Originally built by the Oppenheimer Brothers in June 1886 as Vancouver's first wholesale grocery business, it also served as Vancouver's City Hall after the city was decimated by fire. For most of its 115+ year history the building held a glass factory and storage warehouse for Pilkington Glass Company. The building later fell into terrible disrepair and became abandoned. In 1989 the property at 100-102 Powell St. was purchased by Bryan Adams. The building at 102 Powell was gutted and converted into a parking lot with green space hidden behind a street front facade. The 2nd building, the original Oppenheimer Warehouse on the corner was restored and converted into a three-storey state of the art studio. Importantly, Adams was sure to maintain the building's character and charm by preserving the original brick and beam construction. The project took nearly a decade to complete. In 1998, The Warehouse Studio received a City of VancouverHeritage Award for outstanding restoration of a historic building.
Studios
Studio 1 - SSL 4072 G+
On the main floor is a large format analog mixing room with a 72 input Solid State LogicG Series console with Total Recall and Black E Series EQ. It also has an isolated recording space and a small lounge and kitchen. This console was previously installed in the basement of Bryan Adams' former West Vancouver residence on Mathers Avenue. While he was on tour, Adams would allow other bands to record and mix there until his plan to create a studio complex in the heart of Vancouver could be realized.
Studio 2 - Neve A6630
Located on the second floor is the main tracking room. The dimensions of the live room are 32 ft by 58 ft with a 24-ft ceiling and three isolation booths. There is also a lounge area, a long table for dining, full kitchen services, and a small fire escape patio.
Neve A6630 console
The Neve A6630 installed in Studio 2 is one of the three legendary custom-ordered consoles built for Sir George Martin. Built in 1979, it was installed in AIR Studios London on Oxford Street. It later found a home in Atlantic Studios in New York, until Bryan bought it in 1991. Ron Obvious rebuilt and modded the console and it was installed into Studio 2. It is a split console, with 58 channels, 24 busses, and a 32 channel tape monitor panel. The mic pres are remote, meaning the actual preamps are housed in rolling carts on the live room floor. The mic trim pot on the console sends a control voltage to the pre. The main 52 channels have 31106 EQ modules. Console Modifications include:
6 custom "Sleve" strips: an SSL mic pre and EQ circuitry housed in a Neve channel strip.
SSL quad buss compressor
Pre-eq insert points
Studio 3 - Avid S6
Studio 3 was originally a mixing studio that featured a Solid State Logic 9080J series console. In October 2013 the large analog SSL was shut down and sold off to make way for renovations and a change in the function of the studio. 12 months later the 3rd floor studio reopened with a new floor plan that now includes an isolated recording and more spacious control room. Most of the processing equipment stayed but the centre piece is now a 24 fader Avid S6 controller with 32 hardware inserts.
Studio 4
Also on the main floor, the smallest of the studios was designed and built with budget conscious artists in mind but still features top quality equipment like Neve 1081 mic pre amps and Pro Tools HD.
Technical
Acoustic and technical considerations for The Warehouse Studio during design, construction and operation were handled by Ron "Obvious" Vermeulen with Adams providing guidance on the character and aesthetic details. When Ron "O" retired in 2003 his long time mentor John Vrtacic took over as Technical Director for 6 years until he died in August 2009. Vrtacic's apprentice David Backus is now the Technical Director.
