Wisconsin's most famous music studio, Smart Studios in Madison, will shut down this spring, the Shepherd Express has learned. An employee of the recording space confirmed the news. No final date has been set, though March 1 has been discussed. The reason for the closing is "the same reason any business closes," the employee wrote the Shepherd. "Money out > money in."
The studio was a fixture of the Madison rock scene throughout the '80s before becoming a national destination in the '90s after resident producer Butch Vig recorded there with Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Vig and fellow Smart co-founder Steve Marker made the studio the home of their own alternative band, Garbage, recording each of the band's albums there. More recently Fall Out Boy and Death Cab For Cutie have recorded albums there, as well.
The studio was still busy in its final years, and to the outside eye seemingly indestructible. Infamously in 2003, a wayward backhoe from outside street work on East Johnson Avenue tore through the studio's wall, but the owners rebuilt it and resumed operations quickly.
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The m box, sleeping bags and computers are all well and good right up until you need to capture real drums, a vocal chorus, a jazz band, or a horn section. Remember those??? Akkk, yes, real instruments - played by real muscians. It's not nearly as easy to be a "real studio" when you have to actually record life, "real" instruments. I guess there is a reason that Nashville, LA, and NY still have real studios. It's just way too bad that Madison has lost a great one!