For the last 14 years, musicians have found a home at Quiethouse Recording — literally. To access the Bedford studio of recording engineer Dereck Blackburn, clients needed to first weave through his family’s house, often lugging gear up stairs and through his kitchen and living room. It was a worthwhile trek: Blackburn boasts 25 years behind the soundboard, and has experience polishing everything from the the plush electro-pop of Imogen Heap to RoseR’s slinky alt-rock.
“Due to the location of my workspace and having to have folks constantly go through the whole house and living spaces, the work/life balance felt like it was getting out of hand,” Blackburn tells Vanyaland.
But that journey won’t be necessary at Quiethouse Recording’s new location in Topsfield, a “more accessible and more inspiring” space that Blackburn moved into earlier this month. Blackburn’s latest hub for recording, mixing, and mastering is attached to his family’s new home, but boasts a separate entrance to his studio — as well as a hard-to-find cozy ambiance amplified by the wetlands and conservation land that the studio overlooks.
“Massive, purpose-built spaces are beautiful and functional, and there are plenty of those spaces in New England,” he said. “For me, I still want that cozy, lived-in creative space that might also mean a change in the kind of work I focus on now. I will continue to work in studios in the city, but having the flexibility to have a space like this at home is just an added bonus for me and my clients.”
Blackburn says the move was ultimately a “family-first decision,” as he and his wife sought an area with more access to nature and a “better overall pace of life.” In the process of picking a new home, he saw the chance to tailor a space to his creative needs and hopes for his own career. That includes no longer listing the studio as a public and “commercial” space, and instead thinking of it more as a unit that “I have available [to artists] if time, location, or budget are to be considered.”
“I’ve been able to rethink every inch of workflow here and what kind of work I want to be doing over the next 15 to 20 years,” Blackburn says. “The control room is smaller than my old room, but here I will still be able to make it uniquely my own. There is a 12″ x 16″ live room across the hall and all of this is attached to an even bigger ‘rec room’ — which I’ve promised not to take over completely. Every room is workable, but still allows for a good amount of flexibility.”
The studio marks the latest development in the North Shore’s music scene, which has recently seen Gloucester venue The Cut re-launch its live music offerings, and the arrival of the all-ages venue Moon Base One in Salem. Blackburn says that Kurt Ballou, Converge’s guitarist and founder of Salem’s GodCity Studio, is even “right down the road” from him.
“With new venues opening in the area and so many great musicians around, it feels like there is a lot going on up here on the North Shore,” Blackburn concludes.
Get the a sneak peek at Quiethouse’s new digs below.