Martin Porter & David Goggin, authors: Buzz Me In (Book)

I remember working with Greg Freeman [Tape Op #1] on a record, and he mentioned recording in a studio in L.A. that featured a console with a built-in cocaine mirror and rooms down the hall for shagging groupies or such. When your band’s making a record for $15 an hour, this not only sounds disgusting, but it’s also plain inconceivable. This book, subtitled “Inside the Record Plant Studios,” covers the history of Record Plant – beginning with NYC, then L.A., and later Sausalito, CA, plus several mobile trucks. The Plants were prime examples of an age that thrived on ridiculous major label budgets that allowed studios to bill for drugs and charge when the clients weren’t there while presenting extravagant (or kinda gross) surroundings.