Shooter Jennings Exclusively Leases Sunset Sound Studio 3
This story has been updated.
Over the last few years, Shooter Jennings has gone from a pickup producer taking bookings in between tours and recording his own albums, to one of the busiest and most sought-after producers in the business.
The son of Waylon Jennings tends to specialize in independent country and Americana, with recent albums from Tanya Tucker, the Turnpike Troubadours, American Aquarium, Jason Boland, Logan Ledger, Kelsey Waldon, Jaime Wyatt, and more on his resume. But Shooter has also done multiple projects in the rock realm, including the solo project from Duff McKagan of Guns ‘N Roses.
In March of 2022, Shooter announced he would be mostly retiring from touring to focus on becoming a producer full-time. His studio of choice for many projects has been the legendary Sunset Sound Studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, specifically Studio 3 of the complex that he’s renamed “Snake Mountain.”
In fact, Shooter has been spending so much time there, he has decided to exclusively lease the space. Some of the famous artists who’ve recorded in Sunset Studio 3 include Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Neil Diamond, Rita Coolidge, Fleetwood Mac, Beck, The Wallflowers, Counting Crows, K.D. Lang, and Social Distortion.
Sunset Sound Studios was founded in 1958 by Disney Recording Director Tutti Camarata. Tired of renting spaces, he took an old abandoned automotive repair garage that he saw as ideal since it included non-parallel walls, ceilings, and floors so the fluids would drain to one side, and converted it into a studio. The soundtracks for Bambi and 101 Dalmatians were recorded there. Later bands like The Doors, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Van Halen would make the studio legendary.
This lease means you can probably expect more records produced by Shooter Jennings in the coming months and years. American Aquarium has been saying that Shooter worked with them on a new album coming sometime this summer. Shooter is also reportedly working on film, TV, and mixing projects in the space as well.
As a producer, Shooter Jennings has won a Grammy Award with Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker respectively, and has been nominated for three more.
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Editor’s note: This story has been revised to clarify that Shooter Jennings is just leasing Sunset Sound Studio 3, and is not in control or has ownership over it.
March 11, 2024 @ 8:44 am
“This is great news for live music and horrible news for recorded music.”
That was my comment when he retired from touring to focus on producing. I still stand by the first half of that sentence, but I currently have a knife and fork to eat the words of the second half. I’ve really enjoyed the large majority of what he’s been doing.
March 11, 2024 @ 8:54 am
Like his productions more than his music, he’s very good at it.
March 11, 2024 @ 9:26 am
A cat in the rain is the worst sounding of all turnpike albums. So….i dunno about all this.
March 11, 2024 @ 9:49 am
Agreed, the overall sound quality is “stale”- Turnpike should have gone back to Sonic Ranch where their previous album was recorded. Not impressed with much of what Shooter produces to be honest.
March 11, 2024 @ 10:31 am
To me Cat in the Rain is a muddy mess of a mix.
The songs were amazing live, as they sounded like Turnpike.
Not a fan of Shooter Productions that I’ve heard this far.
March 11, 2024 @ 4:04 pm
I agree. I’ve been listening to turnpike for almost a dozen years and finally saw them live for the first time last week. I thought they were awesome and blew the doors off the Tacoma Dome. This is where Tswift and Beyonce and all the big acts play in the northwest, and I am so happy the Turnpike and CodyJinks could play there (to half the dome anyways.) They played all the old stuff first and were on fire, and the tempo really shifted down later in the show with the newer songs. The new stuff sounded great live, but just sure doesn’t hit the same recorded. Cody Jinks was awesome, but its 3 guitars and the Steel. Turnpike brings in all the instrumentation and it works great together. Unfortunately, that did not come through on the last record. Still tickled to finally see them in the northwest, up till now all I could do was read about it! Thanks Trigger!
March 11, 2024 @ 8:55 pm
That Tacoma Dome show was great for TPT. Honestly didn’t like Jinks live for some reason. Also surprising that a big chunk of crowd left after his set.
March 12, 2024 @ 8:16 am
I was surprised to see so many people leave too. But I think a lot of people were there for Cody Jinks, and we still had a 2 hr drive to get home after 3 hours in traffic to get there. I’m still tired. My wife and daughter didn’t enjoy Jinks as much either, too rock. It was my daughter’s first concert.
March 11, 2024 @ 7:09 pm
As I said when I reviewed “A Cat in the Rain,” I have absolutely no clue where these “worst sounding Turnpike album” comments come from, though there are enough of them that I respect it’s an opinion held by a decent amount of people. A decent amount of people also slagged me for not naming “A Cat in the Rain” Album of the Year, so clearly people disagree.
I think the album sounds fine.
It is important to note, “A Cat in the Rain” was recorded in Muscle Shoals, not in Hollywood at Sunset Sound. Maybe that’s one of the reasons some people think it sounds weird. It also would not be a reason to criticize this studio deal. Do people feel the same about the Shooter albums produced there like American Aquarium’s “Lamentations”? I haven’t seen any complaints about that.
March 11, 2024 @ 8:53 pm
To be fair I like the Jason Boland super weird “The light saw me” I actually think the way it sounds adds a lot to the album in that case.
March 12, 2024 @ 6:09 am
I think A Cat in the Rain sounds good. I’ve really enjoyed the album. Don’t think the studio an album is recorded in is a great indicator of how an album will sound either. Sonic Ranch is mentioned here, and Whitey Morgan and Cody Jinks among others have recorded great sounding albums there. However, Cody’s last 2-3 albums recorded there have sounded strange. Same studio, different mixing, different vision?
I still believe that A Cat in the Rain suffers mostly from a prolonged hype up to the release, and fans super inflated expectations. They expected the greatest Turnpike album ever, and instead got a pretty good album.
March 11, 2024 @ 10:05 am
He coproduced a Julie Roberts album that was released a couple of years ago, “Ain’t In No Hurry”. I wish it had received as much publicity as some of his other recent production work. It’s a fine album with many memorable songs/arrangements!
March 11, 2024 @ 12:53 pm
I like Shooter and he’s going good with the thic sound ,mighty good if y’all want it big like that!!! I’d be more than happy to have him on that end with my next release…
March 11, 2024 @ 5:37 pm
I like Shooter, he reminds me of his daddy and he’s going good with the thic sound ,mighty good if y’all want it big like that!!! I’d be more than happy to have him on that end with my next release…
March 12, 2024 @ 1:50 am
I enjoyed his early albums and think he is a good producer.
March 12, 2024 @ 4:12 am
Shooter’s Electric Rodeo on XM Outlaw Country on Saturday evening is always a great show. You never know what he’s going to play, from old school country to wild ass rock. If I miss it, I try to stream it later on the app.
March 12, 2024 @ 5:34 am
I find the role of producer fascinating. I’m always watching those “making of so and so album” documentaries and it seems to me the job is a perfect example of combining science with art. Can’t blame Shooter for going all-in, it seems like it would be a really challenging and rewarding job.
March 12, 2024 @ 6:18 am
Congrats to Shooter. His producing has been hit and miss to start out, but more hit the last few years. Happy that he seems to have found his calling, but a little sad that his musical performer days seem to winding down.
Thought his first 3 albums were great, but he has been hit and miss as a recording artists since then as well. Never seemed to keep the magic after the 357s were disbanded. Put on one of the best live shows in country that I’ve personally seen though. Hope there will at least be some Shooter Jennings music in the future.
March 14, 2024 @ 5:58 am
Good that Shooter is one of Nashville’s most sought-after producers,but I’d like to hear some Shooter Jennings music,as would lots of other people.