• By Russ Corey,
• Mar 23, 2008

Mayor Billy Don Anderson said he will allow the owner of a local recording studio to store vintage recording equipment in a city building until the owner can devise a plan on how the equipment should be displayed.

Noel Webster, the owner of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios Historic Museum, has offered to allow the city to use the equipment to open a local museum of sound and film recording.

“This is the largest collection of recording and film equipment in the nation,” Webster said at a recent city council meeting.

Webster said he is acquiring the equipment from the New York City-based Museum of Sound Recording.

The problem is, Webster has no place to store it.

Some of the equipment, dating from the 1950s to 1980s, is being stored in buildings Webster owns in Sheffield, but they are not large enough to hold everything.

“I have two truckloads of it here,” Webster said. “It’s all coming here if I have to store it in Huntsville.”

Webster approached the city to see if they have a place to store the equipment until such time it can be placed in a local museum setting.

Anderson said he has offered Webster the use of the Brewster School building in the Village neighborhood. He said the building is secure and there are four large classrooms that can be used to store the equipment.

The mayor said Webster could use the building on a temporary basis.

In the meantime, Anderson has assigned Councilman Gary Scales to act as a liason between the city and Webster.

“He has a great interest in that field,” Anderson said. “Gary is the perfect person to assign to Noel as his contact with the city.”

In addition, Anderson said he asked Webster to create a plan on what he would like to do with the equipment.

Webster has said he would like to open a small museum behind Muscle Shoals Sound Studios Historic Museum, but the buildings are not nearly large enough to house all the equipment.

Webster also offered to let the city use the equipment to open a recording museum to earn revenue for the city.

“We don’t have the funds to put a program together without seeing a plan,” Anderson said. “At some point in the future, I want to see a plan submitted to the city on what he expects to do with the equipment.”

Anderson also wants to know how it can be beneficial and profitable to the city.

One possibility mentioned during the council meeting and a later interview with the mayor was creating a museum at the historic Village school, which has a small auditorium which could be used for intimate musical performances, Anderson said.

Webster said all the equipment is in working order and could be used for recording seminars or recording projects by artists.

Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@timesdaily.com.