I'm probably foggy too, but I think that KHJ AM radio had that studio on Melrose around the corner from RKO/later Desilu where Sinatra originally recorded, and it had a stage where the orchestra sat with Sinatra on a mike in the audience area next to and below the stage. Whether it was rented or Capitol bought it later, I can't tell you from what I've read.
Rod

--- On Fri, 6/22/12, Carl Pultz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Carl Pultz <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Magnetic Tape/Recorders
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, June 22, 2012, 6:54 AM

Foggy recollection: Capitol bought the Melrose Ave. studios, which had been
a radio network facility - right? I read that the big room had fine
acoustics, which they had a hard time replicating in the new tower studio.
This comes from a book on Sinatra, so not from a technical POV.

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Olhsson
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Magnetic Tape/Recorders

Capitol originally recorded at Radio Recorders and I believe the Bing Crosby
shows were also taped there. When Capitol bought their own studio it was
staffed mostly with people from Radio.

(Pre-recording radio shows was their original business, hence the name.)

Bob Olhsson 
615.562.4346 http://www.bobolhsson.com http://audiomastery.com    

-----Original Message-----
From Tom Fine: 
...Capitol and Mercury started doing most recording onto tape in the 1948
timeframe. Capitol was one of the first customers for the Ampex 200 and
later 300 model tape machines, at their studio in California (I don't think
they had their own studio in NYC in those days). Mercury used three early
adopters of tape recorders for much of their recording in the late 40's --
Radio Recorders in Hollywood, Universal Recording (Bill Putnam) in Chicago
and Reeves Studios in NYC. Reeves was fully equipped to do both tape and
disk recording in 1948, as detailed in a series of articles in one of the
magazines of the day, reprinted by Fairchild (the main supplier of recording
equipment to Reeves at that time)...