Cherokee Studios - History

History

After spending years on the road and logging time in countless studios across the country as a band, The Robbs had become acquainted with just about every unwelcome situation typical of the life of a touring musician at the time. Together with their manager, Con Merten, they relocated to Los Angeles from the Chicago/Milwaukee area to focus more on producing and managing, rather than on performing. Their ideas focused on making the studio a creative space designed for musicians and engineers.

As an independent recording studio, not owned by a record or film company, Cherokee was unusual in the U.S. at the time, though not unique - Jimi Hendrix' Electric Lady, opened in 1970, had been constructed along similar ideas and was operated by itself, not by a major company.

Within the next couple of years, a fortuitous break presented itself when the MGM Records’ studio space in Fairfax came on the market. The new opportunity arrived not a moment too soon since the brothers had been locked out of their studio barn after a Sheriff’s bust for operating "an illegal home studio." Without hesitation, they made the purchase and commenced overhauling their new studio by hand with George Augspurger designed acoustics, state-of-the-art equipment and, once more, attention to every musician-client detail. The Robbs and Merten, with their new Cherokee Studios, maintained their credo, and the clients described it as "the vibe" – an artist-friendly atmosphere that could be felt as soon as one walked in the door.

Cherokee closed its doors on Aug 31, 2007. The last album recorded at Cherokee was Out of the Wilderness from Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise.