The Record Plant, the storied Los Angeles recording studio where Michael Jackson, Prince, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and dozens of other music superstars made classic albums for decades, is one step closer to a sale now that veteran producer Rafa Sardina has purchased its assets for $500,000 during a bankruptcy proceeding last week. Sardina, a 19-time Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner who has worked with Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow, among others, takes over ownership of dozens of speakers, sound boards, microphones, cassette decks, CD recorders and other valuable sound equipment that was the heart of the studio for decades.
Founded in 1968, the Record Plant has been the standard for music production due to its high-end equipment and an emphasis on service and luxury that made megastars feel like they were in their own homes. Thanks to perks like a hot tub room, stars such as John Lennon and Fleetwood Mac took over studio rooms in the Plant’s early days; after it moved to its current location on North Sycamore Avenue in Los Angeles, Beyoncé rented every room to make her album Lemonade and Kanye West and Pharrell rode motorized scooters through the hallways.
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Sardina, who interviewed successfully at Record Plant early in his career before deciding to work at a different studio, did not respond to requests for comment about why he made the purchase offer. A lower bid, according to court documents, came from Italian producer Patrizio Moi, who has occupied a Record Plant studio room known as Digi-Plant since 2014. He offered $50,000.
Moi and the studio’s latest owner, Philip Lawrence of Bruno Mars‘ songwriting team, the Smeezingtons, have been battling over possession of the Record Plant for several years. Moi has declared in U.S. district court that Lawrence and his associates first offered him a co-ownership deal, then, in 2020, sold him the entire studio for $1. The two sued each other until last year, when Lawrence’s company, Philmar, declared bankruptcy, forcing the court to sell the Record Plant’s assets in order to pay off his debts. Moi argued to the court that he should take over the equipment and other property, but the judge, Victoria Kaufman, ruled against him.
Moi has said he hopes to take over the studio and run it as if it never closed. That will be harder to do so now that the studio’s high-tech equipment is likely to be removed, but he remains optimistic. Per his earlier agreement with Lawrence, he owns the Record Plant trademark and website domain. It is possible that Moi makes a deal with the land owner, CIM Group, to take over the lease.
“There’s a lot of moving pieces,” Moi says by phone.
However, the bankruptcy court’s trustee, Amy Goldman, disputed the previous arrangements between Lawrence and Moi, because Lawrence “retained possession of the property” and never transferred it to Moi even after their 2020 agreement. The judge agreed with Goldman — effectively denying Moi’s claim to any of the equipment or other property inside the studio. “The property can be sold free and clear,” Kaufman wrote last week.
Sardina’s purchase of the equipment, which includes multiple valuable microphones, including what Moi calls “stuff you cannot find anymore,” has not fully closed. The court’s trustee Goldman must “deliver all relevant and related sale documents to effectuate and close the sale and related transactions,” according to the judge’s ruling.
The $500,000 set to be paid by Sardina’s company, Firefly Music Row, will be used to pay off the debts of Lawrence’s company, Philmar, according to court documents.
