Underground Music.

Tucked into the basement of the Sunset Marquis Hotel, Hed Leiber's recording studio is where musicians head when the muse strikes.

THE hotel's upscale eatery, The Room, could be packed with celebrities, and the chic Whiskey Bar across the streamlined lobby might be hopping, but to find the real action at West Hollywood's tony Sunset Marquis Hotel and Villas, head for the basement.

Since renting out a small room in a corner of the hotel's subterranean parking garage a decade ago, songwriter and producer Jed Leiber has transformed a modest recording space into a state-of-the-art professional studio -- complete with film-scoring equipment -- that regularly attracts some of the biggest names in the music industry.

Irish rockers U2 have recorded in The Studio, as it is called, likewise the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ozzie Osborne, Ann Margaret and Wu Tang Clan. Aerosmith cut part of its latest album there and television and film producers have discovered The Studio as a convenient place to score films like "Out of Sight" and "Conspiracy Theory."

The plush studio -- with room service, of course -- is a joint venture of the hotel and Leiber, the self-described "39ish" son of Jerry Leiber, of the famed Leiber and Stoller songwriting team that penned hits for Elvis Presley, the Drifters and others during the 1950s and 1960s.

An in spot for musicians dating back to the days when Bob Marley was a regular, Leiber's studio has helped make the Sunset Marquis the place to stay for visiting recording artists when they are in Los Angeles, and even for those who call the area home.

"The studio has done a lot for the hotel," says Marquis manager Rod Gruendyke. "Crews come in and they take out a villa and they're usually here six weeks. They eat in the restaurant and drink in the bar."

More important than the direct financial benefits to the Sunset Marquis -- where nightly room rates start at $240 and top out at $1,200 for a large villa -- are the intangibles. The hotel proper has 102 rooms and is separated from 12 private villas in four buildings by a landscaped garden.

"I wouldn't call (The Studio) a real profitable amenity, like room service, but it does represent a valuable amenity in the profile it gives us for our high-end clients," said Mark Rosenthal, chairman and CEO of Raleigh Enterprises, owner of the Sunset Marquis. "When you're in the high-end hotel business, you've got to do things that make you a cut above and give people a reason to stay at your place instead of going down the street."

For the gregarious Leiber, though, running the studio is clearly not about maximizing profits.

"My accountant told me I treat this place like a bastard child," he said. "If I really wanted to make money, I would have opened a Taco Bell. It's a labor of love."

Westward drift

Born and raised in Manhattan, Leiber discovered the Sunset Marquis during a trip he made to Los Angeles to work with English guitar player Jeff Beck. He was smitten with the hotel and when he returned on a subsequent trip to work on a film score, he discovered the space downstairs, which got his creative juices flowing. After getting the OK from Gruendyke, the two embarked on building The Studio.

"I loved the hotel and the environment so much, I more or less didn't leave," Leiber said. "I built the room to do my own work, and then I started to bring artists to the hotel to work with me. They would stay upstairs and work with me downstairs, so it was beneficial for everyone."

According to Gruendyke, The Studio at the Sunset Marquis is the only one of its kind in the United States and one of only two he has heard about anywhere. The other was built in Ireland by U2, who were inspired by what they saw at the Sunset Marquis.

"The studio business sort of caught me from behind," Leiber said. "But it has really caught on. We've had some amazing artists down there."

It's caught on so much, in fact, that Leiber found he wasn't able to get into his once-private studio as often as he liked. To remedy that, and to boost the revenue potential of the facility, Leiber and the Sunset Marquis this month opened a mahogany-paneled second recording room to complement the main studio.

The main studio boasts a $250,000 Euphonix mixing console and a Sony high-definition overhead projector for film work. It's available on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and rates are $2,000 per day for a film session and $1,500 per day for a music session. The studio is also rented out on occasion to producers for private screenings.

Jam sessions

While a growing portion of the studio's business comes from local clients who aren't staying at the Sunset Marquis, hotel guests, many of whom book their stays in conjunction with their studio reservations, still represent much of the clientele.

For musicians, having a studio in the same building as their bed offers more than just convenience, it facilitates creativity when inspiration strikes, said John Oates, an Aspen, Colo., resident who stayed at the hotel earlier this month to write songs with Leiber for an upcoming Hall & Oates release.

"It's great for me because I travel with my family. My son and wife can hang out by the pool and I can go back and forth to the studio," Oates said. "Because of the great atmosphere, there's always the potential for something spontaneous to happen."

Not long ago, actor and amateur musician Billy Bob Thronton, who has lived at the hotel off and on for years, was jamming downstairs when he got the urge to record. Leiber said that Thornton dashed upstairs to the Whiskey Bar looking for players to round out his band.

"Before you know it, you've got Twiggy, the bass player from Marilyn Manson and Billy Gibbons, the guitar player from ZZ Top, down there and Billy Bob is singing," Leiber said.

"We have over 150 bands that come through here a year," Gruendyke said. "It's neat to come down here at night. People will meet in the bar and come down to jam until 2 or 3 in the morning."

It's that sort of atmosphere that has built The Studio's reputation in the industry, said Tom Frietze, the chief engineer.

"We get a lot of repeat business; people play down here and they want to come back," said Frietze, who elected to stay on after working in the studio with the Rolling Stones a few years ago.

"Typically, recording studios are an isolated facility where you go to work. But there's another part that's the fun side (at the Sunset Marquis). You never know what's going to happen next," Leiber said. "Things come together there. There's an energy and a synergy that's unique."