Fascinating obits ran recently, noting the passing on May 17th of Mack Emmerman, founder of Criteria Recording Studios in North Miami, Florida. The story of Criteria is not too different from the story of Sound City in Los Angeles, which was richly chronicled by Dave Grohl in his recent documentary (see our earlier post Dave Grohl’s “Sound City”), though Criteria was arguably even more successful.

Opened in 1959, Criteria’s history of landmark recordings includes The Allman Brothers’ “Eat A Peach” as well as Eric Clapton’s “Layla”, which featured the iconic slide guitar work of none other than Duane Allman.

Savor these tracks from Criteria’s catalog.

Criteria was purchased by New York’s Hit Factory in 1999 and continued to put out big albums including Michael Jackson’s last studio recording “Invincible”.  While the Hit Factory’s original New York location closed in 2005, the Miami facility lives on to this day, apparently a favorite of many rap and hip-hop acts.

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