Track stars: A tour of Hudson Valley recording studios

Roots Cellar, Cold Spring

Like so many regional musical professionals, Roots Cellar operator and owner Todd Giudice wears all the hats: songwriter, guitarist, performer, engineer, studio-owner. In this case, the name of the studio advertises the aesthetic that prevails within. Giudice’s own music is an agreeable take on singer/songwriter, Americana and classic rock, and that sensibility tends to define the sounds coming up out of the Roots Cellar as well. Accomplished songwriters such as Mark Von Em and Mark Westin have laid down tracks here recently with Giudice, who studied engineering at the vaunted Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Root Cellar Recording Studio, (845) 566-3781, [email protected]

The Clubhouse, Rhinecliff

The Clubhouse is one of the region’s several elite professional recording facilities, offering a large and sunny tracking room that has been used to record television orchestras (is there still such a thing?) and a variety of large isolation rooms, one of which harbors a Steinway, another of which contains an impressive library of serious literature. The droolworthy gear list points in both digital and analog directions. Spacious, homey accommodations for clients are available in an attached barn apartment. Paul Antonell’s rural aural paradise was built in 2000 around a 100-year-old building. It thus combines a kind of Old World architectural charm with all the advantages of a space that knew all along that it was going to be a studio. While all serious studios boast a lot of expensive recording equipment, few can match the Clubhouse’s collection of instruments and backline: Steinways, Mellotrons, Moogs and a vintage guitar and amp collection that is dangerous reading for any gear-obsessed player. Really, don’t even read it if, like me, you find these things upsetting. But when you record at the Clubhouse, it is all at your command; and in fact, the facility retains an expert amp tech, Chip Verspyck, whose shop is right in the basement.

The Clubhouse, (845) 876-2653, www.theclubhousestudio.com

Dreamland Studio, West Hurley

After five years of darkness, Joel Bluestein’s legendary studio Dreamland is doing business again, this time co-branded with the name of its new operator, the drummer Jerry Marotta. Recognizing a permanent ground shift in the nature of recording and of the music industry, Bluestein closed Dreamland because the revenues required to run a big studio were no longer flowing. Two of the area’s other large facilities, Bearsville and Allaire, closed their doors soon thereafter. But Bluestein didn’t sell anything, leaving the path open to some enterprising dreamer. Bluestein’s friend Marotta – known best for his work with Peter Gabriel and Hall & Oates – saw an opportunity to bring the spacious, vibey church studio back to life and took it, enlisting the help of another drummer/studio owner well-known to locals: Pete Caigan, who runs Flymax studio. Now the room where the B-52s recorded “Love Shack” is rocking again. Marotta has revised Dreamland’s fee schedule and developed an à la carte variety of options to accommodate the different budgets and workflows of the digital present. The studio offers exactly the opulence of gear that you would expect, with, of course, an especially fine connoisseur-grade collection of drums and percussion.

Dreamland Recording Studios, (845) 338-7151, www.dreamlandrecording.com

Applehead Recording, Woodstock

When Applehead Recording co-owners Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner described their studio as “boutique,” they probably meant to characterize the facility as homey and intimate by comparison to the major studios in the same neighborhood. But now that many of those big players are either closed or scaled back, Applehead looks like a pretty deluxe place to get your work done. Rockers like Coheed & Cambria and Bad Brains and the uncategorizable keyboard wizard Marco Benevento all thought so. Rustic in setting (photos on its website include dogs, horses and a llama), the interior is warm, airy, wood-paneled and adorned with curios and rich imagery. Photos on the Applehead website highlight an abundance of analog mojo, including some big-ticket items like a custom 32-channel Neve console and 24-track two-inch tape machine sure to appeal to those of us who believe that things were better in the ‘70s.

Applehead Recording, (845) 418-2370, https://appleheadrecording.com

Coldbrook Productions, Woodstock

Coldbrook Productions is the umbrella name that engineer and singer/songwriter Julie Last uses to encompass her wide range of musical services and expertise. Modestly described as a “comfortable, intimate space for acoustic recording” catering to “singer/songwriters, small ensembles and instrumentalists,” Coldbrook’s main lure is Last herself: a self-described “runaway from the LA music scene” and a gaudily credentialed audio engineer in a field that has been traditionally dominated by men. Last’s own 2004 CD Relics will tell you exactly where she sits musically: somewhere in the combined lap of Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones and Shawn Colvin – all of whom Last has worked with, either as an engineer or as a background vocalist.

Coldbrook Productions, (845) 679-7429, www.coldbrookproductions.com