Nu House Studios
Inside the Trans-Owned Massachusetts Studio at the Heart of a Passionate Production Community
BY AUDREY LEYENHORST | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JARED SHUTE
THE CONTROL ROOM AT NU HOUSE
Originally founded in the summer of 2019 , Framingham , MA ’ s Nu House Studios fills a crucial gap in an endless swath of studios , offering up highend production and mixing while upholding a clearly-defined safe space for queer musicians and producers – a space that ’ s evolved beyond the physical realm as the studio has become the centre of a bustling online community of remote clientele on top of in-person sessions .
Established a little over a decade after they met at a music camp where they bonded over a love for heavy music , Nu House is a collaborative effort between lead engineer / producer Aki McCullough , an audio engineering graduate from the University of Miami , and her long-time friend James Goldmann , an engineer and session drummer . Over that decade , McCullough and Goldmann collaborated on countless projects and played in many bands together , which made opening a studio together a no-brainer when the time eventually arrived .
When I came across the studio ’ s Twitter account and read into it , I knew I wanted to reach out and have a conversation about the studio , its history , and ultimately garner the duo ’ s insight on why these kinds of safe spaces are imperative within a still-very-traditional industry like ours . Please enjoy our Q & A with Aki McCullough and James Goldmann of Nu House Studios .
This interview has been edited for length and clarity .
PS : When did you start to come together with ideas about establishing a studio and reach the understanding that you could pull it off ?
James Goldmann : It was right before I actually moved out here . I was at probably one of the lowest points of my life where I had been working kind of a dead-end desk job doing health insurance administration for the last five years , I had a band that was going places and then suddenly broke up . My parents , all at the same time , also told me they were planning on moving out of California – and my family is basically me and my parents . So , I was like , “ Alright , I hate my job , band ’ s dead , and my parents are leaving , so I don ’ t really have a whole lot left for me in California .”
And , you know , I ’ d been talking to Aki this whole time for 13 years or so , and she was just like , “ Consider moving out to Boston and we could do a studio thing ?” And I was like , “ Uhhh , how much would that cost ?” Figured it out , moved out here in July 2019 . Six months later – world ended . So yeah , timing [ laughs ], but I think it was at that point once I moved out , and we both settled into the original iteration of Nu House ; we ’ re now on V2 in the new place . It got to the point where we were
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