Recording Studio Sweet Spot: House of Vibes – Highland Park, NJ

Are you a spy in the House of Vibes? You can be…just plug in to the unparalleled ambiance of this busy studio, hidden away in a very happy house.

Tucked inside the bucolic borough of Highland Park, NJ, House of Vibes was born as a humble project studio for stellar psychedelic rock band The Grip Weeds, and over the course of two decades has mushroomed into something much more.

Slowly but surely, the secret got out to a global clientele about this vintage/modern facility with a 28-channel Sound Workshop desk (formerly owned by Jan Hammer), Otari and Studer tape machines, killer amps, and a distinctive stone-lined live room. Today, it sports everyone from The Smithereens to Mark Lindsay and Ladysmith Black Mambazo on their client list.

And as we can attest first-hand, the sounds are inspired by the warm welcome that artists receive as soon as they step inside. Are you ready? It’s time to tune in to a most musical dimension — as explained by HOV’s Kurt Reil.

Rock, pop and more are powerful forces at the House of Vibes.

Facility Name: House Of Vibes Productions

Website: http://www.houseofvibes.com

Location: Highland Park, New Jersey

Neighborhood Advantages: It’s a business/suburban area, so it’s low key but with nice amenities: Parking, deli, liquor, and great pizza are all located right outside the studio, and the train station is 5 minutes away (we’re a 45 min ride from NYC).

Many good restaurants are located right in town, and the New Brunswick nightlife is right across the river! There’s a nice backyard ‘green room’ for smoking and hanging out.

Date of Birth: House Of Vibes began as a project studio to record demos for my band The Grip Weeds back in the early 90’s.

Our first studio was on an enclosed porch of a house in Highland Park, NJ – long and narrow. We gradually started recording our friend’s bands there, and one of them remarked “this place has really good vibes”- and the name was born. We had to leave that rental, so in ’96 we purchased a house in town and installed the studio on the basement level. We’ve been there thriving ever since, and the good vibes have definitely come with us!

The Grip Weeds are the cornerstone of The House’s positive tip.

Facility Focus: Our main focus is tracking, mixing, production of pop/rock music, but we also have a dedicated mastering suite.

Mission Statement: To be the best studio for power pop, indie-classic-garage-psyche rock music and more! We strive to provide the artist/ band with what you need to make great records– the right equipment, a good attitude and a solid track record of experience.

Clients/Credits: Many recordings that have emanated from The House Of Vibes have been used in films, TV shows, been released internationally and received significant airplay. Here’s partial list of artists who have brightened our doorstep:

The Smithereens– We’ve done many records with them, including their tributes to The Beatles (Meet The Smithereens, B-Sides The Beatles), The Who (The Smithereens Play Tommy), a holiday album (Christmas With The Smithereens), a live record (Live In Concert: Greatest Hits & More), as well as multiple solo releases by Pat DiNizio and Jim Babjak.

Mark Lindsay (former lead singer of Paul Revere & The Raiders)– We recorded, mixed and mastered Life Out Loud, his “comeback” record from 2013 among other projects that have yet to see the light of day.

Najma Ahktar & Gary Lucas– Rishte, a fusion of classic Indian and blues music. Najma previously worked with Page & Plant, and Gary Lucas played with Captain Beefheart.

The Grip Weeds– Recording exclusively at House Of Vibes since the beginning, with ten releases to our credit. The Grip Weeds are an international recording/ touring act and a staple of Little Steven’s Underground Garage radio and satellite shows among other outlets.

The Doughboys – This teenage garage band from the 60’s reunited in 2000 and recorded all of their releases at The House Of Vibes – their music has been featured on TV and movies as well as The Underground Garage.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo– Just did a recording session with them while they were on tour in the US! Fabulous 10-piece vocal group, famous for appearing on Paul Simon’s Graceland LP.

Key Personnel:

Kurt Reil – producer/ engineer

Rick Reil – producer/ engineer

Kristin Pinell – studio assistant, bookkeeper

Eli Ransford – studio helper

HOV’s Sound Workshop console has hits in its heritage.

