Sonic Ranch

Sonic Ranch, in the border town of Tornillo, Texas, is the world's largest residential recording studio complex. There are five studios designed by Vincent Van Haaff on a 1,700-acre (690 ha) pecan orchard, which borders the Rio Grande and Mexico. Located 30 miles (48 km) east of El Paso, Texas, in the border town of Tornillo, there are five houses on the property where artists stay while recording. The studio was founded in 1989 by the current owner/director Tony Rancich around a large traditional Spanish hacienda, which is an adobe structure that was built in the late 1930s, with pine-tree vigas as the ceiling structure. Some rock bands have noted the calm, rural wilderness and easy access to Ciudad Juárez across the border.