CHARLOTTE, Vt. (WCAX) – A longtime Vermont music studio is playing its last note and will be shutting down Friday.
Music echoes off the walls of Lane Gibson Recording.
“It’s everything to do with recording music to what’s called a tape, which is not tape anymore –it’s as you can see a computer here,” explained Wayne Gibson, a sound engineer who knows how to work with gear that’s decades old, to the newest top-of-the-line equipment. “It’s a contrast. But now it’s the best of both worlds.”
Gibson bought the studio in Charlotte from his friend Chuck Eller in 2009. Together they worked with international acts and superstars from Vermont like Grace Potter and members of Phish. “In order to get a superior product, you still have to come here or to a place of recording studio of this caliber,” he said.
The two continue to work together helping deliver high-quality sound. “People who, you know, come in with their music, and we help them give birth to a CD or a product that they can then get their music out there,” Eller said.
But this is their swan song. Friday, they are unplugging the gear and closing down their shop, leaving behind years of music and memories. “The industry has changed a lot. How people listen to music has changed. It’s just, it’s just that time,” Gibson said. He says that in an industry with thin margins — and with more people being able to easily to record at home — they felt it was time to turn off their mic. “This is the quality of gear that you’re hearing, you know, on there, and you can’t do that on a phone or with, you know, gear that’s not up to this caliber.”
“For me, the emotional part of this departure is in the closure of the studio is mostly, entirely, practically the people that we’ve dealt with and the musicians and the amount of incredible music that we’ve made,” Eller said.
Gibson says it’s a challenging and emotional choice but he’s ending on a good note. “It’s gratifying. It’s helping people realize their dreams,” he said.
Although he’s closing up, the music will live on in this space. The bones of the studio will continue under different ownership and be used for in-house projects instead of commercial use.