Recorded at Electric Lady Studios, New York, January 1975Ģ02. Somebody Up There (Likes Me) * (Unfinished Mix). Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia 8-23 August 1974ġ01. “There was some very powerful nonfiction going on at Sigma Sounds that was the real soundtrack for people’s lives,” Nicoletti said.David Bowie Ain’t That Close To Love (Young Americans Sessions) To Nicoletti and many others, the studio and those who helped create the Sound of Philadelphia are a reflection of the strength and power of the city itself. “There was so much harmony going on within the walls … it was a really great place for people to work and cultivate artistic abilities.” Nicoletti notes that during Sigma Sound’s peak, the racial tensions seen in Philadelphia that gave much of the city its bad press were not reflected in the studio. “The Philadelphia sound to me is so elegant and sophisticated and I want this film to be that, I don’t want it to be gritty … I want it to be classic and have a lot of longevity to it.” “I want to look like what the Philadelphia sound would look like,” he added.
“There was a lot of peace and love in the music and I think the songs in general just had their own unique sound to them that the people hadn’t heard before.” “ was pretty new and unique at the time, there were a lot of messages in the music that people really embraced,” he added. Nicoletti wants to create a legacy piece for the studio that represents and reflects the Sound of Philadelphia. “As a musician, I’d played all those Philly hits in different bands over the years,” he added. Without Joe and Sigma, the Philly sound would have been much different.” “Kenny, Leon and Thom were the creative forces behind the music, but Joe was the sonic architect who helped bring their ideas into focus and give them life.
“The sound of is all about four names: Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Thom Bell and Joe Tarsia,” said Slutsky.
The documentary, directed by Nicoletti and co-produced by alumnus Allan Slutsky, focuses on the story of how Tarsia, along with young producers Kenny Gamble, Thom Bell and Leon Huff created not only a world-renowned studio, but also became “the four pillars of the Sound of Philadelphia,” which Nicoletti said, “had no noise, there was all this pure sound and when you heard a Sigma Sound song it just resonated because it had a full, rich, clean and unique sound to it.” Years after the studio’s heyday, Nicoletti, a native Philadelphian, hopes to immortalize Sigma Sound in the new documentary “Sigma Sound: The Sound Heard ‘Round the World,” to be released by the end of 2016. Sigma Sound Studios went on to become one of the most influential recording studios in the city, attracting legends like David Bowie and Billy Joel.Īrtists were eager to get a slice of the Sound of Philadelphia, the nickname given to the style of music-a mixture of soul, gospel, R&B and classical music-that dominated the late 1960s and ‘70s and produced artists like Teddy Pendergrass, the O’Jays and the Spinners. Tarsia built Sigma Sound Studios in 1968 at the corner of 12th and Spring streets, hoping to seize an opportunity in a city he thought needed a new sound. “I was just enamored by the history that took place there, so fast forward 20 years as a production company owner … it felt like it was time to tell the story.” “Afterwards I said, ‘Joe, you gotta tell the story, it’s phenomenal,’” Nicoletti, Visual Innovations studio owner, said. One night, almost 20 years ago, Sigma Sound Studios owner Joe Tarsia told Bill Nicoletti the story of when David Bowie cut his ninth album, “Young Americans,” at the studio.
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