Ever wonder what the inside of a beehive sounds like?
Then wander on down the main street of historic downtown Snohomish to the bright mural of a beehive painted on the exterior of a repurposed spa.
Depending on the booking calendar of Beehive Sound at 629 First St., a small, new recording space offering an alternative to Seattle’s costly and crowded studios, any kind of music could be buzzing.
“We cater to all — country, folk, pop, heavy rock. We’ve had all kinds of clients come through,” said owner Derek Smith, who opened for business in January after seven months of renovations. “A lot of it is overflow from Seattle.”
Smith, a software engineer by day, has long had a dream of creating an intimate recording space. He consulted his long-time friend, Sean Walker, a freelance audio engineer, about how to do just that.
Smith and Walker, who both grew up in Snohomish County, now share the day-to-day operations (actually, the nightly duties since most musicians tend to their passion at night following day jobs).
“If someone came in and built a studio in your living room, that’s what I was going for. I wanted a place where a singer/songwriter feels comfortable,” Smith said of the transformation of the 1,400-square-foot former day spa, The Beehive. It featured the outdoor beehive mural that Smith liked so much, it became his business name.
The style, decor and feeling evoked inside the small brick building is indeed warm and homey. Tones of washed brick, soft cedar, and high ceilings are accented with brightly-colored acoustic panels.
Overhanging colorful glass lamps that came with the place give the interior a 1920s speakeasy vibe. Smith renovated the leased space himself after selling his house in Mukilteo to raise some cash. Along with using his many carpentry, wiring, flooring and other construction skills, Smith found that the renovations took a lot of innovation.
“Nothing is square, plumb or level. Nothing,” he says while giving a tour of the studio. To get a level surface, he constructed a “floating floor” that sits atop u-joints.
Originally, the 1930s building housed Snohomish County PUD transformer and switching equipment. It now buzzes with 5,000 feet of audio wire connecting two small recording studios to the control room, where the mixing and magic of music is recorded in both analog and digital formats.
“World Class recording at Working Class prices” is the motto of Beehive Sound. The space rents for $500 a day, which includes Walker’s hands-on engineering expertise. Several bands have already recorded there since its January opening.
“We’ve made it affordable to record in a studio with world-class equipment with a world-class engineer,” Smith said. “We are bringing the unattainable to the masses.”
Walker, 35, also wants to mentor the younger generation, the “kids” who view YouTube and “American Idol” as the path to success, and who prefer “stealing” music instead of buying it. He’s been recording at various professional studios the past eight years as a contractor. Just recently, Walker completed the Mix with The Master’s program, an exclusive, on-site program at Studio La Fabrique in the South of France. It was led by Grammy-award winning mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge.
Walker would like to share what he’s learned and make Beehive a learning laboratory.
“We’re going to open our doors to the budding engineers,” he said, “to show them the things they can’t learn on the Internet.”
Live sound recording and production is fast becoming a lost art in today’s computerized culture, Walker points out. Vocalists who don’t play instruments or even read music comprise much of today’s popular music. They only need push a button to retrieve any sound they desire.
“We’re trying the preserve the craft,” he says. “Training someone’s ear for what to listen for is a journey someone is on their entire life.”
The studio can also be booked for other needs, such as recording an audio book, making a commercial and developing a podcast — audio short stories which have become wildly popular. A person booking the studio doesn’t need to know the technology or how all those mics, wires, buttons and blinking lights come together.
That’s the job of Smith and Walker, who both say being a part of an artist’s creative process is rewarding and inspiring.
Beehive owner Smith is also betting location will be a lure. In the rural, scenic town of Snohomish, musicians can stroll the river walk just outside the studio door or explore dozens of quaint shops just down the street. There’s also plenty of eating, drinking and lodging for the most discerning out-of-town clients, including a natural food eatery offering grass-fed beef, non-GMO pesto tofu and shots of wheatgrass.
“There’s actually a lot going on in downtown Snohomish,” Smith points out. “There’s 20 different restaurants, open mic nights, and live music in many venues.”
And, now at the corner of Maple and First streets, a beehive is alive again.
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