Haunted Recording Studios

[ThePitz]

You have the blueprints for your 100 year old house? How did that happen?

Well - they're actually plans drawn up, i'm assuming, when the place was remodeled. We found them in one of the rooms in the basement when we moved in. Admittedly - the work they were doing probably didn't necessitate the measuring of a creepy unusable space on the side of the house... But it sounds creepier if it's a mysterious room that isn't on the blueprints.

In the spirit of ghost stories, ya know?

[JGriffin]

It's nice to be paranormal incident free.

I know what you mean, man.

[RefD]

You have the blueprints for your 100 year old house? How did that happen?

Well - they're actually plans drawn up, i'm assuming, when the place was remodeled. We found them in one of the rooms in the basement when we moved in. Admittedly - the work they were doing probably didn't necessitate the measuring of a creepy unusable space on the side of the house... But it sounds creepier if it's a mysterious room that isn't on the blueprints.

In the spirit of ghost stories, ya know?

time for a pig on a stick.

or at least poke a flash camera inside that hole for a few snaps, eh?

and then post them here!

[Jon Nolan]

my studio is in the basement of a mill building which is already like a frickin ghost town after dark as it is.

No ghosts yet, but I'm already usually freaked out when I leave in the wee wee hours. Thanks for nothin' gang.

however:

when i was like 8 or 9, my brother and two friends and I ALL saw a UFO. We were in the car, in the back seat, comfing home from the beach. our moms were in the front seat. T'was a huge, slow moving fireball! No joke. I SAW it. We were all like, "look! look!" and our moms were yapping away with each other, and weren't really interested. they were like "it's probably a plane with the sun reflecting off of it." No frickin way man. we watched it fly/float, whatever, for like five minutes. I've been trying to google it. i remember it being reported in the news the next day. this was the early 80's.

night terror, sleep paralysis, shadowy figures. yep. me too! i was already sufficiently freaked out by these occurences, but became even more so after seeing a 60 minutes/48 hours show about other's expereiences and how they matched mine, like exactly.

weird.

[tony_tomlinson]

Check out this link for some more http://classicrock.about.com/od/history ... tories.htm

[trodden]

Funny. Just last night - sitting in my brand spanking new basement space...

It's a terrifying basement. Really big, totally unfinished brick and dark wood - there's a corner we affectionately call the "snuff film corner." Complete with a 2x2 hole in the brick wall that goes into some dark, tomb-like area that doesn't exist on the blueprints.

The 'live area' has been drywalled a bit - and absorption hung and it's all nice and well lit and vibey with cool paintings and trinkets. However - behind two hanging panels of mineral wool - is the 'control room.' Which has nothing but crudely made absorption panels and brick and a single dangling light. When you sit at the desk - you have your back to the snuff corner - which is about 20 feet behind you and obscured by brick wall.

So - last night was my first night with all my toys up and running - and i'm down there making new cables and getting signals flowing where I want and listening to all my favorite 'reference' albums. Totally lost in the exciting prospects of a new space to record.

At about 3 or so in the morning - out of nowhere. Something bumps into my chair. Not a small nudge or brush-up. My chair moved about a foot and a half. I turn around and of course - there's nothing there... But i'm staring directly into the unlit snuff corner of a 100+year old house...

I had to go upstairs - wake up the dog - coax him to come downstairs with me just so I could turn off the lights and power before going to bed. This was just the first of many long nights down there... I need to get more pets or something.

The moral of the story - don't build your control room so your back is to the creepy, dark corner with an open entrance to a mausoleum.

dude, you gotta explore the tomb crawl space... hellyeah... pirate ghosts are back there.

[centurymantra]

Funny. Just last night - sitting in my brand spanking new basement space...

It's a terrifying basement. Really big, totally unfinished brick and dark wood - there's a corner we affectionately call the "snuff film corner." Complete with a 2x2 hole in the brick wall that goes into some dark, tomb-like area that doesn't exist on the blueprints.

