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Rolling Stones Take a Walk Down Penny Lane

By Anthony Vagnoni

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Penny Lane’s Dan Walsh (l) with super-producer Don Was and the one and only Mick Jagger.
It was just another day at Penny Lane Studios in New York. The mixers and engineers were behind their consoles. Agency producers were calling in to check on jobs. And the iconic rock figures of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones dropped by for a session.

Come again?

That’s right, Penny Lane was visited by rock and roll royalty last month when members of the Stones, who were in New York promoting the upcoming reissue of their ’72 masterpiece “Exile on Main Street,” came by the studio to record radio interviews that would run on stations around the country as part of the pre-release hoopla.

What was it like? “It was kind of surreal,” recalls Jackie Sparks, Executive Producer at Penny Lane, “but in a really good way--I mean, to just see them in our studio was astonishing. They were just wonderful people to have here, simply lovely to work with.”

The trio was recorded by Penny Lane’s President and lead mixer, Bobby Sorrentino, along with mixer/engineers Joe Miuccio, Dan Walsh and Jon Friedner.  Also on hand for the interviews was veteran rock musician and producer Don Was, who supervised the remix of the reissued disc.

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 Walsh and Was with Keith Richard.
The project came to Penny Lane via New York-based production company Humble. Eric Berkowitz, Humble's Executive Producer and President, has deep connections in the music business and long ago recommended Penny Lane to his client, FMQB, as the go-to studio in town.  FMQB, also known as Friday Morning Quarterback, is a media service for the music and radio industries that provides news, analysis and content promoting artists and releases.  Mike Parrish of FMQB contacted Penny Lane on short notice to see if the studio could clear its schedule to accommodate the Stones, who were booked in to provide insight, commentary and anecdotes about the album’s legendary recording back in the South of France in 1971 and its legacy in the 38 years since its initial release.

Sorrentino explains that Parrish has been to Penny Lane to record other artists for interviews that FMQB syndicates to radio stations around the country, most recently bringing in Jack Johnson.  “He knows we have the right vibe for this kind of work,” says the veteran mixer who opened Penny Lane ten years ago.  “There’s a comfort level here that puts everyone at ease, and it shows in the work.  These sessions were extremely relaxed and well-run.  Everyone got just what they needed.”

The “Exile on Main Street” juggernaut has included not just the radio interviews recorded by FMQB but widespread publicity on broadcast, print and online media outlets.  The bulk of work that Penny Lane handles, Sparks says, typically runs to TV spots and broadcast promos, for which the studio provides a full range of audio post and mixing services.  Spots to come out of Penny Lane include work for The US Census, Dex, Nabisco and Toyota.

Published June 17, 2010


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