Music in real places

Criteria Studios

1755 NE 149th Street, North Miami

Explore the places

Markers identify buildings or documented location references. They do not mark an exact recording room, stage position or camera angle.

Criteria Studios — Map source

Music happened here

Hotel California: two studios and a cover hotel

Criteria supplies the accepted title-track basic recording

1976 album sessions

Szymczyk recalled recording the accepted third basic-track version of Hotel California at Criteria in Miami. His separate studio account identifies Criteria’s Studio C and its custom MCI console.

Hotel California: original Bill Szymczyk recording interview
Hotel California: Blair Jackson’s original January 1995 producer interview, republished 2026

Stayin’ Alive: a groove carried between studios

Stayin’ Alive returns to Criteria for mixing

1977

The Stayin’ Alive recording returned to Criteria Studios in Miami for mixing, with late vocal work described in Criteria’s Studio B.

Classic Tracks: The Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive — Richardson and Galuten interviews