The 'live area' has been drywalled a bit - and absorption hung and it's all nice and well lit and vibey with cool paintings and trinkets. However - behind two hanging panels of mineral wool - is the 'control room.' Which has nothing but crudely made absorption panels and brick and a single dangling light. When you sit at the desk - you have your back to the snuff corner - which is about 20 feet behind you and obscured by brick wall.

So - last night was my first night with all my toys up and running - and i'm down there making new cables and getting signals flowing where I want and listening to all my favorite 'reference' albums. Totally lost in the exciting prospects of a new space to record.

At about 3 or so in the morning - out of nowhere. Something bumps into my chair. Not a small nudge or brush-up. My chair moved about a foot and a half. I turn around and of course - there's nothing there... But i'm staring directly into the unlit snuff corner of a 100+year old house...

I had to go upstairs - wake up the dog - coax him to come downstairs with me just so I could turn off the lights and power before going to bed. This was just the first of many long nights down there... I need to get more pets or something.

The moral of the story - don't build your control room so your back is to the creepy, dark corner with an open entrance to a mausoleum.

dude, you gotta explore the tomb crawl space... hellyeah... pirate ghosts are back there.

Great story...and yes, it does demand for exploration. Perhaps after a midnight viewing of 'Rec'.

[woodhenge]

I'm pretty sure my building is haunted...

Our place is about 100 years old now, and had belonged to an old Jewish tailor. You know, chronic cigar smoker, heavy accent, nice guy, well dressed, great businessman... He had the building since the late 20's/early 30's until we bought it in '83.

He passed away in '85, but there are STILL times when we smell his fresh cigar smoke on the 3rd and 4th floor. That fresh-lit smell, not a lingering-way-after-the-fact one. I wouldn't think much of it if these areas were used often, but they're storage areas where nobody really goes...

We jokingly say that he's watching over us, guiding our finances from the afterlife to keep us in business.

[ThePitz]

dude, you gotta explore the tomb crawl space... hellyeah... pirate ghosts are back there.

Took pics with a buddies camera - the camera isn't recognized by my computer for some reason... Will find a way to get them up here because, seriously, this place is creepy.

The flash pics from inside the tomb revealed tons of rubble and random objects. Looks like there used to be a stairway over that area or something.

Also - I talked to a neighbor the other day, and apparently a french woman owned this place for 50 years and then died here about five years ago. He said she was nice, though.

[dave watkins]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

i love this thread. i'm coming at you from the basement of a 100 plus year old warehouse in downtown richmond virginia, it's less than a mile from what was a major military prison during the civil war, and much of the area around here was burned to the ground and destroyed during the civil war so it always gives me reason to feel a little weary of the random noises i hear when i'm working on music in the middle of the night. i hear what i believe a are footsteps once every now and then, but i believe that i have made peace with whatever spirits may exist down here. though when i first moved in 2 years ago, the first couple nights i spent here setting up all my gear were full of noises, and glimpses of fleeting shadows out of the corner of my eye. i let it get the better of me, freaked out and i had to leave, but after a while it started feeling comfortable... like any previously opposing energies down here are now stoked that i'm only down here to make music.

triumph

oh and there's a little halloween something something that i posted on my my bandcamp page this morning for anyone who has not heard enough torturous prepared piano, guitar feeback, ridiculous string pads, and obligatory satan vocals lately. enjoy.

[bestmixerever]

Plenty of inexplicable happenings at Electric Lady. Especially upstairs in C. I had an A80 1/2" stop working while printing a final mix. It just stopped. And stopped working. Lights stayed on, but I wouldn't play,ff,rewind. During a different session I was recording a gtr solo. We had already taken a few swipes at the solo, so there was stuff on the track. We listened back to a take, guitarist didn't like it and walked into the live room and we rolled it again. The red lights were on, the VU happily bouncing about. Listened back and there was silence. Nothing got muted on the way onto tape. The setup didn't change. We didn't take a break. The track was a void. And of course that was the best take of a lifetime. After a few minutes of head scratching the gtr player walked back into the studio and knocked one outta the park. It played back fine. Spooooooky!

[cgarges]

Well, it's that time of year again, folks. Anyone got any good ones to add?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[vvv]

Well, this thread is undead ...