Every record here has a meaningful connection to The Panda Studios. Some were produced and recorded here from start to finish. Some came through Panda for specific tracking, mixing or mastering. Some were made by artists who brought their own production team and chose Panda for the rooms, gear and facility. Every card tells you exactly who did what.
A curated set of the records that best show what happens here, not the whole history. Filter by the work Panda did, then narrow by engineer if you want. Every card names the people who actually did it. The full catalog is on Spotify.
Mom Jeans.
Best Buds
442M+ Spotify streams
Recorded at The Panda Studios by Ryan Ellery.
2016Engineering
Platinum“Covet”
Basement
Colourmeinkindness
RIAA Platinum Single: "Covet"
Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Pura.
2012ProductionEngineeringMixing
The Story So Far
What You Don’t See
#46 Billboard 200
Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Pura.
2013ProductionEngineeringMixing
The Story So Far
Proper Dose
#19 Billboard 200
Produced and engineered by Sam Pura.
2018ProductionEngineering
The Story So Far
Self-Titled
#23 Billboard 200
Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Pura.
2015ProductionEngineeringMixing
The Story So Far
Under Soil & Dirt
169M+ Spotify streams
Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Sam Pura.
2011ProductionEngineeringMixingMastering
State Champs
The Finer Things
#2 Billboard Heatseekers
Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Pura. Guitar and bass by Sam Pura.
2013ProductionEngineeringMixingGuitarBass
Basement
Promise Everything
#1 Billboard Heatseekers
Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Pura.
2016ProductionEngineeringMixing
Mom Jeans.
Puppy Love
66M+ Spotify streams
Recorded at The Panda Studios by Ryan Ellery.
2018EngineeringMixing
Ryan Caraveo
Trouble in Paradise
37M+ Spotify streams
Mixed and mastered by Sam Pura.
2023MixingMastering
Scowl
How Flowers Grow
Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Charles Toshio.
2021ProductionEngineeringMixingMastering
Spite
Nothing Is Beautiful
Engineered by Sam Pura.
2017Engineering
Hundredth
Rare
#20 Billboard Independent Albums
Co-produced by Hundredth and Sam Pura. Engineered and mixed by Sam Pura.
2017Co-ProductionEngineeringMixing
Gulch
Burning Desire to Draw Last Breath
Tracked and mixed by Charles Toshio. Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.
2018EngineeringMixing
Sunami
Sunami LP
Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Charles Toshio.
2023ProductionEngineeringMixingMastering
After the Burial
Wolves Within
Self-engineered by Trent Hafdahl, Justin Lowe and Anthony Notarmaso.
2013Additional tracking at The Panda Studios
SpiritWorld
DEATHWESTERN
Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Pura. Guitar and bass by Sam Pura. Engineering, vocal engineering and mix assistance by Theresa Brown.
2022ProductionEngineeringMixingGuitarBass
The Dangerous Summer
Mother Nature
Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Pura.
2019ProductionEngineeringMixing
Ryan Caraveo
Forever Foggy
7M+ Spotify streams
Mixed and mastered by Sam Pura.
2025MixingMastering
Fallujah
The Harvest Wombs
Produced and engineered by Sam Pura.
2011ProductionEngineering
Lionheart
The Will to Survive
Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Sam Pura.
2007ProductionEngineeringMixingMastering
SPICE
SPICE
Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Sam Pura.
2020ProductionEngineeringMixingMastering
SPICE
Viv
Engineered by Jack Shirley. Additional engineering, additional production, mixing and mastering by Sam Pura. Additional engineering and mix assistance by Theresa Brown.
Not a ranking, just records where the story behind them says something about how this place works.
2013
The Story So Far: What You Don’t See
The Story So Far had already made Under Soil & Dirt at Panda. When they came back for What You Don’t See, the studio became an even bigger part of the record. The band leaned into Panda’s rooms, amps, cabinets, instruments, and recording chains rather than arriving with a predetermined collection of their own gear.
