Mick Jagger recorded at Sunset Sound in Studio One in 1972. (photo courtesy of Sunset Sound Instagram)

The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Toto, Van Halen, Buffalo Springfield, Janis Joplin, Genesis, Neil Young, Kenny Loggins, Jackson Browne, Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, Macy Gray, The Bee Gees, Doobie Brothers, Earth Wind & Fire and Rick James.

All of these famous musical artists have laid down tracks at Sunset Sound on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.

The studio, a huge contributor to the recording industry since the 1960s, also welcomed jazz legends including Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Herb Alpert. The list goes on – Sheryl Crow, Smashing Pumpkins, Sugar Ray, Alanis Morrisette, Robert Palmer, Celine Dion, Counting Crows and Aaron Neville. The studio even has a direct connection to The Beatles, with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr both recording at Sunset Sound, including the latter’s third album “Ringo” in a 1973 session that included George Harrison, John Lennon, Klaus Voormann, Eric Clapton and Harry Nilsson, Sunset Sound owner Paul Camarata said.

“We’re the oldest family-owned studio that still that hasn’t changed hands, certainly in the United States,” Camarata added. “What has been accomplished over the years, the incredible amount of legendary product that’s come out of here in the music world, I’m very proud of that. We’ve recorded 300-plus gold records and platinum records here over the years.”

Best sellers like Prince’s “Purple Rain,” The Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street,” The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and The Doors’ 1967 self-titled album were all recorded here.

“‘L.A. Woman’ was mixed here; it wasn’t recorded here. But all the initial Doors was. The one with ‘Light My Fire’ on it, that entire record was done here. ‘Strange Days,’ most of that record was done here. ‘Waiting for the Sun,’ ‘Morrison Hotel’ and ‘An American Prayer.’ We did a lot of Doors stuff here,” Camarata said.

The Queen of Country Rock, Linda Ronstadt, at Sunset Sound. (photo courtesy of Sunset Sound Instagram)

Sunset Sound originally started through connections to the Hollywood movie business. Founder Salvador “Tutti” Camarata (Paul’s father) recorded musical scores for Disney movies in the late 1950s and started Sunset Sound after Walt Disney agreed to “funnel” all of the studio’s recording work to him, Camarata said. Music for “Mary Poppins,” “Bambi” and “101 Dalmatians” were among the many film scores recorded at Sunset Sound in the early days. As the ‘60s progressed and pop music flourished, Sunset Sound rapidly turned in a new direction. Legendary audio engineer and record producer Bruce Botnick worked at Sunset Sound at the time and was highly sought after by artists of the day.

“People found out about him and they wanted to work with him. That’s one of the reasons people started coming here,” Camarata said. “The attraction was him and the equipment. Him and the sound that they were getting out of this facility. People were coming here because they liked the sound of what they heard.”

Camarata said the volume of business drove expansion, as there was not enough space to keep up with the demand for recording time. His father built a second recording studio on the site in the mid-1960s and later a third studio space in the 1970s. Three distinctive echo chambers – spaces where sound reverberates for optimal recording – were designed by Bill Robinson, of Capitol Records, and loosely based on the echo chambers at the famous Vine Street studio building. Prince recorded all of his albums from the 1980s using Sounds Sound’s echo chambers, Camarata said.

“Prince came here from ’81 to ’89. He worked in Studio Three,” he added. “He did all his big records, ‘Purple Rain,’ ‘1999,’ ‘Around the World in a Day.’ All the big stuff was done here.”

Camarata added that he has many fond memories from the early days hanging around the studio. His father wouldn’t let him into the recording sessions with The Doors because he was too young at the time, but there was another night in 1968 he will never forget.

“The first rock ‘n’ roll session I was ever allowed to come down on was when we had this other staff engineer named Jimmy Messina, and that is Jimmy Messina of Loggins and Messina. He was a staff engineer before he really became a musician and my father set it up for me to come down to see him on a session. I really didn’t know who I was coming down to see,” Camarata said. “So I showed up and he was working on Buffalo Springfield, and Stephen Stills was there and his friend Dave Crosby was there, and Dave had this blonde girl with him. She wouldn’t talk to me; we were just teenagers. But as the night proceeded, I wanted to know who this girl was, it was kind of bugging me. She was in our echo chamber playing guitar so I finally went in to say goodbye to her, and I just said, ‘Hey, [what’s] your name.’ ‘My name is Joni, we’ll see you later,’ she said. And she was Joni Mitchell. David [Crosby] produced her first record ever and it was done here.”

“Songs to a Seagull” was the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Produced by David Crosby, the album was recorded in early 1968 at Sunset Sound and released in March 1968 by Reprise Records. Mitchell said the album was dedicated to her seventh grade English teacher, “Mr. Kratzmann, who taught me to love words.” (photo courtesy of Sunset Sound Instagram)

A portion of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” was re-recorded at the studio because the track got “partially erased” elsewhere, Camarata said. Van Halen recorded all of their early albums in the studio including the famous “Eruption” guitar solo.

“We did all the Earth, Wind & Fire records too. ‘September,’ ‘After the Love is Gone.’ They were clients for years here,” Camarata said. “Some of the big stuff we’ve done recently is Miley Cyrus. We did Michael Bublé. We did the Elton John and Brandi Carlile record that just came out a little while ago.”

Sunset Sound has evolved over the years as the recording industry has changed, and now uses the most technologically advanced digital recording equipment. Camarata said many clients today are creating online content and the studios also accommodate music videos. Importantly, the studio still uses vintage equipment, which creates a distinctive sound many musical artists desire. In a world where people can digitally record songs at home and most family-owned recording studios have closed, Camarata said he offers musical artists the opportunity to record the way it used to be done. He plans to keep the tape rolling at Sunset Sound well into the future.

“Hollywood has been through a lot of changes, up and down. I’ve seen a big resurgence in the past 10 to 15 years with improvements – hotels and restaurants trying to bring the glitter back to Hollywood,” Camarata said. “What brings pride to me is what my father initially started here and what has been accomplished over the years, the incredible amount of legendary product that has come out of here in the music world. I’m very proud of that. We’re trying to keep the longevity going here with Sunset Sound. People are always going to want to record music. As long as people keep coming, we can keep accommodating them.”