A Look Back At…Saint Claire Recording Company (2005-2013): A NYC-Quality Room in Lexington, KY

I recently learned that my favorite recording studio, and frankly one of my favorite places in the world – Saint Claire Recording Company in Lexington, KY – was closing its doors for good.  Saint Claire was a special place for me, as I know it was for a lot of producers, engineers and musicians who were lucky enough to work there over the past eights years. The following is a look back at my experience with this magnificent studio as we pour one (bourbon) on the curb for Saint Claire.

I moved to New York City in June of 2003, almost ten years to the day of this writing.  I’d landed a gig starting as a general assistant (see: paid intern) at The Hit Factory recording studio and began working within days of my arrival in the city. The Hit Factory was an amazing place to work and learn the craft of being a recording engineer.  During my last year at the studio, I spent a great deal of time in Studio 5 assisting producers [and now Haus co-founders] Erik Steinert and Axel Niehaus on the tracking and production of a pop album. Erik, Axel and I got along famously over the weeks working on the album and the relationship continues to this day.

In the fall of 2005, Erik and Axel were producing a modern country record for a NYC based artist originally from the Lexington KY area named Amber Rhodes. Amber’s father had mentioned to Erik and Axel that a spectacular new recording studio had just opened in town and he was friendly with the owners who were keen on attracting new clients.  A few weeks later, we packed up a minivan and made the journey from New York to Kentucky.  It would be the first of many sessions and many months I would spend at Saint Claire Recording Company over the next eight years.

TRANSPORTED TO HORSE COUNTRY

Saint Claire stood on 13 pristine acres of Kentucky bluegrass countryside within walking distance of the most beautiful horse country anywhere in the world. The building itself was a uniquely modern design, which stood out instantly among the rolling hills and lush green fields in north Lexington. A giant front lawn surrounded by four board fences and a huge iron motorized gate displaying the Saint Claire logo greeted visitors upon arrival. Saint Claire made a stunning first impression before walking in the doors that no artist would forget.

Saint Claire’s front gate

“We always felt like Saint Claire was unintentionally a sort of “best kept secret” for our clients,” said Rosco Weber, Saint Claire’s former manager and one of my closest friends.  “To me, seeing people’s first reaction to the place was the best part of working there. It didn’t matter if it was just a local coming for a tour or a seasoned pro who had worked in all the big name studios, everyone was wowed by it.”

Inside, the studio was even more impressive than it looked in pictures.  Designed by Martin Pilchner of Pilchner Shoustal International, the control room at Saint Claire was one of the largest in North America and utilized advanced reflection geometry acoustics for an optimized and very generous sweet spot.  Aesthetically, the control room was nothing short of spectacular.  From a technical standpoint, the studio was of course a first-class experience.  The 80-channel SSL 9000J console was paired with a massive 40 in/80 out Pro Tools HD rig.  The outboard gear was remarkably tasteful in its selection with standout pieces from Calrec, DW Fearn, Chandler, Martech and many more.

The main tracking room featured an expansive space with 15’ ceilings, floated hardwood floors and a carpeted drum area surrounded by four generously sized booths, one in each corner. The far rear booth was traditionally a keyboard room featuring a pristine Yamaha C5 baby grand piano, a 73’ Fender Rhodes Mark I and a Hammond B3 with Model 145 Leslie Cabinet in near mint condition.  The adjacent booth was used either as a drum room or large vocal booth with big windows looking into the main tracking room as well as sightlines to the drum booth and through to the piano room.

Other noteworthy technical features at Saint Claire included the fantastic Aviom Ethernet-based cue system, vintage drum kits by DW and Gretsch, a spectacular collection of vintage guitar amps from Fender, Marshall and Dr Z and Mesa Boogie and a slew of locally made custom guitar speaker cabinets all loaded with different speaker sizes and styles.

The residential space at Saint Claire where artists spent their time before and after studio sessions were no less luxurious and impressive than the studio itself.  A beautifully modern and expansive kitchen and dining area provided space for artists to cook and socialize during their downtime.  The game room featured a billiard hall-worthy pool table and large screen TV.  In the early years, a full sized vintage Ms. Pacman arcade game was also a huge hit.

The upstairs living quarters were undoubtedly one of the studio’s biggest selling points.  Two generously sized bathrooms with laundry facilities and five bedrooms made up the primary residential space.  The original four bedrooms were each designed with their own exotic theme such as the African room, the Asian room, the Calcutta suite and the canopy room. The outdoor porch area featured a jacuzzi complete with color changing lights which provided many less-than-sober nights of laughter and relaxation.

Saint Claire’s massive control room

Main tracking room at Saint Claire

Kitchen and Lounge

The “Asian Room” at Saint Claire

The studio’s backyard

STUDIO AT A CROSSROADS

Saint Claire always stood out to me first and foremost as a world-class recording destination.  Over the years, however, the studio become one of the most special places in the world for me not because of the gear but because of the people I worked with there, many of whom have become my closest friends. Early on, I had the good fortune of helping bring one of my heroes, the late Phil Ramone and his son BJ to the studio for a short tracking session. I’ll never forget the late night stories of sessions from years past and listening to Al Schmitt’s brilliant mixes of a Dusty Springfield covers album Phil had recently produced with Shelby Lynne.  I use that album as a speaker reference to this day.

