By Freya Pruitt
THE MYSTERY:
If you are a songwriter, musician, or singer, your constant quest is to find a state-of-the-art recording studio to record your next masterpiece.
You quickly realize your personal quest begins a long, arduous journey that never seems to reach its final destination! You need a great digital board, a great recording engineer, a great mastering engineer, a great producer, and if you are a singer, that perfect mic! Wow! That’s a lot to ask for and an even harder task to fulfill!
THE PROMISE:
Well, my friends, your journey has ended as you have reached your destination.
Considered to be one of the top ten state-of-the-art recording studios in the world, Pajama just happens to be owned and operated by two of the top award-winning talents in the world! When you enter this world-class studio, its arms envelop you like home. You feel like you’re in a luxurious spa that caters to the musical visionaries of the world. Nothing but world-class dwells in PAJAMA Studios!
THE EXPERIENCE:
Recording is a highly intimate experience.
You’ve got to be comfortable, feel supported, love the ambiance, trust the equipment, and love the professionals behind the board. You can have all the best ingredients, but that doesn’t mean you are going to BE where you need to be!
See, to make a great record, you need that special combination that equals magic. Magic? Yes, because music is ethereal magic, and you need that synchronicity of spirit to get the special sound you’ve been looking for. You need all these proprietary condiments to create that perfect seven-layer, deluxe, chocolate musical cake from heaven! If you want the best Parisian pastry, you go to Paris! If you want a bagel you go to NYC! But if you want SOUND, you go to Jack London Square, Oakland, California!
Welcome to PAJAMA Studios: The Studio that Makes the Music Sing!
THE RESULT:
PAJAMA has been awarded 42 platinum and gold albums along with 2 Grammy nominations.
It has graced the cover of MIX Magazine and PAJAMA is recognized by MIX Magazine as one of the Great Studios of the World and the Western United States for several years along with numerous other industry publications. PAJAMA has earned its reputation as an innovative leader in the music industry. On the street, it carries the street credo.
“If you record at PAJAMA then your career is on its way to the top.”
Pajama Recording Studios was birthed by two artistic visionaries, award-winning composer, arranger, producer, and two-time Grammy-nominated engineer James Gardiner and producer, director, singer, and graphic artist Paula Telander.
Both principals envisioned a space where creativity could flourish, where music is created, recorded, mixed, and mastered, note by note: “A space large enough for God to walk in the room and stay.” Paula and James looked at each other and asked, “What shall we call this place?” In true visionary style, both creators answered in unison… much like a melody sung in harmony and at the exact time, “PAJAMA!”
And so, the journey to become the best began. They created an environment where you felt like you were at home. The word PAJAMA immediately invokes the senses of tranquility, a relaxed peaceful state of mind. “PAJAMA is a lifestyle, like the Pajamas you wear or don’t wear, it’s synonymous with comfort.” Paula chuckles, “A perfect space for the artist to record – to feel at home.”
“Traditionally when you enter a recording studio, you felt like you were going into a doctor’s office. It’s impossible to actually feel creative, in that type of sterile environment,” exclaimed James.
It is befitting that a historic studio should be built in a historic place! Enter Jack London Square in Oakland, California. After visiting several units within the Fourth Street Lofts building, a Penthouse unit was the most desired choice. Paula’s favorite color is purple, so the famous front door is appropriately stained purple! The stake was placed in the ground and the blessed purple door loft became PAJAMA’s birthplace. The New York-style penthouse loft quickly turned into a futuristic creative environment and opened its doors on April 1st, 1993.
The RPG acoustic diffusers are covered in brushed aluminum, black marble graces the floor as opposed to hardwood floors. The accents of brushed aluminum purposely delineate the framed padded walls and suspended ceilings; all covered in purple acoustic cloth for diffusion and reflection. The lighting, the placement of the producer’s desk, studio cockpit, and the choice of pro audio equipment, were all strategically chosen and orchestrated by its founders.
The control room was architecturally designed like a violin, a composer’s creative mixing room. Just like a violin, if you want the best, get a Stradivarius. So, they built a Stradivarius studio! The architectural angles all resonate, the speed and frequencies of sound, of where and when sound hits, have all been configured and designed to keep sound in and noise out – a place where music can breathe sonic perfection.
This studio was the first stage of a revolution in sound. It didn’t take long for the word to get out, and by their grand opening, they hit the cover of MIX Magazine, a powerful international trade magazine.
The cover read: The Digital Studio.
If you were a fashion model, this would be like getting on the cover of Vogue. It was unheard of for a new studio to be on the cover of MIX Magazine: Needless to say, PAJAMA was way ahead of their time!
But the magic didn’t stop there! On MIX Magazine’s 16th anniversary, the two entities combined their celebrations bringing in the Who’s Who of the music industry! Over 1000 people clamored to get in that infamous purple door, including media from every network, recording artists, models, actors, producers, directors, former Governor Jerry Brown, and Janice Joplin’s band Big Brother and Holding Company, just to name a few. It was like opening night on Broadway and boy were they a smash hit!
The next day, while cleaning up the aftermath, a very distinguished gentleman came by and asked for a private tour of the facility.
Dewey Hughes, the 12-time Emmy award-winning producer/director/radio personality/owner/program director of Washington D.C.’s R&B station, WOL-AM (which became the cornerstone of the Radio One Network) and his then-wife, Cathy Hughes had come from Washington DC, via Los Angeles to attend PAJAMA’s grand opening. He was astonished by the state-of-the-art studio and immediately asked how much they charged.
