Join us as we continue our tour of Brooklyn’s busiest recording studios for SonicScoop. In this installment, learn where living legends of jazz and metal record their masterpieces, and find some surprisingly affordable production spaces south of Prospect Park.
SYSTEMS TWO
Kensington, Brooklyn
Contact: systemstwo@gmail.com | (718) 851-1010
Call For Rates
Systems Two doesn’t have a website, and to be honest, it doesn’t really need one.
When I asked founder and engineer Joe Marciano about their curious lack of web presence, he said “We’ve been blessed, literally from the first day that we opened. We just haven’t had a second to even think about putting a website together.”
When Marciano started Systems Two 37 years ago, it was a small 8-track studio, and South Brooklyn was a very different place. From these humble beginnings, the studio expanded through two recessions to become what it is today: an enormous, three-room facility in Kensington, and arguably, one of the hottest spots for jazz recording in the United States.
But it’s not only that. In addition to hosting contemporary jazz luminaries like Cassandra Wilson, Trevor Dunn, Anthony Braxton, Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Dave Holland, Tom Harrell, and Kenny Baron Systems Two has recorded pop, rock, classical and world artists for a variety of labels – even a string of iconic Brooklyn metal bands like Type O Negative, Life Of Agony, and Biohazard.
“Maybe half the people who call us want to see a website,” says Joe Marciano. But, according to him, System Two’s studio manager (his wife Nancy Marciano), is “very old school.” “She wants to get people down here: To smell this place, to see it, and to get into the vibe of it. That’s the big attraction point. As soon as we get them in here, that’s it, they’ve found a home…
…Read more about Systems Two, Secret Weapon and Newkirk Studios on SonicScoop.
