Los Angeles Times - 02.11.2019

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HOT PROPERTY LOS ANGELES TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019 WSCE

MY FAVORITE ROOM

Producer and songwriter An-

tonina Armato has prevailed in a

male-dominated music industry

with hits for artists including

Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez

and Miley Cyrus. Her secret? A

nurturing, safe and whimsical mu-

sic studio that inspires optimum

creativity.

The roughly 4,500-square-foot

Rock Mafia Studios in Santa Moni-

ca started 12 years ago as one re-

cording room, Room A, a space Ar-

mato describes as both “witch-like

and magical, but also maternal.”

“I wanted to create something

that was visually inspiring and felt

like a womb. It’s a comforting place

where an artist can forget about

everything and whisper their dark-

est and deepest secrets, to create

without any kind of impediment,”

said Armato, who co-wrote the

song “Haunted Heart,” sung by

Christina Aguilera for Universal’s

animated movie “The Addams

Family,” in current release.

Dimly lit, with deep tones of red

and orange and a twinkle of Christ-

mas lights, Room A features an im-

pressive collection of crystals — in-

cluding eight skulls made of vari-

ous minerals, including obsidian,

lithium, lapis, rose quartz and

tourmaline, which she says “give

off creative, magic and love ener-

gy.” Her favorite is made of citrine.

Armato co-founded the Rock

Mafia songwriting-producing

team with her husband, singer-

songwriter Tim James. In the stu-

dio, they’ve hung framed albums

that have inspired them, including

Neil Young’s “Hawks and Doves”

and “Fun House” by the Stooges.

On the opposite wall hangs a post-

er of “The Godfather Part II”

signed by Al Pacino, Francis Ford

Coppola, Diane Keaton and Talia

Shire.

“I’m Italian, so ‘The Godfather’

was always a big part of my life. Be-

ing Italian is all about family and

Rock Mafia is a family,” Armato

said.

She considers herself “the con-

duit to whatever the artist’s des-

tiny is,” and feels a certain mater-

nal responsibility for them.

“We built this place to protect

the souls of the people who come

here, especially women with all the

stuff we’ve been through with men

throughout the years,” Armato

said.

Why is Room A your favorite

room?

A lot of magical things have

happened here. We started our

journey with Rock Mafia about 12

years ago from a one-bedroom

studio in Venice to having enough

success to afford just this space.

When I first walked into this studio

I think my mom was with me and I

was like, ‘This is it.’ We just had a

room where our assistant worked,

a bathroom and a tiny little

kitchen area, and this space here,

which is the creative space. The

other 3,000 to 4,000 square feet was

built with our success.

Is that a Picasso?

It’s a Picasso lithograph. As an

artist you start with nothing and

you have a canvas, and there’s

something about him and what he

stands for that resonates with me

as a person. He said, ‘Everything

you imagine is real,’ and I believe

in manifestation and the imagina-

tion; if you can imagine something

then you can create it into a reality.

Would you consider this a com-

munity-based space?

Everyone is like a family and

takes care of each other, no matter

how big they get or if they have a

song on the charts. In our busi-

ness, engineers come and go like

the wind, but Steve Hammons and

Adam Comstock have been with

us from the get-go. We help each

other on every level; it’s not just

business. (Rock Mafia has sup-

ported its team with things like

paying student loans and buying a

house.)

What’s one of your favorite cre-

ative moments in here?

I loved working with Selena

Gomez on “The Heart Wants

What It Wants.” She was no longer

keeping her fans at a distance from

her personal life and revealed her

struggles with her heart, with who

she loved. I had to talk to her big-

sister-wise because she was resist-

ant at first, but it’s such a special

song and was a turning point for

her, because people saw her for the

first time as not just a Disney

princess. We worked on the video

together, and all the elements of

that particular song came to-

gether in this room.

Where music, magic and mysticism meet

PRODUCERAntonina Armato’s crystal collection at her Rock Mafia Studio in Santa Monica includes eight skulls made of minerals.

Photographs byGenaro MolinaLos Angeles Times

ANEONsign glows beneath a ceiling of chiffon. “We built this

place to protect the souls of people who come here,” Armato said.

By Arielle Paul