# Van Gelder Studio **Location:** Hackensack, NJ (1947-1959); Englewood Cliffs, NJ (1959-2016) **Engineer:** [[Rudy Van Gelder]] **Era:** 1947-2016 **Labels:** Blue Note Records, Prestige Records, Impulse!, Savoy, Riverside ## Overview [[Rudy Van Gelder]]'s studio defined the sound of jazz. The Hackensack location operated in his parents' living room while he maintained his optometry practice. In 1959, he built a purpose-designed facility in Englewood Cliffs with unique pitched ceilings contributing to the natural acoustics. ## Equipment - Fairchild 660 compressor/limiter (serial #1) - Pultec EQP-1 parametric equalizer - Two EMT 140 plate reverb units - Neumann microphones (U47, M49, KM-54a) - Schoeps CM 51/9 microphones ## Acoustic Characteristics Englewood Cliffs studio featured pitched ceilings (uncommon for recording studios), creating distinctive room sound that became part of the "Van Gelder Sound." #studio #bluenote #jazz