Brooklyn recording studios destroyed by Hurricane Sandy

Located in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, The South Sound is an innovative combination of rehearsal spaces and recording studios that would allow bands to develop their music in a rewarding, inexpensive environment. Featuring the merging of two prominent Brooklyn studios – The Civil Defense and Translator Audio - it was the brainchild of Candiria guitarist John LaMacchia, producer Andrew Schneider (who’s worked with Unsane, Made Out of Babies, and many more), engineer Jeremy Scott, and three others, and was already being hailed as a great thing to happen to the local DIY music scene, that is, until Hurricane Sandy showed up. It had barely been open long – Cobalt’s Erik Wunder had just recorded the new Man’s Gin album there – before the storm came along and destroyed all three studios and 13 rehearsal spaces the rooms filled with toxic water five to six feet high. Everything in the building was lost, and now they’re asking the public for donations to help get them back on their feet. Here’s what they have to say:

This year a group of us put together all our resources, quit our jobs and built two beautiful recording studios and 13 practice spaces. We believe in DIY so we planned and we built. We were up early, we were up late, we hung up drywall, endlessly, building. The toll it took on our bodies and lives was high, but in the end it was worth it. We had two studios built and working non-stop in tandem with other friends who wanted to Do It Themselves. We had 13 practice rooms that we made sure were nice, really nice, so people could create in an environment unlike any practice space any of us had ever been in. Everyone helped that occupied a space, and honestly... it was amazing. It was a massive space, 7000 Square Feet and Hurricane Sandy destroyed every inch of it. Walls were knocked over, doors snapped in half and all the gear in the entire building, erased and covered in a toxic sludge from the Gowanus Canal. But it was the people that made it amazing, not the walls or the gear and that is the reason I won't let this go. My friends, who I built this building with are too impressive for me to just let this go. We are going to make something else. I insist. I don't know what yet exactly, but it starts with first fulfilling our obligations to each other and everyone else who helped us build. So... for the first time in my life I am asking for help in the form of money. Please donate what you can to help us back on our feet, then I can assure you... we will do the rest.

Mike Law on behalf of John, Andrew, Paul, Andrew II, Jeremy and Dennis.

If you can see fit to donate even the smallest amount, it’ll help The South Sound immensely. Of course it’s only one of many businesses to be devastated by the storm, but these guys have helped make some phenomenal music in the past, and it’d be great if they could continue to do so.

Go here to donate to The South Sound, Translator Audio, or The Civil Defense. Or all three.