RPM STUDIOS operated from 1976-2004 at 12 East 12th Street (aka 10-14 East 12th Street) in the Greenwich Village neighborhood just south of Union Square during a golden age of music and recording in NYC. Designed, built and operated by classically trained electronic composer turned studio owner Robert Mason, RPM was one of the first boutique studios in the city, operating in a large tree-filled upper floor double-wide loft with industrial-sized windows open to the sky and overlooking across Union Square.

Studio Room. For use please contact Village Preservation. The interior studio complex was where many recording artists created their first prominent albums, such as Talking Heads ("Fear of Music"), Suzanne Vega ("Luka" – Solitude Standing), Aimee Mann, ('Til Tuesday - "Voices Carry"), David Sanborn ("Change of Heart"), Spin Doctors ("Spin Doctors"), Cassandra Wilson ("Blue Night 'Til Dawn"), Moby ("Play"), Maxwell ("Urban Hang Suite"), Meshell Ndegeocello ("Peace Beyond Passion''), and Lauryn Hill ("The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill").

Phil Ramone enjoys his “40th Birthday” Cake (1980). For use please contact Village Preservation. Phil Ramone (aka the "Pope of Pop'") monopolized RPM starting in 1980, recording and mixing Billy Joel (“Songs in the Attic”), Get Wet, Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel (“Concert in Central Park”), among many others. Phil received the first then-newly-created-for-him Producer of the Year Grammy award in 1981 while at RPM.

Steve Lilywhite (Producer) with Mick Jagger (1985). Photo by Mary Jan Mason. For use please contact Village Preservation. The Rolling Stones also took over the studio in 1985 to create their album "Dirty Work,'' and Mick Jagger subsequently returned to record two solo albums. The studio served as an informal staging ground for the first Live Aid Festival in Philadelphia at that time. Earlier, Danny Sims worked at RPM on Bob Marley's "Reggae on Broadway" and with Gloria Gaynor.

Brian Eno - early ambient music (1979). For use please contact Village Preservation. In 1979, Brian Eno took over RPM's Control Room to work on his first ambient music albums. Paradise Garage's Larry Levan did the same to create some of his earliest dance floor remixes.

Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri (2000) (Together ''Por Fin'' at Last). For use please contact Village Preservation. Countless other recording artists worked at RPM, including Michael Bolton ("Soul Provider"), Donald Fagen from Steely Dan ("The Nightfly"), Michael Brecker, David Bowie, Harry Connick, Jr., Blues Traveler, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige (“My Life”), Julio Iglesias, Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri (''Masterpiece”), REM ("Up"), Whitney Houston, Billy Idol, Hanson, Bob Seger, Huey Lewis, The Public Image (Johnny "Rotten" Lydon), Sting, Spacehog, Natalie Merchant (“Tiger Lily”), Vanessa Williams ("Comfort Zone" and "The Sweetest Days"), The Roches, The Bongos, Foo Fighters, Lenny Kravitz (“Mama Said”), The Strokes, Helmet (Page Hamilton), Pavement, System of a Down, Fountains of Wayne with Adam Schlesinger, The Golden Palominos with Syd Straw, Public Enemy with Chuck D and Flav-o-Flav, and...

Hendrix Estate Reissues - BBC Sessions (1998). For use please contact Village Preservation. Herbie Hancock ("Future Shock"), Genuwine, RZA, Q-Tip, Mtume, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh, Living Colour, D'Angelo, ("Brown Sugar"), Anita Baker, Johnny Gill, Freddie Jackson, George Benson, Earl Klugh (“Collaboration”), Freddy Cole, Joshua Redman, Jaco Pastorius, Diana Krall, Norah Jones, John Zorn (‘'Masada''), Sun Ra, Laurie Anderson ("Mr. Heartbreak"), Tom Waits (“Rain Dogs”), Ned Sublette, Arto Lindsay, John Cale, Phillip Glass (Producer - Polyrock), Arthur Russell, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Bill Laswell (Material), Eye To Eye, Ilhan Ersahin (Nublu), The Ben Folds Five, Beastie Boys (“Hello Nasty”), Patti Smith, Midnight Oil, Marshall Crenshaw, John Lurie (''Lounge Lizards"), Joe Jackson, Jr., Jack Bruce, Ron Carter, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack, Jr.)(“Duke Elegant”), Donna Summer, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sade, Diana Ross, Ronnie Spector, Nona Hendricks (''Design for Living''), Chaka Khan (“I Feel For You”), Roseanne Cash, Martina McBride, and even Rupert Holmes ("The Pina Colada Song"), as well as a steady stream of reissues from the Jimi Hendrix Estate, all mixed by Engineer Extraordinaire Eddie Kramer, and innumerable others.

Keith Richards at the Desk (1985). Photo by Mary Jan Mason. For use please contact Village Preservation. At the turn of the 21st century, recording studios in Manhattan started closing down due to surging real estate development, the appearance of newly democratizing recording technology and the internet's disruption of the record industry. In 2004, RPM was acquired in full by Odds On Recording on the Las Vegas Strip. Much of RPM's unparalleled analog equipment collection and legendary vintage microphone collection is still in use there today.

Spin Doctors (RPM homegrown band - 1991). For use please contact Village Preservation.

Beastie Boys - "Hello Nasty'' (1997). Photo by Brooke Williams. For use please contact Village Preservation

"We ended up booking a real studio to finish it, RPM Studios at East 12th Street. We spent a lot of time and money at RPM, but it was worth it, as this is our best record. It was not for nothing...the guy who owned the studio...invented the first polyphonic synthesizer. So there's that."

Moby (1999) (Outside Mix #3). For use please contact Village Preservation.

Cassandra Wilson - Visionary Award (1993). Landmark Album re-mastered and re-released in 2014. For use please contact Village Preservation.

Roving Ron Wood (1985). Photo by Mary Jan Mason. For use please contact Village Preservation.

Ronnie Hawkins lays it down (1984). For use please contact Village Preservation.

Handmade Signage by Keith Richards (1985). For use please contact Village Preservation

Handmade Signage by Keith Richards (1985). For use please contact Village Preservation

Robert Mason (2018). In his oral history, Robert Mason reflects on his growth as a musician and composer, shares stories of operating RPM Studios, and outlines new projects with younger generations of post-genre contemporary classical electronic composers. Listen to Robert Mason’s Oral History here.

Front room (top) and back room (bottom) (2020) (see Mason p. 43). Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .