On a recent trip to somewhere I got the opportunity to tour the world’s most famous recording studio. The reason I said somewhere and not my location is that I wanted to make you guess where that recording studio is and what it is called. Do you have any idea?

Okay fine, my trip was to London and the recording studio was, you guessed it, Abby Road Studios. This, of course, is the studio where the Beatles recorded, but there were plenty of other famous acts that recorded here as well.

Some of the more notable artists to record here are Pink Floyd, Amy Winehouse, Syd Barrett, Tony Bennett, Mary J Blige, James Blunt, Blur, The Black Keys, Kate Bush, Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Carlton, Depeche Mode, Dido, Duran Duran, Placido Domingo, Enya, Ella Fitzgerald, Florence And The Machine, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Jamiroquai, Alicia Keys, Patty Labelle, Lady Gaga, mMeatloaf, Kylie Minogue, Alanis Morrissette, Oasis, Pet Shop Boys, Queen, Radiohead, Red hot Chili Peppers, Roxette, Rush, Sigur Ros, The Spice Girls, Taylor Swift, U2, Kanye West and Robbie Williams. And, of course, many, many more.

But what some people don’t know is that it was almost shut down in 2009. The British government protected it by granting it a heritage status in 2010, which preserved the building from any kind of development or alterations.

The studio actually had different names in the past. Its first well-known name was EMI studios, since EMI owned it. It wasn’t until the 1970s that it was renamed to Abbey Road studios after the famous 1969 album by the Beatles called Abbey Road. Their fame had made the studio famous, so they changed the name to reflect that. It was a brilliant move, because it is now the most famous studio in the world. People like me, who come to London on vacation, visit it as a tourist attraction.

So many famous musicians and so many famous singers have passed through the studio. If I ever learn how to sing well, you better believe it will be my ultimate goal to record at Abbey Road. And yes, I realize that will never happen. Indulge me, it’s a dream. Another dream is to outfit my own studio with some of the same equipment.

Getting to Abbey Road Studios is pretty easy. It’s only about five or 10 minutes from the tube station at St. John’s Wood. This is on the Jubilee line. I won’t give you exact walking directions, because these days we all have smart phones and we can look them up easily enough. Trust me, it’s easy to find and it’s well worth a visit, if you’re ever in London.

Abbey Road Studios were not only used for recording music, it was also the location where many film scores were recorded. Movies like Star Wars (not all of them) and the Lord of the Rings trilogy had their film scores recorded here. So if you’re a film buff, you might be interested in the studio as well. It looks really cool inside and is something I’ve actually seen before in movies, so it was really nice to actually see that in real life. I was kind of starstruck and there were no actual stars there while I was there. It was just a location.

As I said, if you ever find yourself in London, definitely make it a point to visit Abbey Road Studios. You only need an hour to to see it, so it should be easy to fit in your schedule. If you can make it at all, check it out. You owe it to yourself. It’s a great place.

Most of the requests for studio time that we get come from singers. Vocalists seem to need studio time more than anyone else. For that reason, I decided to write a brief post about some of the equipment we have especially for singers.

Obviously, we have a ton of microphones. That goes without saying, as any singer needs a microphone. We also have some very advanced keyboards and computer equipment that allows you to make your own backing tracks. If you do not have a band with you, we can provide everything you need, so that you only have to sing. Everything else is taken care of.

We also have a ton of software to make you sound better. Some people can sing great; they have all the techniques necessary. Others, not so much. We get a lot of singers in our studio that are simply not very good. Luckily, these days there is a ton of software available that can make anyone sound great. We have all of this software. At least all of the good software. Come check out our recording studio and see how much we can improve your singing voice. You will be amazed by the difference.

We also have something that a lot of people don’t in their studios and that is the technology to print your voice to vinyl. Most studios these days only do digital recordings, but we can do analog recordings to cassettes and to vinyl records.

We also have a number of high quality vinyl record players that allow you to play back the vinyl you just pressed, so you can see what you sound like immediately. A lot of people coming into the studio never even considered making a vinyl recording of their sound, but once they realize they have the option, they give it a try. Then when they hear the results, they are blown away. From that moment on, they never use another studio. They come back to Washroom Studios over and over again, simply for the ability to make a vinyl recording of their voice. It truly is a really cool thing.

We have even taken to selling some record players at our studio. Once they’ve made recordings, singers almost always want to buy a vinyl record player for their own home. But they don’t know which turntable is best. We’ve done all the research, so we can help recommend one. That’s what we used to do. Then we realized we could just sell them ourselves. Now we offer a couple of different models in different price ranges, depending on your needs. So if you want a turntable record player, we can help you with that too.

As you can see, we have a great studio that is fully equipped for the singer. Of course, it is perfect for bands or anything else, too. But since we get so many requests from vocalists, we thought it prudent to point out just how well-equipped we are for the singing musician. We hope to see you here soon.