Cold Chillin in Conshohocken

Yeah, so it's like 10 degrees outside, windy as hell and I'm chillin below the pub at Studio Four. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Phil Nicolo is the owner. He and his brother Joe began their music careers as teenagers, fixing speakers at a nearby drive-in theater. In 1980, they founded Studio 4, a recording studio in Philadelphia. Individually and together as the Butcher Bros., they quickly established themselves as a force in all genres of music production, from rock to R&B, mainstream to cutting edge. Mr. Nicolo has attained the most coveted form of success in the music business: he has succeeded in every music genre he has tackled. His early rock credits include the Hooters, Nighthawks and Willie Nile. At the same time, he was creating music with Kriss Kross, Teddy Pendergrass and Taj Mahal. Mixes of Billy Joel's River of Dreams, the Rolling Stone's Love Is Strong, Aerosmith's Falling In Love and James Taylor's A Little More Time are all Mr. Nicolo's work. He co-produced and mixed Sting's When We Danced and re-mixed Message In A Bottle for the Police. Other credits include John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Amy Grant, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Santana, Pete Yorn, Luscious Jackson, Urge Overkill, the Pretenders, Jon Bon Jovi, and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam.

In 1989, Ruffhouse Records was launched out of Studio 4 operations, and over the next ten years it moved more than 100 million units through Sony distribution. Responsible for the careers of Lauryn Hill, the Fugees, Cypress Hill, Kriss Kross and Wyclef Jean, Ruffhouse alone accounted for 12 of Columbia Records 39 Grammy nominations in 1997. In 1993 , Mr. Nicolo founded Master Voice, a mastering lab based in Conshohocken, PA. In 1994 he joined producer Rick Chertoff and Polygram Records. Rick's label Blue Gorilla had great success with Joan Osborn. While maintaining a busy stable of multi-platinum artists, Mr. Nicolo has continued to work with cutting edge talent. Thanks for all the good tunes Phil, and not to mention the spaceship....The Legendary Neve Console.