Continuing our coverage of The Hit Factory‘s monumental return, we pick up from Parts 1 and 2, and conclude today with how owner Troy Germano built his own legendary studio—and then seized the opportunity to bring the Hit Factory legacy back home.
GERMANO STUDIOS
“There was a lot of press that was not accurate when the studio on 54th Street closed down,” Germano says, with emphasis. “It had nothing to do with the state of the music industry or people working at home or people having production rooms, or with the studios not being busy. It was simply a real-estate issue between my mother and myself. After my father passed away, she wanted to sell the studio and sell the real estate, and I was adamantly against that.
“The studio was an active studio, the busiest studio in New York for a 20-year period of time,” he continues. “It had nothing to do with the use or the change in technology. Absolutely zero. It was strictly a dispute over a real piece of real estate that I didn’t think should be sold. It’s really about a family thing that just kind of went haywire—but it was always a goal in the back of my mind to get the name back.”
Germano makes no bones about his anger and disappointment at the time, but after settling into his new reality, he channeled that energy into creating Germano Studios at a time when most people would have advised against it. He wasn’t going into it blindly, and he was confident in his approach to running a hybrid analog-digital studio facility in a much-changed studio market. He had learned from his father that it was important to embrace change, while retaining the fundamentals like vibe, service and relationships.
“I still think the analog console that can interface to Pro Tools in a digital domain is the way to go,” he says, “but to be successful in the studio business, it’s about the choice of monitors, the arsenal of analog and digital outboard gear, the microphone collection, the sound of the live room, the instruments. It’s not just one or two or three things; it’s seven, eight, nine, ten things that actually make people want to be in the studio. And it’s not always easy. It’s a big investment, with constant capital improvements.” Recent updates include the addition of Dolby ATMOS and Sony 360 Reality Audio immersive mixing, and Germano always has his eye on the horizon for the next change that will maintain the facility’s competitive edge.
“I wasn’t walking in here with the clout of having the Hit Factory brand behind me,” he says. “It was a completely different thing; it was me, re-creating and reinventing what I do. The fact that it’s come full circle and the name has come back to me just proves to me that I made the right decision 15 years ago when I opened this place.”
Still, he is fully aware that it’s mostly about the talent—the engineers in the room—that make a studio successful; it’s something he learned from his father. “Eddie was all about the guy in the chair, and so is Troy,” Panunzio says. “I don’t think Eddie knew about the equipment the way Troy does, but he knew that what drew people in were the people in the building. Whenever I go to New York, Kenta [Yonesaka] is my engineer. He’s fantastic.”
“I think we have a great stable of young engineers,” Germano adds, “and my chief engineer, Kenta, is someone I’m very proud of. He’s now the longest-running staff engineer in the history of all the Hit Factories. I really pride myself on trying to help talented young engineers start their careers, on teaching them or their assistants how to hold onto clients—and then cultivate relationships and true friendships that are going to be lasting their whole career, their whole lives. I’m going to put them in the right situations with the right client, and then they have to understand how to grow that relationship and how to make sure that those clients always want to be here.”
COMING FULL CIRCLE
“Here” is now once again The Hit Factory, though to regulars, the Germanos and The Hit Factory are all but one and the same.
“It worked out, but it was a pursuit, there’s no question about it, and it wasn’t an easy task,” Germano says. “It took a long time to get the trademark and logo and the IP and everything else after my mother passed. There were lawyers and meetings and it cost a lot of money, but there was never a question about doing it. Even though I like the way we’ve built Germano Studios, and I am very proud of the goodwill that me and my staff have created over the last 15 years, switching the name really did make perfect sense.
“It’s something I’m passionate about,” he adds, “and I think you will be seeing more Hit Factory studios popping up in a few interesting places over the next number of years. There are licensing opportunities with the name. I already have Germano Acoustics and the speakers, we have the Waves plug-in that I’m very proud of, and there’ll be new products based around a few things I’ve been working on.
“One of the reasons I named it Germano Studios in 2008 wasn’t from an ego point of view. It was really to let people know that The Hit Factory was still here. It took a long time, but I’m happy it’s worked out so well.”
“He’s got loyal clients,” Panunzio concludes. “He’s a hustler, which he learned from his father—nobody could hustle better than Eddie—and he’ll keep that place running forever. He creates a great vibe, he’s got great talent working with him and he runs a great studio. People love being with him, and that’s ultimately what it’s all about.”
