LOCALadk Magazine

Fall 2015 LOCALadk Magazine 19 LOCALadk 881 Peaceful Valley Road North Creek, NY 12853 CALL 855-846-7365 G O R E M O U N T A I N L O D G E . C O M EXPLORE OUR WOODS The Addition Studio Keeseville, NY Charles "Skip" Smithson grew up in New Jersey in a family with strong artistic leanings. "My mother was a professional dancer in New York City. She danced with Eleanor Powell and performed at Radio City Music Hall. My uncle, Ed Kissel, played guitar and was a wonderful vocalist. He was a big influence on me," explains Smithson. Encouraged to play an instrument in grade school, Smithson began play- ing clarinet and saxophone. He then took up drums and percussion instruments throughout high school in both marching and concert bands. He picked up the guitar as a teenager and taught himself to play. Mandolin came later. His interest in re- cording music began as a teenager in the seventies. "I spent many years with reel to reel tape machines and was fascinated by both the mechan- ics and process of recording," he says. "I grew up around great audio equipment and was always inspired when listening to great music repro- duction from good equipment." The Addition Studio lies at the end of a long, tree-lined road. "My wife Sally's parents owned property on Auger Lake and Sally had been traveling there for summers since she was a kid. We both had a passion to exit the New Jersey pace of life and head for the moun- tains, find some property and build a house," he says. "The Adirondacks speak for themselves, and the distance was not too far from family, so here we are." After the main house was built, they felt they needed more room, so they added on to the original structure. "As a family we have always referred to the space as "the addition". After our children grew up and moved away, Sally was gracious enough to let me develop the room into the specific studio that it has become." Skip's early interest in recording equipment and music reproduction evolved over years of playing music professionally, most recently with Zip City Blues and Joan Crane. At first, he found himself hive both with his band Big Slyde and as a solo artist. "Jeff is highly skilled at what he does," said Doan. "The Peluso microphones he uses are fabulous for live recording." Doan also sings the praises of Sue's graphic design skills, knowing he does not need to look elsewhere for quality album cover artwork. In recent years, Beehive has been creating music video content for Folk Alley, a multi-media music service housed at WKSU-FM in Kent, Ohio, an affil- iate of National Public Radio (NPR). What began with a simple backstage recording of the Stray Birds performing at BluSeed Studios in 2012 has evolved into high quality music video content often picked up by NPRmusic and shared with a larger audience. Linda Fahey, Senior Director of Content for Folk Al- ley, selects the artists who often detour off their tour route to make the stop in Saranac Lake, where Beehive will re- cord three songs live, in-studio with camer- as rolling. The edited videos are presented on the organization's website, folkalley.com, and on their YouTube channel. Studio visitors include Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, Dom Flemons, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Amy Helm & the Handsome Strang- ers, to name a few. "I could not imagine working with a better team," says Fahey. "Their space works so well for the re- cordings and they produce quality results." Folk Alley recording sessions have evolved to in- clude a mini-documentary format, and some are filmed on the road. "We have done some fun ses- sions with artists like Bela Fleck and Abigail Wash- burn at music festivals like Newport Folk Festival and the Green River Festival." It is not uncommon for a Folk Alley connection to come back to Beehive for more sessions on their own. Beehive's owners have thoroughly embraced the community of Saranac Lake. "While the majority of our work is not exactly "local", most of it does take place locally. Artists come here to work with us or through Folk Alley and they take a little bit of Sara- nac Lake with them out into the world!"

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