Mount Pleasant studio set to rock 'n' roll

With his new recording studio in an out-of-the way and otherwise quiet business strip in Mount Pleasant's Park West, Jeff Hodges promises to rival facilities in New York, Los Angles and Nashville, Tenn.

"This is the kind of place where you can make a world-class record," Hodges said, sitting in the control room at Charleston Sound. "You don't have to go anywhere else."

Instead of just providing passable sound booths and mixing boards, Hodges brings top-notch equipment with the hope of luring everyone from big-name acts to college garage bands.

He calls the control room console "an analog monster," with enough buttons to rival a space shuttle. Behind it, a long producer's desk provides the mixing tools to enhance and add effects to the recording.

Wooden stripes line the control room walls to keep sound from merely bouncing around. The back wall resembles a giant wooden knickknack shelf, but those rows of cubbyholes ensure the engineer hears the sound naturally. He needs no headphones in this room.

To call this place a multimillion-dollar investment, Hodges said demurely, would be "about the right ballpark."

But with a background in recording independent musicians for more than 20 years, the 44-year-old Hodges stresses that Charleston Sound isn't out of reach of upstart artists.

"When I built the space, I wanted to make sure we didn't build in so much overhead that people couldn't afford to record here," he said.

A glass screen and a wall filled with a literal ton of sand separate the control room from the studio, where a shiny black Yamaha piano grins back from a hardwood floor.

An "acoustical cloud" hovers above, looking like little more than a fabric ceiling extension, but ready to trap bass. Textured panels line the two side walls, some diffusing and others absorbing sound.

The studio opens into three smaller rooms designed to lay down vocal or single-instrument tracks. Even the hallway between the control room and the studio seals off into its own studio space.

Hodges began building the 2,000-square-foot Charleston Sound in December 2007. It took nearly a year to complete and, though it hasn't officially celebrated a grand opening, already has been accepting artists.

Hodges and another engineer, plus three freelancers, work inside.

While some might think he's thumbing his nose at the economy, Hodges thinks his project meets a natural demand.

"There's always going to be a need for audio production," he said. "There's nothing like this for hundreds of miles."

With decades of experience working studios in Atlanta, Hodges has done everything from rock and hip-hop to a Civil War documentary and the Texas State Fair opening ceremonies.

Since launching in Charleston, he has recorded Hootie & the Blowfish's Mark Bryan, contemporary Christian artist Martin Chalk and violinist Anna Schaad, among others.

And should he get neighbors in the quiet business park, Hodges doesn't worry: He's virtually soundproof to the outside up to an ear-bleeding 150 decibels — equivalent to standing near a jet-engine airplane as it takes off.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.