I worked on the remodelling in 1972. The main studio hasn't been changed much at all, other than the portion under the control room window, which was done by Tom Hidley and Westlake. That room is famous for it's sound quality, and should never be changed. Those green doors were done later. In the early 70's, there was just a non-descript store front entrance.
hi there i use to own a cleaning service, and used to clean the mansion on Harbersham and West Wesley, got to know Phil, his wife, and the two little doggies very well, enjoyed every minute of it, w had fun.
Old Capricorn studio was purchased and renovated by Mercer U. in 2019. Also has rehearsal rooms for local musicians. There has been some recoding - no hits yet. When we bought our home in Macon in 2009 the closing was held in a lawyer's office that was the old Capricorn offices on Cotton Ave. Gold records still on the walls!
Well you just cant get any better than this. This is like your watching a baseball game in the bottom of the 9th inning. Your teams down by 3 runs, The base's are loaded and your worse hitter walks to the plate. ends up with a 3 and 2 count. He swings and hit's a game winning walk-off homerun. This is just about how rock and roll got started in the south. Catfisn has a ring to it. Lolzz.. Glad you got this history on video for everyone to enjoy for years to come. Many Thanks Tony ~Catfish~
Thanks bro!!! Glad you enjoyed our video. Please give Alan a big applause too for working with us on this video and taking his time out from his wife and kids. WE had a blast hanging with Alan what a great guy he is!!!
Thanks !! We've got about 6 more hours of Alan and there is one clip I still need to put up. I was hoping that we could get some backing for the release of the doc but we can't find any backers for it and cash flow is not that easy. I got that name from Rick when we went fishing with Gene back in the 90's...time flies wow!!
Thank You for your wonderful Films on Dixie Rock- I am associated with southern recording production & work with Greg Aplin, keyboard & piano man works closely with Paul Hornsby, Ronnie Milsap, Chuck Leavell. Your documentation of the history is important
I think it’s an unintentional error, but saying this was the first recording studio in Macon is patently untrue. The first was on Mulberry Street a couple of doors west from the Grand Theater. It was affiliated with King recording company and locally run by Bobby Smith. Bobby was agent for our band at the time and I spent many days in that studio, often as the studio bass player. Granted, we never had the success as your studio, but it was quite active with many local artists, us, Dennis Wheeler, Wayne Cochran, Bobby Cash and the Nightflyers, Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers, and other local artist, not to mention those who came from far away to book the studio for recording. RU-vid has posted recordings of The Fabulous Dinos from New York, recorded in our studio - I know because I played bass on them and still have one of the 45 rpm’s (and several others recorded there by various artists). Sid Nathan pretty much ran King in those days and occasionally came to Macon to check on things. Immediately before the studio was built, Bobby Smith and Phil Walden both had offices in a building less than 1/2 mile up the hill (Coleman Hill?) and both were mostly booking agents for bands (including ours). Otis Redding was under contract with Bobby, too. Then a young teen, I was in Smith’s office one day discussing our bookings when Otis walked in with an arm full of tape recorder (they were huge back then) asking to play a song he wanted to record. We plugged it in and listened to “Shout Bamalama.” This was before the studio was built, so Bobby rented a facility at the University of Georgia, in the Psychology Department I believe, with recording equipment and pretty good acoustics to have Otis record. That Saturday Bobby asked if we (a few in our band and Wayne Cochran) would like to go along to observe. Hell, yeah. While there rehearsing Otis decided he needed backup singers. There was no one other than us white boys to call upon. Our line, following his “Shoutin’ Bamalama” , was “Who shall be free.” That’s why if you ever listen to that song on the two CD anthology, you might say, “Those sound like white boys singing in the background.” Yep. And now you know the rest of the story. “Shout Bamalama” (flip side Fat Gal) broke pretty big in some markets, prompting much interest in Otis and Bobby Smith sold his contract. Around 1962, Wayne Cochran was in Cincinnati recording at King, when his grandmother died in Thomaston. Bobby Smith asked a friend and I drove to drive Wayne’s Cadillac from Macon to Cincinnati to get him and his wife so they could return for the funeral. We were at King only a short time, but I met Sid Nathan again. I vividly remember Sid giving us a tour and my feeling of standing where James Brown, Streisand, and many others had recorded.
I played alot in Macon. I met Alan several times. He is a nice guy. He was also stood up with Ronnie at his wedding. Alan is music history of the south.
Had the chance to record with a band here before it closed down. Tremendous history. It's an old warehouse building on Broadway, right across from Fox 24.
Fantastic clip, thank you! So I'm clear on one thing -- the studio is STILL inside, sitting idle?...equipment and all, ready to function? Or is the interior gutted?
+DeAnzaDana No. Everything is gutted out. New Town Macon purchased the property a few years back and have called it "The Capricorn Initiative." But, sadly, nothing has been done with it since, that I'm aware of. The goal is to restore the studio, add a restaurant, gift shop, etc.
+DeAnzaDana There is a facebook page for "The Capricorn Initiative" but it hasn't been updated in a couple of years. It does have some photos though so here is a link to them... facebook.com/Historic-Capricorn-Studio-Initiative-215761098438416/photos_stream
@TonyBeazley -well exactly , to allow these cameras inside would give major focus & spotlight on the "New" Owners any free commercial advertising is GOOD- so bottom line the "new" owners have millions of $ but Zero common sense & no business sense & deserve to be verbally chastised severly, for their lack of hospitality , I hope they read my comments .
in a video called what really happened to otis Redding watch this guy Allen might of had something to do with otis death. that is a great studio but if that guy Allen had did something to otis thats messed up
