Alexandros Kalteziotis, 25, graduated from the respected Berklee College of Music and has been working for Henson Recording Studios for about a year.
Listening to “Every Breath You Take” as a teenager in his room in the Attica suburb of Pikermi, Alexandros Kalteziotis never imagined that in just 10 years he’d be in the same studio where The Police recorded much of their work.
Yet the 25-year-old graduate of the Berklee College of Music has already spent roughly a year working in the hallowed halls of Henson Recording Studios, a major chapter in US musical history, stretching back to Charlie Chaplin, who built the Hollywood complex in 1917 as a film studio. Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss took over the space in 1966 and used it to house A&M Records, until the entire thing was bought by Jim Henson in 2000, where he carried on the legacy of the renowned recording studios. Today, the company of the creator of “The Muppet Show” is a sprawling facility that rarely lets people who are not related to show business in, whatever Kermit’s smiling face may suggest at the entrance. The studio used by the likes of John Lennon and Pink Floyd is an unbreachable fortress – all the more exciting for the young Greek music producer.
‘Every one of the five recording studios has a comfortable lounge attached, where the artists can take a break, while they can also walk around outside’
“It’s heaven on Earth for artists,” Kalteziotis tells Kathimerini.
From present stars like Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Justin Bieber, to legends like The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney, A-list musicians choose Henson for its high-precision equipment and the privacy.
“The musicians drive through the gates without being spotted by fans or the press,” says Kalteziotis, who, as one of the studio’s 15 staff members, has access to every room, but has also signed a strict confidentiality agreement.
“Every one of the five recording studios has a comfortable lounge attached, where the artists can take a break, while they can also walk around outside,” he says, adding that the artists can also make the space feel more like home. “They often bring objects like a small piece of furniture or anything else they believe brings them luck.”
Henson is also where “We are the World” was recorded in 1985, and it also features in the Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop.” “The spacious studio and the central location helped,” says the young producer.
Every studio has a story. “Back in the 1980s, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers needed a studio to prepare an album and the only one that was available was Studio B, which was being renovated,” says the young Greek, explaining that the band took it anyway and was so enthused with the sound produced by having stripped bricks and plaster that they insisted on working there and convinced the owner not to complete the renovation. “It is still in the same ‘unfinished’ state and you can’t imagine how many young artists want it based on the sound on that old album,” Kalteziotis adds, laughing. Kalteziotis is the first Greek hired by Henson, which almost exclusively employs Berklee graduates, shaping them into the sound engineers and music producers who will go on to follow major bands across their trajectories and often also contribute to their sound, as the so-called “fifth Beatle,” George Martin, did.
So far, Kalteziotis has discovered an affinity with Norwegian artists; his work with Jon Ranes and Ingrid Saga has been a success, propelling the album “Loverboy” and the single “Ιn the Space Between Our Souls” among the top spots of Norway’s Spotify, with a million streams.
