Verdant Studio, Athens, VT

Retreat-style studio opened by Pete Weiss in the fall of 2004, now defunct as of 2020, featuring a 36-channel Neve console that had been custom ordered by the BBC in London in 1975, and moved to Boston's Zippah Studios in 1994, now located in the woods of southern Vermont, between Bellows Falls and Townshend. In 2004 it was re-capped and re-commissioned at Verdant. The recording space was designed by award-winning architectural firm Single Speed Design (operated by Jinhee Park and the Hong brothers, John and Andy.) The new studio's main room is an open-concept space which combines the control-room "area" with the live-room "area" and is roughly 40' x 25' with pitched ceilings as high as 18 feet. The floors are brick-red dyed concrete with radiant floor heating, while the walls and ceilings are local pine and hemlock. The room is especially conducive to tracking with a "natural" feel. The engineer and artist are in the same space; there is no talkback mic or glass. When separation is needed, there are auxiliary recording spaces, including a classic vocal/amp booth, a 25' x 20' lounge which can double as a tracking room, and some heavy-duty wheeled gobos with double-pane windows.