2162. Chaplin Studios

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:01]Okay. Uh, today I'm going to do something a little bit different. I am working today at what was when I started in this in 1970. This was&m studios which were formerly the Charlie Chaplan Studios which then became the home of Henen uh the Jim Henson Company.

[00:00:23]This is the original sound stage in here where Charlie Chaplan made all of his movies and then uh it was back on the block again and John Mayer and his partner bought this and they have returned it now to being the Chaplain Studios.

[00:00:42]Uh looked at so many records here over the years. I mean so much came off of this lot. Um, and to see it now being kind of restored back to its original grandeur is really fantastic. I am so thrilled that they got this place together. I'll take you a little quick walk before we get to work here today.

[00:01:30]If you go out that gate right there, you are on Labraa Avenue and just behind this building is Sunset. So this is Sunset and Labraa. Right there on that platform right there for years.

[00:01:44]While this was Henson was a Kermit statue dressed as Charlie Chaplan paying homage to it.

[00:01:52]I did tons of records with David Anderly and this was his office back in here.

[00:01:57]We still got a little Kermit here that we are now the Chaplain sound stage.

[00:02:03]These are all offices in here. the great producer Lou Adler's office was right up there.

[00:02:11]This is the administrative side of it all.

[00:02:18]And they're doing all kinds of stuff here, really upgrading the place and uh bringing it back to its former former glory, which is really fantastic um to see because we were really scared that this was going to go down at one point.

[00:02:51]I have lots of pictures taken sitting on that bench.

[00:03:15]It's just nice to get out of the room and come out here and have lunch. They put this in. This was never here before, but they're finding all kinds of old props and goodies from from the from the golden days.

[00:04:01]spent so much time blocked here on this on these grounds.

[00:04:09]the amount of people. I mean, you'd see everybody from Harry Nelson to John Lennon. I mean, it was amazing.

[00:04:19]Uh Joanie Mitchell did Blue here.

[00:04:22]Carpenters recorded here.

[00:04:36]>> Thank you.

[00:04:53]We are working in studio B today. I'll get back to this.

[00:04:59]It's just such a great atmosphere. So, here's Springsteen.

[00:05:05]Here's Jody.

[00:05:10]This is the room that Joanie did blue in.

[00:05:14]This is C.

[00:05:17]>> I don't know if anybody's in.

[00:05:20]>> Hi, how are you?

[00:05:21]>> How are you?

[00:05:22]>> I'm good.

[00:05:24]>> Who's working in here now?

[00:05:26]>> Sorry.

[00:05:27]>> Who's who who are you guys setting up for?

[00:05:29]>> I can't tell you that. Sorry. Which studio are you in?

[00:05:32]>> We're in in uh next door.

[00:05:33]>> Okay, then you can't be in here.

[00:05:35]>> Okay, it's all good. We're just doing a little a little tour of the rooms.

[00:05:38]>> Oh, yeah. If if you have someone um showing you around who works here, then >> Okay, cool.

[00:05:43]>> Okay. But yeah, >> no, we're good. It's all good.

[00:05:45]>> Okay.

[00:05:45]>> No, I just finished a project in this room. So, >> all good.

[00:05:50]>> See, a lot of times there's security involved in these where you just kind of go, >> "Okay, whatever.

[00:06:07]Oh, now these walls, these are all end cuts of plywood.

[00:06:13]The sound in here is incredible. Well, when I was in Wolf Gang, Bugs Peton was our drummer and uh he became a master carpenter and back in like 1971 or so, he did all of the woodwork in this studio.

[00:06:35]Okay, it's relaxing to sit in here and just watch the aquarium.

[00:06:57]The great producer Henry Louie. is Herb Herb Alpert from A of&M office is upstairs. Henry Lou's office was up here and he was the producer who did Blue with Joanie. And this is where they cut we are the world.

[00:07:19]>> How are you guys doing?

[00:07:31]room in here.

[00:07:34]>> You're all good.

[00:07:36]>> Oh, yeah. Of course, you can't answer the other room on that working right now.

[00:07:39]>> Yeah.

[00:07:42]>> Look at this. I mean, for people that love analog, this is just nothing but analog machines are doing all this work in here now, so everything's covered.

[00:07:51]But these are all tape machines.

[00:08:08]This is studio D. I've been doing a lot of projects in this room.

[00:08:48]I got to fly all that kind of stuff.

[00:08:53]>> Oh yeah.

[00:09:01]Okay, I'm now continuing the video. We just had a long hang. Uh, this is my little setup here today. I'm not sure which base I'm using. I've got Frankenstein and I've got my dingw wall here. Here's the incredibly fabulous Takone and who I if we get time today, I'm going to interview you. So, that'll be a blast.

[00:09:21]>> But this is his world today down in here. this room. There's so many memories when I walk into this room. Uh we did so many records in in this place.

[00:09:33]It's unbelievable.

[00:09:52]>> So, I'm gonna finish this up real quick.

[00:09:53]I'll be back in a moment. back in a moment.

[00:09:57]>> I'll show you one thing that was really cool.

[00:10:27]They're doing all kinds of work on here, but this was the original one of the original buildings. This was like the prop building for Chaplain Studios.

[00:10:37]This goes out to the parking lot. But back in the day when we were here, there used to be a car parked in this area.

[00:10:45]And when you were mixing, you could actually go out here, sit in the car, and listen to your mix in the car like most people would be listening to your music. Uh, it was really, I mean, just the thought process that went into so much of this.

[00:11:02]They're bringing out all these old prop pieces and setting them up in here just to get back to that kind of chaplain studio studio vibe. I'm parked right there.

[00:11:16]The butt of my truck sticking out.

[00:11:20]But it's just it's just cool. It's always great to be in here.

[00:11:30]So, off to work now. Just be me and Tariq and Greg filling games. I'm not sure how busy Greg will be. At some point, I want to interview him too cuz they're incredibly fascinating.

[00:11:46]Amazing musician and all that. Just just little nooks and crannies and offices all over here. I am so grateful that this place is still intact.

[00:12:03]So that's it, kids. The Charlie Chaplan Soundstage Studios. Charlie Chaplan Studios, formerly Henson Studios, formerly&M Studios. And now back to Chaplain. See you later.