Producer/engineer Jimmy Douglass who I’d assisted at Hit Factory also came out to Saint Claire to work with the late producer and rapper Static Major from Louisville, KY.

Not long after my first session with Amber Rhodes, I emailed producer Neil Dorfsman who I was friendly with from a few sessions at The Hit Factory.  I wrote enthusiastically about the studio and my experiences there as well as the possibility of getting a very favorable rate.  A few weeks later, Neil wrote to tell me that he was going to produce an album with a “kooky” band from Canada called Enter the Haggis. “Think bagpipes and Marshall stacks dude,” he said.  It was intriguing if not comedic.  Neil booked a month of time to mix two albums at Saint Claire, one of which was the Enter the Haggis album Soapbox Heroes.  It was on that session assisting Neil that I met singer Brian Buchanan who became one of my best friends and a frequent collaborator on many projects in and out of the studio.  I’ve worked on five Enter the Haggis albums to date and mixed probably close to a hundred live shows on the road with the band.

It was also on those first sessions at the studio that I became close friends with Saint Claire’s manager Rosco Weber.  Rosco is an incredibly talented photographer whose work became a staple of recording sessions for both professional purposes and utter hilarity.  I submit examples of his work below as proof.

Rosco has been a part of Saint Claire since the studio broke ground.  He started as the studio’s in-house engineer and assistant before becoming Saint Claire’s manager and booker.  I would be remiss if I didn’t give Rosco an opportunity to give us his retrospective take on the studio.

No one ever expected to see a NYC-quality room in Lexington. The stigma of being in Kentucky was always hard for us to overcome, but Lexington is a hip town and just keeps getting better all the time. We had enough resources and support that we could do just about anything that anybody needed, just without the big city hustle. For people coming from bigger markets, the whole vibe was laid back and low-pressure in comparison to what they were used to. To the local scene, we were bringing something that would have been unattainable without getting signed to a label or finding the budget to go record somewhere far away from Lexington. We became this sort of crossroads of big budget, small budget, local, and international scenes. One week we would be working with a high schooler who’s folks wanted to pay for her to sing over a pre-recorded track, and the next week we’d have Phil Ramone or some other huge name in there.” – Rosco Weber

My last session at Saint Claire was a five-week long tracking session with my friends Enter the Haggis to produce and engineer their latest album The Modest Revolution.  In addition to tracking the 12 songs for the studio album, the band made the ambitious decision to transform Saint Claire’s live room into a small music club to record a live in-studio album over two nights complete with an audience of 50+ fans each night who drove in from all over the country to attend.  I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my last session at the studio.

Saint Claire setup for Enter The Haggis live recording session.

The band and I were able to take full advantage of the studio throughout the entire month of October recording not only the band’s best album to date but also a spectacular live album and film that will be released in the fall of 2013.  Owner John Parks remarked to me that our in-studio live album was the single most ambitious undertaking he’d witnessed in the eight-year history of the studio.  The event was a huge success for the band and a once in a lifetime opportunity for their fans. None of this would have been possible or such a huge part of my life without the Parks family.  Studio owner John Parks created a unique environment unlike any other I’ve worked in.  For me, getting paid to be at Saint Claire was almost too good to be true.

Making records has always been a relatively simple process for me.  Take the best songs the artist has to offer, find a space that’s comfortable and technically up to par, put microphones in front of everyone, rehearse the hell out of the songs and then press record while the energy is still fresh. Most of all, making records is about having fun.  Saint Claire was a place where artists went to have fun making music in an environment that was incredibly relaxing, free of distractions and even a little bit luxurious.

In the end, I suppose the “destination studio” – no matter how economical by big city standards – is just a tough business to pull off in the modern music industry. Saint Claire closed its doors in April of this year.  The furniture and gear including the SSL console were removed and sold shortly thereafter.  The building itself remains at present including the core design and acoustic work.  It remains to be seen if the building will be sold as is for a potential new studio or if the land will be repurposed for other use.

Saint Claire will be greatly missed by all of who were lucky enough to spend time there.

Below is a list of albums made partially or entirely at Saint Claire and photos of the rooms, gear and sessions (by Rosco Weber) that made it great:

Amber Rhodes – Goodbye Yesterday
Worlds Collide – Worlds Collide
Moontan – Moontan
Enter the Haggis – Soapbox Heroes
Elle B. Willson – Just Me
Willy Porter – Available Light
Stand – Travel Light
Waiting West – Live and Learn
Enter the Haggis – Northampton (Live)
Chiodos – Bone Palace Ballet
Manolo Garcia – Saldremos Ala Lluvia
Shake Anderson – Stories from Sammy Louis
Anti-Flag – The Bright Lights of America
The East Village Opera Company – Old Schoole
Alejandro Escovedo – Real Animal
Alejandro Escovedo – Street Songs of Love
Amber Rubarth – A Common Case of Disappearing
Edgehill Ave – Just out of Sight
Enter the Haggis – The Modest Revolution
Enter the Haggis – Live at Saint Claire Recording Company

Click on any photo below to enlarge and view gallery…

Zach McNees is a Brooklyn-based producer/engineer/mixer and live recordist who’s worked with Björk, Rob Thomas, Julia Nunes, The Gregory Brothers, Pixies, Liars and Alice Cooper. Get in touch with Zach via http://www.zachmcnees.com.

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