Sweetwater Studios


Sweetwater Studios is a recording studio that resides within Sweetwater Sound's campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana that offers recording, mixing, and mastering services, along with education and training for Sweetwater's customers and employees.

History

Sweetwater Studios originated as a 4-track remote recording studio in Chuck Surack's Volkswagen microbus. In 1979, Surack moved into a house where he built a recording studio, which he named Sweetwater Sound. In 1985, to increase the studio services he could offer, he bought a Kurzweil K250. While Surack's subsequent work with the K250 and the K250 user community eventually led to Sweetwater becoming a retailer of musical instruments and pro audio equipment, the recording studio continued as integral part of the business.
In 1990, Sweetwater and its recording studios relocated to their first commercial location in Fort Wayne on Bass Road, the studio's work at that time consisting of recording and production for regional artists, corporate advertising and jingle work, as well as training and education for employees and customers.

Present

Upon completion of Sweetwater's new corporate campus in late 2007, Sweetwater Studios moved into a new 3-room recording facility and performance theater designed by Russ Berger Design Group. In 2014, under the direction of Mark Hornsby, Sweetwater Studios upgraded Studio A to a hybrid recording system consisting of 36 channels of Rupert Neve Designs Shelford modules and analog summing master section, combined with Avid S6 control surface, interfaces, and Pro Tools, and over 80 channels of outboard analog processing from API, Solid State Logic, Universal Audio, Focusrite, Shadow Hills, Millennia, A-Designs, Daking, Drawmer, Chandler, Manley Labs and Dangerous Music.
With the addition of a roster of in-house session musicians, including guitarist Don Carr, drummer and vocalist Nick D'Virgilio, bassist Dave Martin, and keyboardist Phil Naish, Sweetwater Studios adopted a collaborative approach to realizing client's musical visions. Today, Sweetwater Studios offers recording, mixing, and mastering services, along with education and training for customers and employees.

Notable artists

Notable artists who have had projects produced at Sweetwater Studios include:
From 2006–2013, Sweetwater Studios and local Fort Wayne radio station WAJI Majic 95.1 partnered to record live, acoustic music from nationally recognized artists and bands traveling through Fort Wayne. These recordings and others were compiled to produce "Majic Miracle Music" charity CDs to benefit Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. Artists who recorded at Sweetwater Productions for "Majic Miracle Music" CDs include REO Speedwagon, Ingrid Michaelson, Lenka, Aimee Allen, Jars of Clay, Landon Pigg, Ben Jelen, Josh Kelley, Sara Bareilles, Jon McLaughlin, Gin Blossoms, and Collective Soul.