Those choices helped create a sound that became closely associated with the band and, eventually, with a new generation of pop punk. It is one of the clearest examples of Panda being more than the place a record was recorded. The rooms, gear, and production decisions became part of the identity of the record itself.
SAM PURA Production, Engineering, MixingROOMS Panda West · Panda East
Four records at Panda2011 to 2018
Jan 2013Feb 2015Feb 2015Feb 2015Dec 2017Jan 2018
“Covet”Basement · RIAA Certified Platinum
2012
Basement: Colourmeinkindness
Basement flew from Ipswich to Fremont to make Colourmeinkindness at Panda in 2012. While the album was being made, the band announced an indefinite hiatus. That gave the project a completely different weight. Sam genuinely believed this might be the final Basement record, and felt a responsibility to make it count.
Then the unusual thing happened. The band stopped. The record didn't. Colourmeinkindness kept growing while Basement was inactive. The band eventually returned, the audience became substantially larger, a new generation discovered the record, and nearly 14 years later the song “Covet” went RIAA Platinum.
SAM PURA Production, Engineering, MixingROOM Panda West
2016
Mom Jeans.: Best Buds
When Best Buds was made, Ryan Ellery was an engineer working out of The Panda Studios. Ryan engineered the record, with the drums and bass recorded at Panda. The album went on to become one of the defining independent emo records of its generation, accumulating hundreds of millions of streams.
It is a great example of Panda’s history being shaped by different producers and engineers, each bringing their own approach to the rooms and making records that continue to matter years later.
RYAN ELLERY EngineeringROOMS Panda East · Panda West
2022
SpiritWorld: DEATHWESTERN
Some records need to be captured. DEATHWESTERN needed to be built. Sam Pura took a deeply hands-on production role from the beginning, even bringing in his “best friend” Thomas Pridgen to play drums, reshaping performances and arrangements, and pushing the record wherever it needed to go. Panda’s rooms, gear, and team became part of that process, with nothing treated as fixed just because it had already been written.
The result is one of the clearest examples of production at Panda going all the way. Released by Century Media and named Stereogum’s Album of the Week, DEATHWESTERN eventually took on another life too: its sound became the foundation for the DEATHWESTERN plugin, turning the production itself into a tool other people now use to make records.
SAM PURA Production, Engineering, Mixing, Guitar, BassTHERESA BROWN Engineering, Vocal Engineering, Mix AssistanceROOMS Panda West · Panda East · Baby Panda
Hundredth had already started pushing against the boundaries of hardcore, but Rare was the point of no return. The band rebuilt its sound around atmosphere, melody, texture, and an entirely different production language.
It is one of Panda’s clearest examples of production being more than improving what a band already does. Sometimes the job is helping an artist figure out what they are supposed to become next.
HUNDREDTH Co-ProductionSAM PURA Co-Production, Engineering, MixingROOMS Panda West · Panda East
At Panda, January 2015
a new generation
Charles Toshio: A New Generation of Bay Area Hardcore
Charles Toshio has built a serious body of work out of Panda with bands like Scowl, Sunami, Gulch, SPY, World Peace, and many others, helping shape a new generation of Bay Area hardcore in the same rooms that have been making records for decades.
That is part of what makes Panda what it is. The studio has never belonged to one sound, one era, or one producer. New engineers bring their own taste, their own relationships, and their own records into the building, and the history keeps growing from there.
CHARLES TOSHIO Production, Engineering, Mixing, MasteringROOMS Panda West · Panda East
in the press
Panda in the press.
As featured in
Kerrang!SonarworksURM / Nail The MixThe Sonic Truth
Artists who have recorded, rehearsed, performed, filmed, or otherwise worked at Panda. Listed as facility history, not as production or engineering credits. The Waiting Room bands have their own page.
Shreya GhoshalRecorded in Baby Panda
Modern Baseball
The Front Bottoms
Ryan Leslie
Don Broco
Black Breath
fremont, california
Your record could be next.
Tell us what you’re making and we’ll tell you what it takes to make it here.
