Just went to their website & found this;

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"BearTracks has closed after a proud history of nearly twenty-five years.

Our thanks go out to our past clients, employees and suppliers for the good times.

We will be selling off all of the equipment from the studio in the near future.

If you are interested in an all-out purchase of ALL equipment, please contact us at: [email protected]"
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Not that I've got dough to sink into gear right now...but it looks like another big room bites the dust. Too bad...I loved the sound of that room.

It was privately owned too IIRC. I had a friend who was on staff there a couple three years ago & I know they weren't all that busy but things were stable from what I heard.

http://beartracks.com/

So who wants to buy a Focusrite desk?!?

Two years ago.... The Neve console is in New Zealand now.

Whoops... I was thinking of Bearsville.

Where? I only know of one Neve console here, and that's been here for at least 10 years.

Neil Finn's studio.

That's a shame... I was hoping it would be used for something interesting. The Finn family music makes me

I'm not a fan either... heh

Yah, I knew about that one.

They were up in Woodstock NY or somewhere 'round those parts.

Never got a chance to work up there...

Bearsville is WAY closer to NYC, like halfway between there & where I'm at in Jeresy. Maybe two, three hours south of Woodstock & Bearsville.

They've got (had?!) a Focusrite desk which is a different "Neve" (cough!) bit.

Mighty cool desk IMO...loved the patchable dynamics in that...

owner got divorced and i assume couldn't afford (or desire to afford) to keep the lights on- it's a huge castle which must be murder to heat in the winter. taxes were steep too (taxes are calculated based on the building not just the land)- i priced it out (some good friends worked up there a lot) and just couldn't see making it happen in that location- a great beautiful room but just too far afield to get steady nyc work (even though it's only 25 miles from the city). sadly, another one bites the dust... best- prammy

p.s. i was making a record in studio A at hit factory the day they let the whole staff go, i believe we were the last record made in studio A, at 5 o'clock we finished and the phone rang and everyone was called upstairs- that was a sad day...

p.p.s. BearTRACKS was in suffern, BearsVILLE was right outside of woodstock.

I don't see how this makes any difference to the studio as I'm sure it'll be commercial. Even when Neil had a studio under his house (Euphonix/A827) he let bands in there.
Alot of time has been spent on that desk to clean it up and its gonna be gold.

Don't know why you quoted me?

Beartracks was 15 minutes from my studio. Hope I didn't put them out of business. heh

I know someone who went up to make an offer on the Beartracks studio but they had already done a deal to just sell off the house... apparently he never really TRIED to sell it as a studio.


a weird place.
Some things about it were amazing and many others were rather naff, in my opinion.
but the POTENTIAL to make it a great studio was definitely there.

which is what my friedn thought... but apparently by the time he heard about it, it was too late.

I think they wanted more than 2 million for the house and studio... that's steep. I thought it would be an excellent place for a producer that wanted a studio in their home.

Oh, *that* place! Wasn't Jay Beckenstein or one of the other guys from Spyro Gyra a partner in that studio at one time?

Wait, BearsVILLE is closed also? Jeez...

Yup! That's the place! And AFAIK the was the sole owner.

Like pramrod said, it's attached to a HUGE house. Built back in the early 1900's or late 1800's I think...LONG LONG ass driveway, outdoor pool...real echo chambers...

It's a big piece of property in an expensive area of NY state...I'm no real estate expert but it seems like $2 million for the whole deal would be about right.

Yeah, they went down about two years ago give or take.

Didn't one of the guys from Spyro Gyra own Beartracks? Jay Beckinstein (sp?)

Dream Theater, who has recorded at BearTracks, was the last band to record at The Hit Factory. You wouldn't have worked with them did you?!

they had a root cellar with a speaker in it... it's a stretch to call it an echo chamber.

the barn itself was beutiful and COULD HAVE been turned inot a really good sounding room,.


ah well

"Dream Theater, who has recorded at BearTracks, was the last band to record at The Hit Factory. You wouldn't have worked with them did you?!"

i was not working with them, though i do believe they were there downstairs. i was making a one day jazz record up in studio A, and i do believe that dream theatre were allowed to stay on a week or two after the staff was let go to finish out their project, but we were the last live record made in A, this I know. gorgeous room, like a ****ing football field, hilarious place, they made you rent personal cue headphone boxes on top of the room rate (the hit factory only came standard with a stereo cue mix...). a shame to see it go. you can pm me if you want to know exactly what record it was we made there. best- prammy

I dunno man, the wine cellar is more of an echo chamber then most people have access too...

It wasn't hooked up when I was there & we didn't feel like dragging speakers out there in the middle of January, but I dug the vibe when I stuck my head in there & yodeled.

wow, I just notices that the other day too! Wasn't it owned by Jay Beckenstein?
some good stuff came outta there! Alot of my fav's.
What happened? didn't Phil Magnotti work there alot?
WW do you do alot of Latin stuff?

T

ok, since 3 people have already asked, i have to be the 4th.

wasn't bearsville closed by nuno bettencourt, natasha bedingfield, jay beckenstein, walter beckenstein, j. bredgar hoover, boris beckerstein, and the jay breckerstien brothers?

I actually didn't believe you until I saw the post a couple above mine today. Funny how I missed it.

And, I do mean this in the nicest, funniest sort of way...

ELITIST!


heh