HC&F Studio

Defunct US studio of Phil Smart which was located in Freeport, Long Island, New York. Strategically located 12 miles east of JFK International Airport – where most Jamaican artists book their hotels, to reduce the chance of missing their flights home – the studio became the go-to spot for local talent as well as visiting singers and musicians.

Smart says the choice of location was primarily motivated by security concerns. “Brooklyn was under siege,” he says, referring to the street violence that plagued the NYC borough during the height of the crack era. “Plus most of the studios in Brooklyn were specializing in dubplates. We wanted a place that was focused on making records.” He first set up shop in his father-in-law’s Long Island basement. “We had a dub-cutting machine and we had an eight-track board and we had a drum set. But then the neighbors used to complain about the noise.”

In 1982, in partnership with his brother-in-law Michael McDonald, Smart opened HC&F studios, named for the initials of the investor: their father-in-law, Herbert Chin and Family. Members of the Brooklyn-based Jamaican band Monyaka assisted with the construction of the new studio and tested out the equipment. The first recording made at HC&F, the band’s unexpected crossover success of the dicso-infused reggae single “Go Deh Yaka,” which was played by Frankie Crocker on WBLS and went on to hit the UK pop charts. “The crowd at the studio became so big after Monyaka’s song, we decided to move from a residential area to a commercial district at 6 Brooklyn Ave,” (one block north of Sunrise Highway) recalls Michael McDonald, who was an aspiring engineer when the studio opened. Smart recalls. “Nobody was worrying about production credits. We were more interested in developing a sound. At that time, it was all about one love and unity. We just wanted to hear some reggae played on WBLS.”

Before long, HC&F became a gathering place for emerging Jamaican reggae & dancehall acts based in New York and those visiting from Jamaica. Smart’s engineering and producing skills proved indispensible to NYC’s burgeoning reggae industry of the early ‘80s, noted Tad A. Dawkins, founder of the Kingston/Miami based label/distributorship Tad’s Record; its first office was located above HC&F studios. “When most Jamaican producers left home, they stopped in New York to have Philip Smart mix, overdub or do something to ensure their music sounded right.”
Jamaican artists in New York wanted a familiar place to make good music; once we took Gregory Isaacs to a Manhattan studio to voice [record vocal tracks], but him say it nah feel right,” Dawkins reminisced, “so we went to Philip’s studio, and within two days we finished everything, easily, because the familiar yard [Jamaica] feel was there.”

That “yard” feel juxtaposed with Smart’s expertise in the latest in recording technology and instinct for recognizing a hit as it was being recorded, resulted in a succession of popular singles in the mid- to late-‘80s, including Audrey Hall’s U.K. crossover hit “One Dance” (1985, Penthouse), Barrington Levy’s “Murderer” (1984, Jah Life), and Shelly Thunder’s no-nonsense suggestion for keeping a cheating spouse in line, “Kuff” (1988, Music Master).

The 1990s brought to HC&F the introduction of digital recording and Sound Tools’ two-track computer recording. The first Sound Tools hit recorded there was “Hot This Year” by Dirtsman, released on Smart’s Tan Yah label, and a remix of Cocoa Tea’s poignant dancehall hit “Rikers Island” featuring deejay Nardo Ranks.

HC&F would find its niche at the dawn of the post-Sleng Teng computer production era. “We built drum patterns for a lot of the sessions then so producers start to come here for that,”

As the ‘90s progressed and dancehall reggae attained major-label support, Smart’s engineering/production acumen enhanced recordings by New York-based dancehall luminaries including Shinehead, Super Cat, Shabba Ranks, signed to Elektra, Columbia and Epic Records, respecitvely. Shaggy’s debut single “Mampie” (Tan Yah) was recorded at HC&F, as was a significant portion of the tracks featured on his albums for various majors including “Hot Shot” (MCA), which crowned the Top 200 tally in 2001 and has sold nearly 9 million copies in the U.S.

Renamed Black Pyramid Recording Studios in 2007. Smart retired in the summer 2013 after deteriorating health from complications due to carcinoid cancer of the liver.

*referenced from https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/philip-smart-celebrated-reggae-producerengineer-dead-at-61-5937500/
and
https://jesse-serwer.com/music-culture/philip-smart-hcf-studio/
and
https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/06/philip-smart-new-york-reggae-feature

May also appears as:
- HCF Studio
- H.C.F. Studio
- HC&F Studios
- HC & F Recording
- HC & F Recording Studio
- H.C. & F. Studio
- H.C. & F. Studios
- H. C. And F Studios
- H.C.F Recording Studio

Known engineers worked there: [a1091313], Dennis Halliburton, [a616754].