It all started with a mad idea.
I’ve been a broadcaster for 30 years, and I’ve always enjoyed traveling. I’ve been broadcasting off and on for major market stations (classical, jazz and news) all this time, and then started broadcasting my weekly program, At Water’s Edge, nearly five years ago. It’s been a real privilege to meet the amazing community that has built up around electronic, experimental and ambient music.
Among the things I’ve gotten to do is record and broadcast a live performance by Steve Roach here in LA a while back (and afterward drink wine with him, Loren Nerell, Stephen Hill and a bunch of other notables). That experience–hauling a relatively portable recording and broadcast rig to an event, setting up, experiencing-while-working the event, reliving it through the recording–was the catalyst that put me on this particular path. Shortly after that, I had the opportunity (and the means, for a brief moment) to open a recording studio, and I jumped at it.
Well, a brick-and-mortar studio in a Downtown LA loft was probably a good idea 20 years ago, when the economy supported music more readily, but along the way I realized that it was going to be a genuine struggle to get acts in the door who were ready to record and who could afford a pro studio. We needed to cut costs–for ourselves and for our artists. Damn, I loved that space. But the times, they are a-changing.
So that’s setup number one.
Add to that a love for travel and a secret yearning to roam the continent like a gypsy, and a mad idea was born: build the studio into a truck.
This solved two issues: lowering overhead and creating something unique that would set the RadHaus apart from other studios (the “majors” pretty much have the brick-and-mortar scene locked up).
So I bought a medium-sized RV with the intention of restoring it and building in the studio.
Yes, I’m a little mad. We’re all mad here.
The result is a mobile recording studio with great gear, great engineers, and great ears.
Let’s take this show on the road!