LOCALadk Magazine

18 Fall 2015 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk Music has filled the mountain peaks, river beds and camps of the Ad- irondack Park for centuries. Adirondack folklorist Marjorie Lansing Porter made it her life's work to record the music of the mountains for posterity on reel-to-reel tapes with a Soundscriber recorder. Fast forward to the Adirondacks of today, where two independent music recording studios, Beehive Productions in Saranac Lake and The Ad- dition Studio on Auger Lake, are continuing to preserve music in the mountains, albeit by artists who may hail from outside the blue line, and with a bit more sophisticated equipment. Beehive Productions Saranac Lake, NY Beehive Productions owners Sue Bibeau and Jeff Oehler met after college in 1994 in New York City while working at EMI Records Amer- ican Division, Sue as a Graphic Designer and Jeff in Artist Develop- ment. Both grew up moving around the country frequently, but Jeff had family ties to the Adirondacks. "My great grandparents built a small rustic camp between Schroon Lake and Minerva about a hun- dred years ago called the Beehive. It was a place where we all would gather every summer," he says. In 1995 the couple began freelancing as Beehive Productions in Brooklyn. A year later they decided to make the Adirondacks their home, and Beehive Productions moved closer to the place that had inspired its name. The studio is actually a three-story building situated just up the hill from the Lake Flower boat launch in Saranac Lake. The music stu- dio makes up the first floor. Newly added video editing and design services take up two rooms on the third floor. In between, there's something unique. "We built our first studio here with the intention of being a transient home to the musicians we work with, so there are three bedrooms on the second floor for traveling musicians. Some- times artists only come in for a few hours and sometimes they stay for weeks." Jeff's proficiency playing upright bass and guitar is no small benefit when working as a producer and recording engineer. "I need to be versed with many instruments and techniques so that I can interact with the artists we work with in a meaningful and effective way," he explains. "Sue will sometimes pick up the drumsticks and play along. We have a good time interacting with the various artists who come through our place." Beehive specializes in recording music in a live context. "Any acoustic space you are recording in will change dynamically with the ensemble and instruments you place within it. On the technical and artistic end, that is simultaneously the greatest challenge and the most engaging aspect of the art of recording." Many artists that come through Beehive are not accustomed to the process of live recording. "They may have been told that the only way to create great-sounding recordings is to isolate musicians in dif- ferent rooms, close-mic every instrument, and create mixes in head- phones for everyone involved to record with. We feel that creates an environment that is counterproductive to creativity." Local musician John Doan has had the opportunity to record at Bee- Making Music in the Mountains By Julie Canepa Photos courtesy of The Addition Studios and Beehive Productions

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