Press Play: Woodshed Studios Busy Year In Local Music
Story by Jeff Milo | Photos courtesy of Woodshed Studios
When I walk into Woodshed Studios on an early summer’s evening, I can feel excitement. Secluded, subdued and soundproofed so as to affect a startling silence, I can still hear all of the music that’s been captured here. I can particularly catch the passion for the craft of recording, emanating from my two hosts, Ed Sertage, head engineer, along with his protégé, Jonathan Berz. They’re bustling through one of their busiest years ever in terms of clientele. Lots of exciting new releases from local artists are on the way, thanks to their recording work.
The goal at Woodshed, Sertage says, leading me around the main tracking space, is to provide a professional environment with a relaxed atmosphere, optimally conducive to the creative process. That responsibility, in balancing a certain welcoming ambiance along with applying their skills as collaborative (and adaptable) producers, is one of the many things they’ve learned from having worked inside this space in the past with their own bands when the studio was run by local music icon Tim Pak.
Producer/musician Tim Pak started Woodshed back in the mid 1990’s. Local punk and rock groundbreakers like The Suicide Machines, The Amino Acids and Thoughts of Ionesco have recorded some of their greatest albums inside these modest walls. Although, beyond the romanticized rock glories captured here, Woodshed has also served as an ideal facilitator for a wide range of clients and genres, from jazz to metal, gospel to hip-hop.
“This place means a lot to so many people, including myself,” said Sertage, who took over Woodshed from Pak in 2007. “(Pak)’s legacy around here is very well known; his shoes are definitely big ones to fill.”
For Berz, it’s essentially a dream come true. “A handful of records (Pak) made here had a huge impact on me when I was just discovering local music. It’s great to have the ability to work out of such an inspiring space with a lot of history.”
Sertage and Berz have collaborated continually for several years, currently with the group experimental pop outfit Songs From The Moon. Berz is also part of local throwback country/pop group The Walking Beat while Sertage serves as lead guitar in the rock group Bedford Drive.
Sertage says he started recording out of necessity. “When I was 13 and playing with my friends, we didn’t have the money for a big studio. We had to get creative with what we had available.” Sertage says these early trials with two-track tape decks and microphones were not only an invaluable learning experience but also the spark that started his “love affair with the recording process.”
Berz, who started assisting Sertage at Woodshed more than a year ago, had made recordings even before he started playing music, recording the radio or samples from cassettes to mash them up into his own rock remixes or maybe sonic sketches of his own “phoney radio shows.” He started recording an album with Suicide Machines bassist Royce Nunley in 2005 and soon after joined (and released three more albums) with the group Blasé Splee. Ever since,
Berz hasn’t had his keen ears away from headphones for very long.
Sertage and Berz are in the midst of a particularly busy year. The studio helped record/produce new albums from local bands like Yes Wait No, My Shaman Dentist, Matt Dmits, The Walking Beat, The Mythics, Zombie Jesus & The Chocolate Sunshine Band, High Arrow along with more work with their own group Songs From The Moon.
There’s also the forthcoming launch for their own YouTube channel featuring original Woodshed content and Sertage’s continued collaboration with licensing company ALP Music. That’s 2015, alone! As we went to print, Berz reported finishing the Zombie Jesus album, his first official project as an engineer (and not just an “intern”). Meanwhile, High Arrow’s album is likely already streaming online as you read this…
“Woodshed is essentially full-service,” Sertage said. “I have access to an extensive amp and pedal collection for all the gearheads out there like myself and work hard to keep all the equipment in great shape.”
Berz & Sertage try to make bands feel like they are jamming in their basement and not under the microscope in a laboratory. “’No’ is the worst thing” that you could tell a band, says Sertage. “The world is full of ‘no’s…’ and none of us play music to be told ‘no!’ We play music to be told: Yes, you can do that…”
At Woodshed you can try anything. And as several local bands with new releases on the way can assure you, you’ll find accommodating collaborators at Woodshed.
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Interested in recording at Woodshed? Contacts and more information at: http://www.woodshedsound.com
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