KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — From Abbey Road in London that hosted The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Kate Bush to Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, the birthplace of rock n’ roll and home to some of the earliest recordings by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Music lovers recognise the iconic recording studios that bore witness to the greatest moments in pop music history.
Think Motown Studio founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1959, which birthed Motown Records, one of the most influential record labels of all time with an impressive roster that included Stevie Wonder, The Supremes and Marvin Gaye.
Closer to home, tucked in the middle of Section 13, Petaling Jaya — is King’s Studio.
You would be forgiven for driving past without noticing it nor realising just what a landmark of Malaysian music history it is.
But make no mistake.
Historically, the cultural significance of King’s Studio is no less than the musical equivalent of Studio Jalan Ampas in Singapore that was one of the homes of Asian film from the 1930s to the 1980s.
Birth of a King
King Musical Industries Sdn Bhd was founded by the late entrepreneur Ng Lian-Chin who is also the founder of Hup Hup Sdn Bhd, the parent company of Life Records back in 1963.
It opened the doors to what is one of Malaysia’s oldest (some might say first, which would take more in-depth research of many undocumented parts of Malaysian music history) recording studio and a pioneer in vinyl manufacturing.
If that doesn’t impress or excite you, consider that it was THE go-to recording studio regionally, from the 60s for several decades and hosted musical legends of yesteryear such as our own Tan Sri P. Ramlee, Taiwanese pop icon Teresa Teng as well as Cantopop diva Frances Yip.
It also saw the humble beginnings and the heydays of household Malaysian music names Datuk M. Nasir, Wings, Alleycats as well as the late Datuk Sudirman Haji Arshad and Jay Jay or his real name Mohd Fauzi Darus, who passed on Aug 4.
It was also one of, if not, the only local vinyl pressing manufacturer which was recognised by major labels at the time, from CBS Records International (now owned by Sony) to WEA International Inc (now known as Warner Music) as well as EMI.
King’s Studio
King’s Studio which consists of five recording studios and a vinyl plant on its premises, was also known as the home of rock kapak in the late 80’s to the late 90’s.
It became THE studio for the genre, especially after the success of rock band Search and rock queen Ella who both recorded their hit songs and albums there including Search’s hit song Isabella which was recorded at Studio C that the most sought-after studio in King’s Studio.
Speaking to Malay Mail, Ng Cheong Kien, one of the sons of Ng Lian-Chin, who became in charge of handling King’s Studio from 1985 until the present day, said that during its golden days, King’s Studio was known for their sound engineers as some of their senior engineers were sent to Los Angeles to take courses on music engineering, including Kien himself.
Kien said that aside from King’s Studio being recognised by major labels at that time, the quality of their works was also the main attraction for local musicians.
They were also amongst the first who did live show recordings for artists such as Datuk Awie and Indonesian singer Hetty Koes Endang at that time, with renowned concert director Jennifer Thompson working with them.
“Jennifer was very good, she actually started the first live recording, and she did the whole show.
“We even closed one whole studio and brought it to the venue which was at KL Live in Jalan Sultan Ismail at that time.
“We even brought with us the huge analog mixer. The team spirit was just great,” Kien said.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis and the digital age
The first hit to King’s Studio’s was sometime in 1990 when they had to close their vinyl printing plant after over 20 years of operation.
“One of the reasons we had to stop vinyl pressing was when broadcasters such as RTM stopped using vinyl for broadcast and switched to CD. There were zero orders by then,” he said.
This was followed by the 1997 financial crisis along with the declining cassette tape sales, followed by the onset of the digital age in the early 2000’s that made the situation worse for King’s Studio, who was operating with analog equipment.
“The transition was very tough especially after the 1997 financial crisis, then came the digital era where most people had their own garage studio.
“From five studios, now we only have one which is our oldest studio and it is still operating but we’ve rented it out to one of our ex-staff, because they’re the only ones who still know how to use the studio properly.
“The thing about the music business now, it offer opportunities to more people, anyone can do a recording on their own now, it’s more open because of technology,” he said.
Their vinyl printing hall has since been renovated into a cafe called the King’s Hall Cafe, while three of their main studios have closed down, with the legendary Studio C is rented out to a local creative organisation for youths called TeenEdge Malaysia, whose focus is developing young talents.
Studio A, which is the first and oldest studio there, is rented out to Rockstar Musika, whose owner is one of King’s Studio former audio engineers, Sarra King.
The Golden Days
“It was busy. Very busy and there was no resting for audio engineers,” said Sarra, recalling how it was in the past.
“I remember there were people who booked some of the studios for a whole year and we were operating 24 hours a day.
“It was that busy.”
Sarra joined King’s Studio in the mid 90’s during its rock kapak’s peak and he has had the opportunity to work with some of the legends at that time including rock band XPDC, the late Datuk Sharifah Aini, Datuk Jamal Abdillah and many more.
The 50-year-old sports a scar on his chin, which is a reminder of falling unconscious in front of a mamak stall at Jalan 223, following long working hours as the audio engineer for XPDC's Samurai album at that time.
He said that King’s Studio was home for many local musicians since the 60’s and was a hub in the late 80s.
“Many local rock bands came to record here because the drum sounds were very particular. People liked the drum sounds because the ceiling was very high and other studios could not get that sound.
“That created an influx of so many rock bands and big names producers coming here.
“And we couldn’t close the studio, it ran for 24 hours and for engineers, we would have up to two to three shifts in a day,” he said, adding that there were around 13 to 14 audio engineers working at King’s Studio at the time.
Aside from being a one-stop centre for musicians and labels, King’s Studio also opened its premises for other local musicians to just come and hang around the area.
Independent musicians would look to earn a few bucks by offering themselves as sessionist for other artists.
Although some of the studios have closed down or been turned into storage rooms King’s Studio has kept most of its interior as how it was back in the day including the equipment (although some digital ones have been added) and furniture.
Sarra who has renting Studio A for some time now also acts as the caretaker of the place, and said that the studio still holds a special place for local artists today, with some still choosing to record there such as Jaclyn Victor, Butterfingers as well as Maya Karin.
