Lipscomb University is continuing its recent spate of expansion and this time the target is something most would associate with nearby neighbor Belmont.
One of the school’s donors is handing over the keys to famed music studio Sound Emporium. It is part of the largest gift in the school’s history announced last month by former NBA owner George Shinn. He’s owned the Belmont Boulevard studio since 2011.
The studio will remain open as a working business — headed up by
producer Charlie Peacock — but will also serve as “a real-world learning lab” for Lipscomb students.
Belmont has a similar arrangement with Ocean Way studios on Music Row, has had agreements with RCA Studio B and was key in the redevelopment of the long dormant Quonset Hut.
A number of the larger recording facilities on Music Row have been hard hit by the downturn in the music economy and the rise of digital home studios. Agreements like these are among the creative ways some of the spaces are staying open.
Sound Emporium was originally built in 1969 by “Cowboy Jack” Clement and has seen a hall of fame list of artists pass through including Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift and REM among others.
The Walk the Line and O’ Brother Where Art Thou soundtracks were recorded there as well.
This week’s announcement follows last week’s opening of a new engineering facility, made possible by a former Exxon Mobil executive who attended Lipscomb Academy.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM