introduced her to Adam Schlesinger and James Iha. After six years at Big Hassle, Sophie moved onto digital distributor The Orchard, where she was a Product Manager, overseeing labels like the Wu Music Group, SST Records and Lou Adler's Ode Records. However, throughout her short career, Sophie has always harbored a passion for the studio life, even interning at Q Division Studios in Boston for a brief Summer, so when the opportunity arose to work for Stratosphere in January of 2009, it seemed like a natural move.
