8 Best New York Recording Studios For 2023

One of the most important cities in the world when it comes to the music industry, New York recording studios are responsible for a huge proportion of great releases.

In this article we take a look at some of the best options for your next session, from Brooklyn to Manhattan and The Bronx.

New York has an incredibly vibrant music scene, as our recent guide to the best NYC jazz clubs showed. It’s the perfect place for aspiring and emerging artists to come to learn about the industry and gain some valuable recording experience.

There are hundreds of recording studios in NYC and thousands of music industry professionals with impressive resumes, so narrowing down your options can be difficult.

All eight of the recording studios on this list offer top-flight recording facilities with fantastic equipment, experienced and knowledgeable recording engineers, and excellent spaces in which to record your single, EP or full album.

We’ve tried to keep the list relevant to jazz recording and have prioritized recording studios with acoustic pianos.

Most of the studios on our list have recorded Grammy-award winning artists in a variety of musical genres and are staffed by an array of formidable musicians.

If you are a musician looking for a place to record your compositions, take a moment to check out our list of eight recording studios in New York.

Electric Lady Studios

Founded by legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix in the early 1970‘s, Electric Lady Studios has grown in the past half century to become an iconic NYC recording facility. A diverse groups of musicians spanning several generations, including John Lennon, David Bowie, Kanye West, and U2, just to name a few, have recorded some of their best known music there.

Newly renovated and expanded in 2010, Electric Lady Studios features four studios; A, B, C, and D as well as a mixing suite.

Studio A is the largest of the four, featuring a 38‘X 35‘ live room with a 16‘X 26‘ control room and a Yamaha C7 Grand Piano. This live room is a large and versatile space, with an impressive array of vintage instruments, guitar amps, and microphones, along with a palpable sense of musical legacy.

Past clients include Jon Batiste, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Kendrick Lamar and more.

For more in-depth information about Electric Lady Studios, including pricing and booking information, visit their website here.

Sear Sound

Sear Sound has been providing top recording services to musicians since it was established by Walter Sear in 1963.

Dedicated to capturing the magical “spark” inherent in live performance on a recorded medium, the staff of Sear Sound combines the best of all recording eras to accommodate any musical vision.

The Sear Sound rooms combine digital and analog recording equipment to allow artists to enjoy a versatile recording experience.

Studio A features Sear’s famous Steinway “C” Grand Piano, a Hammond Organ, Moog Synthesizers, and a Moog antique Theremin among other musical instruments to provide musicians an array of sonic options.

We have not even scratched the surface of what iconic Sear Sound has to offer musicians.

Past clients include Björk, Bono, David Bowie, Kenny Burrell, Ron Carter, Esperanza Spalding, Wynton Marsalis and many (many!) more. 

Check out more via searsound.com

Mirrortone Studios

Mirrortone Studios is renowned for providing the best musical and recording equipment in New York, as well as a premier music production staff.

While Mirrortone Studios has recorded numerous Grammy-award-winning musicians, they are also open to independent artists and emerging musicians. The space is also available for recording and producing podcasts, which is an area that many performers are pursuing today.

Overall, Mirrortone Studios is an excellent choice for independent musicians looking for seamless recording services to facilitate all their music production needs.

Featuring a uniquely designed space, it sports a variety of drum kits, PA systems, guitar amps and a famous Yamaha U1 Upright Piano,

Mirrortone studios is not just a beautiful place to record, but also lets you mix, master, edit, and finalize your recordings and even perform post-production, in a single facility.

Whether you are signed to a major recording label, or are an independent newcomer, Mirrortone offers seamless music production services to take your single, EP or album from start to finish in one facility.

Past clients include Branford Marsalis and Kassa Overall.

To learn more and book studio time with Mirrortone, visit their website at mirrortone.com

Grand Street Recording

Located in Brooklyn, Grand Street Recording offers a carefully chosen lineup of vintage and modern instruments.

Featuring a 35‘ X 19‘ live room with three sound lock spaces for isolated recording, and an impressive array of instruments, amps, vintage keyboards and a Steinway 1098 Studio Upright Piano, Grand Street Recording has everything musicians are looking for to achieve their musical vision.

Past clients include Marcus Miller and Gregory Porter.

To view their impressive inventory of vintage instruments, visit their website at grandstreetrecording.com.

The Cutting Room Studios

Located in the creative center of Manhattan – Greenwich Village – Cutting Room Studios represents a creative community of professional musicians who specialize in helping fellow performers realize their musical vision.

Cutting Room Studios features two recording spaces, studio A and studio B.

Studio A features two live rooms, one 17′ X 19′ and the other 17′ X 14′. Designed for tracking and mixing, Studio A is equipped with a Yamaha C5 grand piano and a 48 Channel Solid State Logic Duality Console.

Studio B is the smaller of the two and is an ideal mastering studio, perfect for vocal recording, overdubbing and post-production.

Cutting Room Studios has recorded many award-winning musical artists.

Past clients include Regina Spektor, Art Garfunkel and The Roots.

To book a recording session or just to learn more about pricing and services, visit thecuttingroom.com/studios.

Threshold Studios NYC

Threshold Studios has been recording and producing legendary music since 1997, welcoming over 9,000 musicians and bands. 

It offers an array of topflight vintage analog and digital gear including a gorgeous 7′ Baldwin Grand Piano and classic amplifiers.

Located in the famous Hell’s Kitchen district of NYC, Threshold Studios is ideal for musicians traveling to New York who are looking for premiere recording, mixing, and mastering services and incredible nightlife options, including amazing restaurants and nearby Broadway Theater.

Pricing options include daily, hourly or “by the song” rates, which gives independent artists a number of options.

To learn more about their gear, pricing or to book a recording session, visit thresholdstudios.com/studio

Jungle City Recording Studios

Jungle City Studios, located in Chelsea, seeks to revive the golden age of New York recording studios, providing an incredible recording space like nothing you’ve ever seen.

The four-room recording space is located atop an 11-story building and features two penthouse studios sporting impressive views of the New York skyline and an integrated array of analog and digital gear designed to inspire your musical creativity.

Each penthouse studio features its own grand piano, a Steinway Model D Grand Piano in Penthouse East, and a Yamaha C7 Grand Piano in Penthouse West.

Browsing the titles that have been recorded at Jungle City Studios is like reading a who’s-who of popular music history.

To find out more about pricing and to book a recording session, visit Jungle City’s website.

Dubway Studios New York

For more than three decades, the engineers at Dubway Studios have prioritized style, sonic versatility, and acoustics, to create a distinctive studio in the heart of New York’s downtown district.

For Jazz musicians, Dubway’s Mezzanine studio is an ideal space to lay down tracks.

Dubway offers an amazing combination of vintage and modern instruments and gear with great acoustic spaces and experienced recording engineers who know how to get the best performance out of musicians.

Past artists include Wayne Krantz and The Bad Plus.

To discover more about Dubway’s Mezzanine studio or book recording time there, start by visiting their website at dubwaymusic.com.

Round up – NYC Recording Studios

As you might have guessed from a city which is arguably at the centre of the music world, recording studios in New York offer everything you could possibly need, whether recording an acoustic trio album or a large-scale production. 

Whilst there is a lot of choice, different musicians have different requirements, so it’s worth talking to several studios (or visiting, if possible) before deciding on the one that best suits your needs.

For our money, and from the jazz perspective, you’d be hard-pressed to go wrong with Sear Sound!

Looking for more New York? Check out our recently-updated guide to the best jazz clubs in NYC…