Ter Mar Studios

A Chicago, Illinois recording and mastering studio. Founded during the 1950s by Chess' founders Phil Chess and Leonard Chess and named after their sons Terry and Marshall Chess. Phil and Leonard held a fifty percent ownership interest in the studio until it was acquired by GRT Corporation in late 1969 as part of a larger deal. Thereafter, the facility operated as a division of the GRT Corporation until GRT's 1979 bankruptcy led to its closure. Throughout this time, the studio—which was housed in the label's building—operated closely with Chess's Chess Producing Corp. and therefore often appears on releases as 'Chess Studios'. Ron Malo known to have been chief engineer. Engineers known to have worked here: Ω (2) Vinyl Mastering Identification: - Some releases can be identified by a "T.M" hand-etched into the runouts. - Some releases mastered at Ter Mar Studios can also be identified by an alpha-numeric 'STM' sequence, e.g., STM 1234, STM 1235, which can be entered in the 'Mastered at' field(s) (for more information, please refer to the Common Runout Groove Etchings topic in the database discussion forum). Name Variations: "Ter-Mar Studio" "Ter Mar Recordings" "Ter Mar Recording Studio"