New York City's MSR Studios (Manhattan Sound Recordings) will be closing its doors June 30, Billboard has confirmed.
At 168 48th Street in Times Square, a 14,000-foot recording facility will soon become a casualty of construction and expansion in the bustling neighborhood. About 12 full-time employees were informed earlier this month.
The decision to close, MSR Studio president Dave Amlen says, had nothing to do with finances.
For the last two years, MSR has kept its chin up through the construction of a 50-story hotel -- the attendant noise levels were a challenge for a facility dependent on (conditional) silence. "We weathered that," says Amlen. "If people can't work, that's a bigger problem than rent," he said, adding that sometimes construction noise went as late as 11 p.m.