History
Long-form essays and a chapter-by-chapter history of the last surviving Record Plant.
The Chapters
- 1968–1972Chapter 1 — The Building and the Founders
Gary Kellgren, Chris Stone, and the shipyard office that became a recording studio.
- Oct 1972Chapter 2 — Opening Night, October 28, 1972
The night the doors opened on Bridgeway — and Bay Area music acquired a new home.
- 1973–1979Chapter 3 — The Golden Era, 1973 to 1979
Fleetwood Mac, Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, and the years the building defined a sound.
- 1977–1987Chapter 4 — Club Fed, 1977 to 1987
Federal raid, federal management — the only recording studio ever run by the U.S. government.
- 1988–2008Chapter 5 — The Frager Era, 1988 to 2008
Arne Frager rebuilt the rooms, raised the ceiling for Metallica, and kept the lights on.
- 2008–2020Chapter 6 — The Fallow Years, 2008 to 2020
The CD market collapsed, the big studios closed, and 2200 went quiet — but not dark.
- 2020–presentChapter 7 — The Revival, 2020 to the Present
New stewardship, restored rooms, and a working studio again.
- 1972–presentChapter 8 — Record Plant Artists, A Selected Timeline
Five decades of sessions, condensed into a single chronological pass.
Essays
- History · May 2026
History - The Record Plant and Plant Studios
From a wartime shipyard office to the studio where Dreams was written, where the government once ran the mixing board, and where the last surviving Record Plant still stands.
- Industry · May 2026
Death of the Big Studio
How the great commercial rooms of the 70s and 80s collapsed in the 2000s, and why a handful, including 2200, refused to die.
- Room Theory · May 2026
The Sound of a Room
Tom Hidley built the rooms at 2200 Bridgeway in 1972. Everything that has made this building extraordinary starts with what he put inside the walls before any of the artists arrived.
- History · May 2026
Buzz Me In: Inside the Record Plant Studios
The definitive book about the Record Plant has finally been written.