CHALET RECORDING STUDIO
A One-of-a-Kind Creative Hideaway in the GTA
By Kevin Young
Studio A control room
On
the basis of longevity alone, Chalet Recording
Studio is a true rarity. The technological shift
towards the democratization of recording
technology, generally speaking, hasn’t been
kind to destination/residential studios. Chalet, however, has
adapted to the changing industry climate by diversifying its ser-
vices, consistently upgrading the facility and its capabilities, and
developing key partnerships with producers and engineers.
Of course, there are still destination studios out there.
There have even been recent additions to the ranks – studios
that have adopted the model of providing full-service recording
and onsite accommodations to clients. Few, though, have sur-
vived under the same ownership for decades.
Chalet Recording Studio
2195 Uxbridge Pickering Townline
Pickering, ON L1Y 1A1
905-649-1360
[email protected]
www.chaletstudio.com
“We are one of the last ones standing, I guess,” says founder and
owner David Chester, “but we’ve had to be flexible because we’re
30 PROFESSIONAL SOUND
not top-of-mind out here. We’re not right downtown. When ADATs
came out in the early ‘90s, I could see that the means of produc-
tion would be in the hands of the many, so we’d have to diversify.”
Granted, Chalet is also a rarity in terms of its location, at-
mosphere, and history. Built on 40 acres of land in Ontario’s
Oak Ridges Moraine area in Claremont, ON, the studio may feel
like it’s off the beaten path, though is less than an hour’s drive
from downtown Toronto and Pearson International Airport. As
with other large-scale destination studios, Chalet’s two primary
recording spaces offer multiple music recording and production-
related services, along with the perks of discount accommoda-
tions, DIY meal-making or catering, and, perhaps most impor-
tantly, an increasingly uncommon experience for clients.
Arguably, you could record in your own home and maintain
a level of comfort similar to what facilities like Chalet offer, but
you’re still more likely to be distracted by the minutiae of daily
life. What sets a space like this apart beyond its technical capabil-
ities is the atmosphere – one driven by Chester’s love of music,
recording, and, frankly, nature.
The template for Chalet’s business model, Chester says, was
Quebec’s now defunct Le Studio in Morin Heights, a globally-
renowned recording space in the Laurentian Mountains that,
inevitably, haunts the edges of any discussion of Canadian desti-
nation studios.