The Motown Historical Museum

A Guided Tour By Robert Dennis, Former Mastering Supervisor, Motown Records

In the 1960's an independent record company in Detroit, Michigan began creating and marketing hit records better and in larger volume than any record company in the world. The name of this record company was Motown. The recording techniques that were developed by Motown in the mid 60's were part of the formula for the company's success. Even today, many of the recording techniques used find their roots in this "Motown Sound" of the 60's. The Motown Historical Museum includes the original Hitsville USA building that housed Motown's original recording studio on West Grand Blvd. in Detroit.

The recording student and the recording engineer of today will find a visit to the museum both interesting and informative. Recording Engineer's Quarterly would like to give you a glimpse of our "Motown Recording Heritage."

The Original Hitsville USA

The outside of the East museum building looks much like it looked in the 60's with the "Hitsville USA" sign above the large display windows. In front of the building is the official State of Michigan plaque declaring this a historical site.

The Control Room

The recording console just routed and mixed the signals. Racks of gear to shape the sound had to be "patched" into the console. The Control Room was small, but for some reason you could cram a lot of people into it.

Motown's Equipment Racks

The back of the control room had racks of equipment that could be patched into the console. In a modern console much of this gear would actually be in the console housing.

Motown's Tape Machines

The original 3 track tape machine (Left) recorded many hits in its day. The first Motown 8 track (Middle) took over a year to build and install. In those days you couldn't buy an 8 track from the music store.

Welcome To The Studio

The studio was fair-sized and had "good" acoustics. Mic cables were fed from the ceiling so the cords weren't stepped on.

Making The Master Discs

The original disc-mastering lathe made many of the master discs of the hit records under the careful eye of yours truly.

The Original Complex

The Motown Historical Museum is housed in two adjacent (and connected) buildings at 2648 West Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI.. These are the two original buildings out of the eight West Grand Blvd. buildings that Motown owned on the boulevard the 1960's - before the company moved its headquarters to a ten-story office building on Woodward Ave. in downtown Detroit. The Motown Studio A remained at Hitsville USA.

We hope you enjoyed this photo essay visit to the Motown Historical Museum. An in-person visit is always better. You can contact the museum at (313) 875-2264. Please go to more Motown Articles

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Photos used with permission granted by Motown Historical Museum.

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