ex-directory is a new weekly newsletter for artists and the world’s music industry, curated by a group of friends and colleagues in cities across the globe.
For our second month, we’re going off-grid to find stories from artists who are taking new inspiration in the natural world 🍄🍃 from synthesizer-playing mushrooms to graphic design rooted in the rivers and hills of northern Italy. First up, Duncan dreams of the world’s most secluded recording studios.
For most of us, this post will be total fantasy. Jet-setting to a residential studio in Jamaica or southern France is seldom within the budget. But whatever. It’s fun to fantasize, and fantasy is often the start of the off-grid mindset — it’s a dream until suddenly something switches and you somehow cut the cable.
Ten years ago, the folk band Bowerbirds used Kickstarter to fund the construction of a little cabin studio in the woods. Now, crypto guys are trying to fund a rural “creator residency” with something called $CABIN. Good luck to them. Why not. People find the own place all different ways, but the intent stays the same: I’m bored, can we please just do something else?
With that in mind, here are 15 of the world’s most interesting off-the-grid recording studios. Even if none of us actually book one of them, maybe someone reading this will drag a mic and 100-foot extension cord into their buddy’s back woods. If you do, please send a pic. That sounds beautiful.
Guilford Sound (U.S.A.)
The story: Dave Snyder was a New Jersey power pop drummer in the ’90s who opened a studio on New York’s Lower East Side. In the early 2000s, he moved about 3 hours north to Vermont and built one of the world’s most environmentally sound studios, which now operates at 100% net-zero carbon emissions.
Nearby nature: It’s a residential studio and even the residences are kind of nature-y. You can stay in The Earth House, which has both passive solar power and a living roof.
Ocean Sound Recordings (Norway)
The story: Two cousins, Ante Giskeødegård and Lars Giskeødegård of the pop-rock band The Margarets, run a super-secluded studio on the island of Giske, off the northwestern coast of Norway.
Nearby nature: Giske is part of an archipelago that’s said to have birthed Rollo the Viking, the first ruler of Normandy, and there are all kinds of signs of ancient life. In winter, you can often see the Northern Lights.
Booking + Instagram + Read more on CNN
Geejam (Jamaica)
The story: Geejam is a luxury resort with villas in San San, close to Port Antonio, on Jamaica’s northeastern side. It all centers on a high-end recording studio founded by Jon Baker, a former reggae label exec, and Steve Beaver in 2007. During tough early years, they say operations were funded by the sale of old Banksy paintings.
Nearby nature: The resort is within a bird sanctuary, overlooking Mack Bay and near the Blue and John Crow Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Geejam, which has hosted Beyoncé, Drake, etc., also owns a nearby castle.)
Booking + Instagram + Read more in The FADER
Pink Moon Studio (France)
The story: Pink Moon is owned by Johannes Saal, a producer/engineer originally from Germany (he used to work at Funkhaus Berlin, where Nils Frahm now has a studio). It’s within the Haut-Languedoc nature preserve in Southern France, about 40km from the Mediterranean Sea.
Nearby nature: Forests, vineyards, garrigue scrubland, valleys, and granite massifs… and just a short drive to uncrowded sandy beaches.
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Artist In Residence (U.S.A.)
The story: The National Park Arts Foundation runs artist residencies, including for musicians, inside parks all over America. The next one available has applications due June 30, and it’s for a month at “the Volcano House” on the rim of the active volcano Kīlauea on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Past artists in residence there include Mark Twain and Will Oldham a.k.a. Bonnie “Prince” Billy. So it’s quite legit.
Nearby nature: The volcano…
anre*f Studio Yatsugatake (Japan)
The story: This is a private studio, but it’s too sweet not to share. Located 1100m high in the Yatsugatake Mountains on the island of Honshū in Japan, it’s owned by the composer Kazuki Sugawara, a.k.a. anre*f, and Ai Kamano.
Nearby nature: Based on this video, there’s lots of beautiful fog.
Robert Rauschenberg Residency (U.S.A.)
The story: The non-profit foundation of the late American painter Robert Rauschenberg hosts a residency program for artists, including many musicians. It’s located at Rauschenberg’s former home on Captiva Island, off Florida's Gulf Coast, where there are a few places to stay, including the stunning Fish House on the water.
Nearby nature: Calm waters, beaches, and fine fishing.
Applications are on pause, but follow their Instagram for when they’ll reopen.
Red Kite Studio (Wales)
The story: Run by Martin Levan, a music producer and sound engineer known for his work in the ’80s and ’90s on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera and Cats — the sort of work that might lead you to build a studio on 170 acres of rolling hillside in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Nearby nature: The studio sits on the border of the Brecon Beacons mountain range and advertises: “our own spring water is on tap for making tea and coffee.”
Booking + Hear an interview on Fresh Air
Estudio Del Sur (Chile)
The story: Located an hour outside of Santiago, in the town of María Pinto. Still trying to track down the history, but it’s a clearly gorgeous space and said to be one of South America’s best studios. (Like a handful of these, it’s booked by Miloco, out of London.)
Nearby nature: It’s located in the Casablanca Valley, known for its wines, a short drive to the beach, and not even too far to the Andes Mountains.
Mobile Sessions (U.S.A.)
The story: In 2018, music manager Christine Hufenbecher and sound engineer Kenny Moran renovated a 30-foot RV into a complete traveling studio (minus drums) that lets you record anywhere within driving distance of L.A. for just a hundred bucks an hour.
Nearby nature: It’s really up to you: the beaches of Malibu, the Mojave Desert, the La Brea Tar Pits.
Booking + Instagram + Read more in Rolling Stone
Elfo Studio (Italy)
The story: This recording studio was built in a field outside Tavernago, in northern Italy, in 2008 by architect Romolo Stanco, who tried to create a “deconstructed organic” feeling inspired by jazz music. Honestly, it’s a weird vibe, but that’d be just perfect for some.
Nearby nature: Located between the fertile Po River valley and Apennine Mountains.
Floating Music Hub (Cape Verde)
The story: Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi’s firm NLÉ made their name building a floating school for a water community in Lagos in 2013, though the structure has since collapsed. The Floating Music Hub, in Cape Verde, is their latest floating project, located in the port of Mindelo on Cape Verde’s São Vicente island and set to open soon, with a recording studio, performance venue, and bar.
Nearby nature: Climb the island’s central Monte Verde or its Viana Volcano.
More info + Read more in Wallpaper
Watch: “African success story: Why diaspora is returning to Cape Verde?” (Al Jazeera)
60 Road Studios (Cambodia)
The story: Founded by Ian Croft, who’d worked in finance in Hong Kong, this studio is just a few minutes from the 12th-century temples of Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap, Cambodia. (They sell a $49 sample pack of traditional Khmer music and Cambodian folk instruments if you’re not able to make the trip.)
Nearby nature: The temple city is one of the largest religious monuments ever created. Definitely a one-of-a-kind vibe to record in.
Booking + Instagram + Read more in the Southeast Asia Globe
Sonic Ranch (U.S.A.)
The story: Tony Rancich built “the world’s largest residential recording studio” in 1989, centered around an adobe house on a massive pecan orchard founded by his grandfather. Today, it consists of five studios plus houses, located on the U.S.-Mexico border, about 30 miles southeast of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.
Nearby nature: Within day trips to Taos, White Sand, Carlsbad Caverns.
Booking+ Instagram + Read more in Texas Monthly
Wherever This Was (Canada?)
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