System Highlights: House of Vibes has both analog and digital recording gear.

The console is an analog 28-channel, 24-bus Sound Workshop 34C desk previously owned by Jan Hammer (this console was used to record the Miami Vice TV show soundtrack and Jan’s music for the last 20 years).

We have an Otari MTR-90 16/24 track 2″ open reel tape machine for multitracking and a Studer A812 2-track 1/4″ open reel machine for mixdown, as well as the ability to transfer or sync analog with digital for the greatest flexibility.

Many sessions we do are purely digital to hard disk using Digital Performer DAW and MOTU/Apogee interfaces, and we are well versed and totally comfortable in that environment.

We have a nice assortment of classic outboard mic pre’s (API, DW Fern, Universal Audio, Amek) in addition to the console pre’s. As for signal processing, House Of Vibes is well appointed with analog compressors, EQ’s and other signal processors (Manley, API, Universal Audio, Summit, etc, including many vintage UA compressors (and Neumann mics) from Mark Lindsay’s personal collection)

We have a vintage Echo-plate reverb unit (it’s large but the sound of analog plate verb is addicting), Lexicon digital verbs and delays, an old tape echo unit and more. We also use digital plugins – the UAD plugins are really great.

House Of Vibes is also very well equipped with new and vintage instruments: Ludwig and Slingerland drum kits, a collection of vintage Ludwig snare drums, Fender/ Vox/ Marshall/ Hiwatt/ Ampeg guitar and bass amps, many vintage guitars that are available for use, a Yamaha piano, Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, Farfisa organ, Korg synth, etc.

Distinguishing Characteristics: Well, the studio is called House Of Vibes, so the vibe is very important to us. This studio provides a relaxed atmosphere that is conducive to being creative and focused.

We have a well-appointed control room, a mid-sized live room and some iso rooms we use when cutting basics. We also have a lot of vintage amps, drums and instruments that are available to enhance the sound and vibe, and all are carefully maintained. Great tone starts at the source.

You can see from the pics that the live room has a full stone wall on one end, and half stone walls on two long walls. These walls were built of smooth water stones, which have great acoustic properties to reduce sound reflections. The stone walls coupled with pine tongue and groove planks result in a room sound that is pleasantly live but also controlled.

We also have a solid work ethic and are morally bound to provide our clients with the best possible service for their money.  Add to that the depth of experience as working musicians and engineers with many releases and successes to our credit. We believe in keeping the focus on the music- dialing in the sound to allow the artists to find magical performances that will make the music something special that people will want to hear.

Let there be drums.

The building is on fire, you only have time to grab ONE thing to save, what is it?

Oh this would be a tremendous loss! As much as I’d like to save the recording gear, I’d have to take my Gibson Everly Brothers acoustic guitar, because you can’t make music without instruments!

Rave Reviews: The best and most frequent compliment is that they are proud of the music they record at the House Of Vibes. They have confidence that what we do in the studio will sound great.

Most Memorable Session Ever: Recording Life Out Loud with Mark Lindsay (original lead singer of Paul Revere & The Raiders). That record was done in a fever of energy, creativity and abandon – the way great Rock music should be made.

Session You’d Like to Forget: Sometimes a session doesn’t go as smoothly as you’d like, or you don’t get along well with the artist. The important thing is not to be afraid of failure but to learn from it. I’ve grown as a producer and engineer b/c I keep my eyes and ears open as to the vibe in the room and what a client is feeling.

Dream Session: The Beatles of course, but they were known to be tough on their engineers and studios. I’m sure it would be a trial by fire, but we’re up for the challenge!

Kurt Reil — Producer/Engineer/Co-Founder, House of Vibes

Tape on tap.

In the house of stone and light…

Outboard that goes all the way.

Hear the HOV firsthand — treat yourself to a listen to the recently released “Inner Grooves” collection of psyche pop GEMS, via the handy video just below:

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