Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey

Recording Studio operated by engineer Rudy Van Gelder at this location from 1947 to mid-July 1959, when he moved his operations to Englewood Cliffs: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and ceased his day job as an optometrist. The original studio doubled as his parent's living room, but the house (built 1945-46) had been designed with the intention RVG would be able to use it as a recording space. The room's ceiling was higher than usual to improve acoustics and a control room was built behind a double-glazed window. Initially the facility was used to record family and friends, but Van Gelder's activities soon spread to recording local musicians. Eventually, in 1952 tenor saxophonist Gil Mellé played a recording of his session engineered by Van Gelder to Alfred Lion of Blue Note who soon switched his label's recording needs to the Hackensack studio. RVG was among the first American engineers to use a Neumann condenser microphone and the Ampex 300 tape recorder, both introduced in 1949. From 1953, RVG was able to undertake his own mastering for commercial clients. NOTE: Many liner notes on 1950s albums engineered by Van Gelder falsely indicate "New York" as the recording location.