Snack: Embassy Studios

Dan Bova (0:00)

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Frank Babar (2:36)

Jimmy Hendrix had it, right, when he did Electric Lady. He was like, hey, he came from an artist's perspective. He's like, I want this kind of amazing space so I can really cultivate my art form and cure it properly. He was on that early.

Dan Bova (2:58)

Hey, everyone, welcome to a special bonus video episode of How Success Happens. I'm Dan Bova, writer and editor at entrepreneur.com. In a minute, you're not going to see me sitting here in this studio because a few days ago, I sat down with Frank Babar, an absolute legend in the music recording business. Now, Frank is a self-made music mogul who has been in the game since he was 14 years old, and he just opened a world-class recording studio in New York City just blocks away from the Empire State Building called Embassy Studios. And I went to visit, and my god, this place is insane in terms of the state of the art technology they have there and the names of the artists who have walked through its hallways.

So, Frank told me all about his personal business journey and shared his unfiltered opinions about what makes a business truly great, and when it's important for an entrepreneur to take on a big challenge and just run through walls, and also when it's important for them to just follow your gut and say, no thanks. So, I hope you enjoy my chat with Frank. Let's check it out. I had an amazing tour of this place.

And as a non-professional recorder, a recording artist, I haven't been in many studios before, but this is very different from what my expectations were. So, I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what your vision of this place is, and also just what problem were you trying to solve when you said, no, we can do something different?

Frank Babar (4:39)

Well, obviously, and I say obvious, because I think most people would understand this, that if you're in New York City, and speaking from this regional area, there was no facility that really could accommodate a complete creative outlet. So, it was always almost like, we're going to say second class citizen.

Dan Bova (5:06)

Okay.

Frank Babar (5:07)

I want to say the studio business has been like the second class citizen to the music business.

Dan Bova (5:13)

Okay.

Frank Babar (5:13)

You know, and I think it's the most important entry point into music. So, a lot of what was going on, and I think that Jimi Hendrix had it, right? When he did Electric Lady, you know, he was like, hey, he came from an artist perspective, right? He's like, I want this kind of amazing space, so I can really cultivate my art form and curate properly. And he had, he was on that early along with his partner.