Within 24 hours the studio received a cashier’s check for quite a hefty amount! Paula: “Dewy Hughes became God’s answered prayer and became our business angel. He also became a long-term client of ours and is one of the reasons we are still successful today.”
During his sessions at Pajama, he would write the memoirs of his life. His son created a script and thus the film ‘Talk to Me’ was birthed.
Paula says, “Dewey is an extremely humble man and never shared his accomplishments in the industry – which are vast! One day in the studio, he showed me some articles about himself and invited us to attend the premiere in Jack London. He purposely held the premiere in Oakland, instead of LA, because of his enthusiasm and experience at Pajama. God’s angel entered our purple studio door and literally changed our destiny. We will be forever grateful for this blessed relationship. If you just have faith and believe, God will bring the right people into your life.”
Pajama Studios was officially off and running. Never give up, dreams matter!
Artists from around the world began to covet the brilliant studio where hit records were made. One after the other, they multiplied, while the colors flourished throughout this unique creative space. From PAJAMA’s purple front door to the mustard yellow hallway, there now hangs multiple platinum and gold albums, with numerous awards adorning the hall of fame walls. Many legendary performers that walked their platinum and gold-album hallway include:
Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé, Brenda Vaughn, Denise Williams, D’Wayne Wiggins (Tony!, Toni!, Tone!), Parris Lane, EnVogue, India Arie, Jody Watley, Sakai (TRAIN), Nikita Germaine Houston (TRAIN), Larry Batiste, Ladee Bianca, China Gray, Zinya Zee, Yasmeena, Diva Ladee Chico, Rosie Gaines (Prince), Lenny Williams, Michael Cooper, Felton Pilate (Con funk Shun), Frankie Beverly & Maze, Sheila E, Juan Escovedo, Pebbles, Najee, John Lee Hooker, Jr., DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, QD3, The Whispers, The Click, E-40, Digital Underground, Ice Cube, Mac 10, Master P, Too $hort, Tru, Mia X, Luniz, Spice 1, Tupac Shakur, and Westside Connection just to name few.
This is the story of Paula Telander and James Gardiner’s partnership.
This is the story of how two spirits inspired, dedicated professionals built and maintained a piece of history, a history which also included PAJAMA Studios’ Gardiner Music Mentoring program (GMM). Once again, as fate would have it, this mentoring venture was suggested by a friend of James while attending a concert by his famous pupil Kenny G. In its curriculum, the program helps aspiring music professionals gain skills in a hands-on environment. Thus in 2006 Gardiner and Telander, co-founded the GMM Program, providing personalized mentorship and a hands-on curriculum with world-class special mentors. GMM is a place where students can learn, create, and fulfill possibilities in the real world of music production, engineering, composition, and performance. GMM is designed to successfully launch professional careers in various facets of the music industry. James says:
“These people could be a sax player, a student in a competition, or someone from Japan that becomes a brilliant composer. For me, it was really cool because I could use all these disciplines of what I’ve studied and done, and not just in one thing. That’s how I was taught; to be very schooled in your discipline, musically.”
Through their studio, mentoring program, and their next evolution PAJAMA Music Group, a record label, will continue to make a difference in what’s being played on the radio, streaming services, and how they’re developing the new faces of pop, R&B, and rock music. PAJAMA Music Group’s new partnership with Kulturezine Music Group is having conversations with major labels, to produce and release their own content worldwide in 2022 and beyond: Consequently, becoming content creators.
Since 1993, PAJAMA is recognized as a world-class commercial recording facility by MIX Magazine and considered by The Oakland Tribune as ‘Oakland’s first world-class recording studio. Headline: “Major Recording Studio Opens – East Bay now has a world-class facility.”
This state-of-the-art fully integrated recording studio along with PAJAMA’s sister company Touch-Tone Productions (James’ music production company) is a full-service production company specializing in original film composition, orchestration, scoring, video game music, custom sound design, and music content for various genres, providing production, and post-production services to the entertainment industry. Major and Independent record labels, motion pictures, commercials, video games, music producers, recording artists, musicians, songwriters, and corporate clients utilize PAJAMA and Touch-Tone’s unparalleled services in the music recording industry.
Both Paula and James are moving PAJAMA towards the future of digital recording, envisioning a multimedia company that aims to continue providing production services for major and independent record labels, musicians, films, TV series, and video games using Virtual Reality (VR) technology.
Hollywood International People is proud to present the Publicity Profile of Pajama Studios as a source of inspiration to all people striving for a career in the music industry. Never give up and always remember: “If you record at PAJAMA then your career is on its way to the top.”
Listen to some of the amazing talent being produced today at Pajama Studios.
PR, Marketing, Social Media
Ivonne Camacho, AbsolutModerne
IG: @AbsolutModerne_
www.gardinermusicmentoring.com
Facebook: Touch-Tone Productions
Facebook: Gardiner Music Mentoring
Facebook: TeaTime Entertainment
Facebook: James Gardiner Mastering
Jack London Square
Fourth Street Lofts Building
247 Fourth Street, Suite 407
Oakland, California 94607
Studio: 510.832.5266
Cell: 323.481.2393
Gardiner Music Mentoring
Pajama Recording Studios
Touch-Tone Productions
TeaTime Films