Sound City Co., Ltd. is a comprehensive post-production company headquartered in Azabudai, Minato, Tokyo. Its Azabudai main building provides music recording, video editing, MA, and printing services, while it also operates recording studio facilities in Minami-Aoyama, Minato, and Kinuta, Setagaya.
Worked On Here
Recorded, mixed or mastered here, from this catalogue:
- Galneryus - THE SENSE OF OUR LIVES - Galneryus, released September 9, 2016 (
VPXQ-79008), from the "JUST PRAY TO THE SKY" TOUR 2016. Mobile Recording Staff, Mobile Recording Staff (Hiroshi Ishida), Mobile Recording Staff (Taiyo Nakayama), Recorded By [Mobile Recording Staff] (Hiroshi Ishida), Recorded By [Mobile Recording Staff] (Taiyo Nakayama).
History
Translated from the ja.wikipedia article サウンド・シティ (企業) (CC BY-SA 4.0), revision 107775510.
In 1961, Hikokan Studio Co., Ltd. was established on the site of a former cinema in the Shimbashi Hikokan Building. In 1962, Heibei Sakaguchi was appointed representative director. In 1966, the company changed its name from Hikokan Studio Co., Ltd. to Japan Broadcasting Recording Co., Ltd.
In 1972, Susumu Watanabe, founder of Watanabe Production, one of Japan's pioneering entertainment production companies, became representative director. In 1976, construction began on a large new studio on B3 of the Azabudai Building. Following the relocation, the company changed its name to Sound City Co., Ltd. (株式会社サウンド・シティ). It carried out music recording, commercial narration recording and sound editing, as well as re-recording work to transfer sound onto film.
In 1978, construction began on a new video editing room on B1 of the Azabudai Building, and the company entered the video production business at an early stage. In 1984, a one-inch VTR printing system was introduced on the sixth floor of the Azabudai Building, making it possible to deliver large quantities of prints from commercial masters to broadcasting stations.
In 1987, the concept of the music studio, which had previously had a dead acoustic environment, was completely transformed, and it was renovated into a live studio making extensive use of marble. At the same time, a Sony PCM-3324 digital multitrack recorder was introduced. That year, following the sudden death of representative director Susumu Watanabe, Misa Watanabe became representative director.
In 1989, Soichiro Kawai became representative director, and the MA studios also began transitioning to digital systems. In 1991, non-linear editing began with the full digitisation of the editing rooms. In 1994, a mixdown room was established, and an SSL console was introduced following API and Neve consoles.
In 1997, Hideki Hayashi became representative director. In 1998, Digidesign Pro Tools, now Avid Pro Tools, was introduced into recording work, marking the beginning of the tapeless era. In 2000, SSL Avant was introduced for MA, fully digitising signal processing. In 2001, a recording studio using only Pro Tools, without a console, was established, pioneering a one-person operation work style. In 2003, Pro Tools was introduced into every room in both the music studios and MA studios, after which the transition to tapeless operation progressed rapidly.
In 2005, Kijiro Ishii became representative director. In 2010, Seitaro Sakaguchi became representative director. That year, the video editing rooms on the first floor of the Azabudai Building were consolidated on B1.
On February 1, 2013, the company took over Towerside Studio and began operating it as Sound City Annex. In 2015, Crescent Studio began operating as Sound City Setagaya. In 2019, Libera Studio Minami-Aoyama began operating as Sound City Minami-Aoyama.
In 2021, following a name succession, the name of the representative director changed from Seitaro Sakaguchi to Heibei Sakaguchi. The Annex Studio closed on October 31 of the same year. In 2022, S Studio was renovated and tutumu, a studio specializing in immersive audio, opened.
On August 26, 2022, an employee who was discovered playing VR games at the company was appointed as a director, and Otomachi Hibiki was created on TikTok. On January 27, 2023, the first livestream was held on YouTube by Otomachi Hibiki as the company’s official public-relations VTuber.
In 2023, Ken Akichi became representative director, and the group holding company Sound City Holdings Co., Ltd. was established. On May 28, 2024, the post-production company Lespace Vision joined the group. Operations of Abaco Studio began on April 1, 2025. On December 1, 2025, CORE, a post-production studio base, opened in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo.
Sources
- Wikidata entity Q55538590.
- ja.wikipedia, サウンド・シティ (企業) (revision 107775510), CC BY-SA 4.0.