DOG & PONY SHOW FEB 27, 2008
"Making Music, Married to Media" 6:30 PM – 9 PM at Bay Area Sound Studios. Sips, snacks and expert education. Relaxed networking. Tips, techniques and tactics for recording and perfecting sound in film and video. An expert panel answers questions; pre, production and post.
This event is hosted by Propville Directory. Contact them directly for tickets and for more information: www.propville.com
MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL NOV 26, 2007
San Rafael Sound Studio Is Ready To Rock
Nancy Isles Nation
A $4.5 million music rehearsal studio offering some of the best high-tech sound and spaces available is opening in an industrial area of San Rafael next week.
Bay Area Sound Studios, or BASS, will include 11,000 square feet of rehearsal space, outfitted with the best technology available, according to its developer, and designed with colors to appeal to everyone from string quartets to heavy metal artists.
Developed by Live Oak Design Group of San Rafael, the studios range in size from 100 to 2,000 square feet. The small spaces are appropriate for individual musicians in need of a practice space or for teachers, who can receive students of the piano or violin. The largest rooms can accommodate full orchestras, or at least sections of them.
BASS is set up for all types of musicians, but it is designed in part to attract local and touring rock groups. The space at 85 Mitchell Blvd. has secure off-street parking for tour buses and semis, as well as air conditioning, a kitchenette and lounge and storage spaces accessible around the clock.
Owner Michael LeValley, who opened Smith Ranch Studios for artists about two years ago, said Marin seemed like a good place for a rehearsal studio because many musicians live in the county and it has a high concentration of working artists. Smith Ranch, at 11 Mark Drive in San Rafael, leased out in seven weeks and was running in the black six months after it opened, LeValley said.
"The concept is to develop space for artists - at Smith Ranch it was all about the light," LeValley said. "Musicians need acoustics so there is very specialized construction to create isolated, tuned rooms."
LeValley closed escrow on BASS in July 2005 and spent six months in the design and planning phase before beginning construction in April 2006. Work was stopped for a period after financing collapsed, but LeValley was able to resurrect the job by the beginning of this year.
LeValley, who worked as a carpenter and set builder in Los Angeles, said he hired the best in the business to do the work. He drew on the expertise of acoustic designer Sam Berkow, of SIA Acoustics in New York, to create a pure sound environment. Berkow designed the acoustics for Jazz at Lincoln Center as well as other significant venues.
The walls and ceiling of each space are independent from the walls and ceilings of adjacent spaces and have as many as six layers of Sheetrock separating them. In the largest studios, floors are acoustically isolated to prevent transmission of sound.
The first tenant to sign on is Stephen Hart, a sound engineer who was the chief engineer at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. He will be available to provide audio services to musicians who rent space.
Hart, a former Marin resident who now lives in Sonoma County at the Marin-Sonoma border, said he admires Le Valley's philosophy and his efforts as a community builder.
"He is a progressive thinker and very good for Marin and the art community," Hart said. "I am excited to be there for the obvious reason I am the only audio services person located in that facility, which will be filled with musicians."
Hart has worked internationally and has mixed sound tracks for artists and groups such as Aerosmith, BB King, Green Day, U2 and Santana.
BASS is sure to attract world-class rock and other bands with its optimum lighting and sound, but the rooms will also be valuable to corporate planners, Hart said.
"Those larger spaces are totally suitable for corporate events that require sound and visual media," Hart said. "I think there's also a market for using those spaces for sound stages for filming. It's very difficult to find large spaces that have the power requirements and are quiet."
Jim Farley, who oversees the Marin Center performance venue as the director of cultural and visitors' services for the county, doesn't see the new studios as competition because the hall is rented out infrequently. The Marin Symphony is the only group that practices there regularly.
"I think it's exciting," Farley said. "When I look at the benefits for us from a higher point, the more music industry activity that occurs in Marin County, the more activity comes our way."
BASS also differs from Sausalito's The Plant Studios, a recording venue, and Skywalker Sound, which caters to filmmakers.
Amanda Brunato, the studio director, said rates at BASS will be affordable, ranging from $15 an hour for a practice room to $150 an hour. Even garage bands will be able to put money together to refine their sound, she said, noting that arrangements can be made for day use, weekly and longer-term rates.
Interest in the studio, Le Valley said, "is off the charts."
RECENT CLIENTS AT BASS
Some notable recent clients at Bay Area Sound Studios include:
Van Morrisson
Carlene Carter Cash
Turning Point
DuYuVuDu
