Apostolic Studios

State-of-the-art recording studio that was founded by [a=John Townley (2)] on Tenth Street, New York City, in the Fall of 1966. It was a loft building in The Village, near Broadway, with a hand-operated freight elevator as its primary access.

With the skills of technician [a=Lou Lindauer], Townley's concept moved from the 8-track system he'd left behind at Columbia and on to 12-track Scully. Hence the then 'brand-new' concept of '12' being rather spiritual and 'Apostolic' - giving birth to the company title. This equipment also hooked into the engineering skills of [a=Tony Bongiovi], nephew of (later-famous) [a=Jon Bon Jovi].

By the time the business launched in '67 the studio was fully booked, despite negative waves from the industry. Bands as diverse as [a=Kenny Rogers], [url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Fugs%2C+The]The Fugs[/url] and [url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Grateful+Dead%2C+The]Grateful Dead[/url] took up the 12-track opportunity. Most especially [a=Frank Zappa], who almost made it his 'recording home' for a long period, with the likes of [a=Dick Kunc], [a=John Kilgore] and members of [url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mothers%2C+The?anv=Mothers+Of+Invention%2C+The]The Mothers[/url].

The concept of Apostolic Studios, together with its 'free and easy' ambience, was a powerful influence on other leading engineers of the time. Some 6 months after opening, in downtown New York, the studio had competition from [a=Gary Kellgren] who created [b]Record Plant[/b] - followed by the construction of by [a=Jimi Hendrix] just a few blocks away.

Townley's wife, Gilma "Gilly" Townley, aka [a=Gilly Townley] became part of the vocal proceedings on [m35641] and [m47701], as did other occupants of Apostolic.