Fame Studios Teams with UA for Console Rebuild Documentary

Muscle Shoals, AL (May 1, 2025)—There’s a lot of music history in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, thanks to Fame Recording Studios. While best known for the remarkable string of hits that came out of the facility in the 1960s and 70s, when acts like Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and The Rolling Stones cut tracks known the world over, the facility has continued on to this day, honoring its history while also keeping an eye towards the future.

With that in mind, the studio recently teamed up with Universal Audio to rebuild the facility’s UA 610 tube recording console—the very modular tube desk that was used to record all those artists mentioned above and hundreds of others over the decades. While the UA 610 console was originally designed by UA founder Bill Putnam Sr. in 1958, the new rebuild will allow engineers to tie into modern-day equipment like UA Apollo interfaces and LUNA Digital Audio Workstation. Adding to the rebuild’s uniqueness, the console is also being built with vintage modules previously owned by rock legend Neil Young.

Given the once-in-a-lifetime nature of creating a hybrid desk with technology spanning across nearly 70 years, both Fame Recording Studios and Universal Audio decided it would be a good idea to document the rebuilding process for posterity with a three-part video series. In the newly released first episode, UA CEO Bill Putnam Jr. travels to Muscle Shoals to plan the console’s design, aiming to ensure the technologies pair up without issue.

DVD Review: Muscle Shoals

“This is about honoring the legacy of my father’s design while making something that could serve as the centerpiece of a modern studio,” explains Putnam Jr. “The 610 shaped the sound of Muscle Shoals, and we’re excited to bring that magic forward for a new generation of musicians and records.”