Hamilton studio that recorded Gordon Lightfoot, Johnny Cash and many more celebrates 50 years of music

The Hamilton record studio that helped icons like Gordon Lightfoot and Johnny Cash lay down tracks will celebrate 50 years in the music industry this year. 

Grant Avenue Studio was founded by legendary Canadian record producer and musician Daniel Lanois, his brother Bob Lanois and their partner Bob Doidge back in 1976. The studio is located in a 1918, Edwardian-style converted residence on Grant Ave. near Main St. E. Over the years, it has attracted top talent from across the country and the world. 

Mike Bruce and partners Debbie Bruce and Marco Montano purchased the business in 2023. 

“It’s like a living museum,” says Bruce. “So, when you walk in here, you can just feel the energy, you know, 50 years of history… These guys didn’t know what they were doing when they built this studio, but somehow knew exactly what they were doing. By building it into this house, it’s kind of like the ultimate home studio. And just through, you know, sheer will and determination and some experimentation they made it into this soundproof environment that still holds tons of charm.” 

Jamie Tennant, local music aficionado and longtime program director at CFMU, McMaster University’s campus and community radio station, says the studio is itself something of a rolling stone gathering momentum under its own movement over the decades. 

“Grant’s an interesting place because everyone kind of wanted to record there because it had this historical element,” Tennant told CBC Hamilton. “Folk people loved the fact that Gordon Lightfoot has been there, that Johnny Cash recorded there… Real music nerds got excited about the Brian Eno angle, him being there working with Dan Lanois. So it just sort of had this bigger than life reputation.”

Eno is the influential British musician and producer who worked with David Bowie, David Byrne, U2 and many more of the greatest rock and pop artists over the last several decades after co-forming his own band, Roxy Music, in the early 1970s.

Bruce says that there haven’t been many updates to the studio other than new flooring or a few acoustic treatments since it was adapted to its current purpose in the 1970s and ’80s. The window wells are one of the building’s oddities. Bruce says the former owners filled them with sand instead of crushed stone in the name of soundproofing. 

‘Hotbed of talent’ featured in YouTube series

Bruce says he’s continually “blown away” by the “hotbed of talent” in Hamilton. 

“We kind of get a really good cross-section of different disciplines and genres,” he says. “We’ve had opera singers in here. We’ve had jazz bands. We’ve done audiobooks… When we first took it over we had Johnny Fay from The Tragically Hip in here doing a session with Amy King who engineers here. We’ve had Brad Roberts from the Crash Test Dummies and George Fox… and then just a ton of indie artists.”

One of the ways Bruce says they plan on celebrating the half-century milestone is by continuing the Grant Avenue Studio Presents initiative, a series of intimate, on-site YouTube concerts featuring primarily local artists, “kind of based on the Tiny Desk concept.” 

Tennant says the venue “always had like a really good vibe to it, that space,” he recalls. “So, anyone who has been in there kind of knows what it feels like. It kind of felt like a big comfortable living room that people were playing in, except filled with cool gear and all kinds of instruments and things like that.” 

Studio’s vintage console and Hotel California

Among the studio’s recording technology is a piece of music history in the form of a vintage control console. The studio’s MCI JH-500C console is a customized version of the same board that produced iconic rock albums like Hotel California by The Eagles, ACDC’s Back in Black and Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell. 

“Soundboards are actually kind of a prestige thing in the music world and bands get very excited about using a board,” Tennant says. “I think it’s because if you hear about these classic albums, whether it’s AC/DC or Pantera… there’s just something about knowing that this board is capable of getting those sounds.”

Bruce says it’s a combination of history, energy and technology that keeps artists coming to the studio. “The 50th anniversary is a pretty important milestone, especially for anything to do with the arts, you know, for something to last that long. I think we’re either the oldest or the second oldest consistently running studio in Canada…”

Grant Avenue Studio has a schedule of other special events planned to mark their 50th year in operation. They include an anniversary party, an exhibition at Hamilton Civic Museums and a return to its Road to Supercrawl contest that pits 25 bands against each other for a chance at a recording package and a mainstage performance at the Supercrawl music and arts festival.