Watchmen Recording Studios

Last updated
Watchmen Recording Studios
Industry Music production
GenreVarious (rock, shoegaze, dream pop, metal, goth, etc.)
Founded Lockport, New York (1995)
FounderDoug White
Services Recording studio, music production
Website watchmenstudios.com/index.htm

Watchmen Recording Studios is a music recording facility owned and operated by Doug White, located in Lockport, New York, U.S. The studio opened to the public in 1995, and as of 2013 over 4,000 bands and artists have recorded at the location. These include regional and national acts such as Gym Class Heroes, Psyopus, The Bunny The Bear, and Brutal Truth, as well as labels such as Relapse Records, Victory Records, Metal Blade Records, Willowtip Records and Century Media Records.

Contents

History

Founding by Doug White

Watchmen Studios was founded by musician and producer Doug White in 1989, after he returned home to Western New York from The Art Institute of Atlanta with an associate degree in Audio Engineering and Music Management.

Doug White working at the studio in 2008 MixingDoug.jpg
Doug White working at the studio in 2008

The studio originated in White's parent's basement, where he and his band mates at the time built a small facility to do their own recording. White's band's name was the Watchmen, a reference to the Alan Moore comics. Because only his band was recording at the time, the studio itself inherited the name. A few years later the business went commercial as Watchmen Studios and the name stuck.

The Watchmen disbanded with some members going on to form Snapcase, while White stayed on with recording, building up a base of clients. In 1995 he moved the studio permanently into a commercial building in Lockport, [1] creating a small eight room studio.

Releases

The band Lemuria recorded all their albums as of 2008 in the studio, [2] including 2007's Get Better. [3]

"All of our records have been recorded at...Watchmen Studios, with the exception of the split 7” we did with Frame... I think our growing comfort with the studio and Doug White who runs the place is responsible for the quality of the recording and our performance on it. Doug even turns on some mood lighting while I drum."
— Alex Kerns of Lemuria (2008) [2]

Doug White was given two awards from the RIAA for 1,000,000 copies sold for the single "Cupid's Chokehold" by the band Gym Class Heroes. The other award presented to White was for 500,000 copies sold of the Gym Class Hero's album As Cruel as School Children (2006). White also produced the debut album ...For the Kids for the Gym Class Heroes.

As of 2013, over 4000 bands and artists have recorded at the location. These include small regional acts and larger names such as Gym Class Heroes, Psyopus, The Bunny The Bear, Brutal Truth, as well as working with labels such as Relapse Records, Victory Records, Metal Blade Records, and Century Media Records. White notes: "Working with many different types of budgets has been the key for Watchmen Studios, big or small, turning out consistent product for many years."

Associated bands

Tearwave was Doug White's next band, and they've been associated with the label since their founding. They were signed to Projekt Records, which is owned by Sam Rosenthal. Tearwave released two albums under Projekt Records, the first (in 2007) was self-titled and the second release (2008) was titled A Different Shade of Beauty. Tearwave was disbanded in 2009. [4]

In an interview with The Apparatus, Doug talks about Tearwave:

Tearwave is an old school shoegaze band in the vein of Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Lush. We are signed to the legendary goth label Projekt. Shoegaze has always been a passion of mine. The sad ambient textures and flowing female vocals were always something I loved to listen to. So I put Tearwave together last year and it all happened really quickly for us. We got very lucky. [1]

After Tearwave disintegrated Doug White assembled Makaras Pen, also signed to Projekt Records. In 2010 they released a self-titled debut album, followed in 2011 by A Petal Among Bricks. With a consistent shoegaze and dream pop sound, the band continues to record music and create music videos.

Studio equipment

As of September 2013, the following equipment is in use at the studio: [5]

Effects
Mics and Preamps
Amps/Guitars
Headphones
Full Soundforge Mastering

The following photographs of the inside of the studio were taken in 2008.

Discography

YearTitleArtist
1999 Further Efforts STEMM
2001 ...For the Kids Gym Class Heroes
2001 Friday Night Knife Fight Kid Gorgeous
2001 Dead to Me STEMM
2002 Forever Scorned It Dies Today
2006 Sleepaway Sleepaway
2006 As Cruel as School Children Gym Class Heroes
2007 Our Puzzling Encounters Considered Psyopus
2007 Resplendent Locution Gaylord
2009 Odd Senses Psyopus
2009 Evolution Through Revolution Brutal Truth
2015 Polemic Contrarian
2017 To Perceive Is To Suffer Contrarian

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Wheel (band)</span> English band

Catherine Wheel were an English alternative rock band from Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. The band was active from 1990 to 2000, releasing five full-length albums in their career, embarking on many lengthy tours and experiencing fluctuating levels of commercial success. Initially receiving attention and success after releasing their debut album Ferment in 1992, the band achieved peak success with the release of "Crank" and their album Chrome in 1993. The band also achieved minor success with other albums, including Happy Days, which featured a popular song "Judy Staring at the Sun" as a collaboration with Tanya Donelly. Catherine Wheel also scored heavy rotation on MTV and performed there several times. Despite never having any albums or songs that achieved major success in their homeland, Catherine Wheel continue to be popular among alternative rock and shoegaze fans and critics.

Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. It emerged in Ireland and the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups who usually stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state. The name comes from the heavy use of effects pedals, as the performers were often looking down at their pedals during concerts.

Dream pop is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as reverb, echo, tremolo, and chorus. It often overlaps with the related genre of shoegaze, and the two genre terms have at times been used interchangeably.

Projekt is a Portland, Oregon-based independent record label started by Sam Rosenthal in 1983. Projekt releases music in the styles of darkwave, ambient, shoegaze, gothic rock, ethereal, dream-pop, and dark cabaret. Projekt artists include Sam Rosenthal's own Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Steve Roach, Voltaire, Erik Wøllo, Unto Ashes, Weep Mira, and Android Lust.

Superdrag is an American alternative rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They are best known for their 1996 single, "Sucked Out", off their album Regretfully Yours, for which a video was played on MTV. The original lineup reunited in 2007, releasing a full-length album in 2009: Industry Giants. The same lineup reunited again in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gym Class Heroes</span> American rap rock band

Gym Class Heroes was an American rap rock band from Geneva, New York. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band's music displays a wide variety of influences, including hip hop, rock, funk, and reggae. After the addition of guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo and bassist Eric Roberts in 2003, the group was signed to Fueled by Ramen and Decaydance Records, on which they released their debut album, The Papercut Chronicles. The group gained a strong fanbase while promoting the album, appearing at festivals such as The Bamboozle and Vans Warped Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Relapse Records</span> American record label

Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists.

Lovesliescrushing is an American ambient and shoegaze band from East Lansing, Michigan, United States, formed in 1991. The two primary members of the band are Scott Cortez and Melissa Arpin-Duimstra (vocals).

Ethereal wave, also called ethereal darkwave, ethereal goth or simply ethereal, is a subgenre of dark wave music that is variously described as "gothic", "romantic", and "otherworldly". Developed in the early 1980s in the UK as an outgrowth of gothic rock, ethereal wave was mainly represented by 4AD bands such as Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and early guitar-driven Dead Can Dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer Smith (musician)</span> American musician and songwriter

Spencer James Smith is an American talent agent and former musician and songwriter. He is best known as a co-founding member and the former drummer of the rock band Panic! at the Disco. He recorded four studio albums with the band: A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005), Pretty. Odd. (2008), Vices & Virtues (2011), and Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! (2013). The band's debut album went triple platinum and charted at No. 13 on the US Billboard 200, spearheaded by the hit single "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", which peaked at No. 7 in the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mitchell (musician)</span> British musician

John Mitchell is a musician and record producer. He primarily plays guitar and has been a member of the bands It Bites, Arena, Frost*, Kino, A, The Urbane and Lonely Robot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deceased (band)</span> American extreme metal band

Deceased is an American extreme metal band from Virginia. In 1990 they were the first band to sign with Relapse Records, and released four albums and a number of EPs before parting ways with the label in 2003. Their sound centers around themes of horror, with lyrics barked and sometimes narrated by vocalist and founder King Fowley.

Mira were an American five-piece dream pop/shoegaze band from Tallahassee, Florida, United States, formed in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AKG (company)</span> Acoustics engineering and manufacturing company

AKG Acoustics is an acoustics engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1947 by Rudolf Görike and Ernest Plass in Vienna, Austria. It is a part of Harman International Industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemuria (American band)</span>

Lemuria was an American rock band formed in 2004 and originally based in Buffalo, New York. After a series of singles and EPs, Lemuria released albums between 2007 and 2017, and toured both the U.S. and internationally. The band's most recent effort, "Recreational Hate", was recorded by four-time Grammy award-winning producer/engineer Chris Shaw and released on the band's own record label, Turbo Worldwide, licensed through Asian Man Records in the U.S. and Big Scary Monsters in the U.K. The album was announced December 11, 2017, and was simultaneously received by many of the band's fans as a result of a "secret LP" placed for sale on their website months prior. "Recreational Hate" was made available digitally on December 2017, with physical copies released in February 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuck in the Sound</span>

Stuck in the Sound is a French indie rock band formed in Paris in 2002. The current band line up consists of José Reis Fontão, Emmanuel Barichasse, Arno Bordas and François Ernie. The group are presently signed to Discograph Records and have to date released six studio albums; their first commercially released album Stuck In The Sound was released in 2004 and their most recent album, Billy Believe, was released in 2019.

Weep is an American rock band from New York City whose music combines elements of ethereal wave, gothic rock, shoegaze, post-punk and synthpop. Formed in 2008 by singer and guitarist Eric "Doc" Hammer, the band's lineup also includes bass guitarist Fred Macaraeg, keyboardist Alex Dziena and drummer Bill Kovalcik. Their debut EP, Never Ever, was released in 2008 by Hammer's Astro-Base Go company and Projekt Records, followed by the full-length albums Worn Thin (2010), Alate (2012) and Weep (2014).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bunny the Bear</span> American post-hardcore rock band

The Bunny the Bear is an American post-hardcore band from Buffalo, New York. The band is known for its eclectic style of post-hardcore, influenced by a variety of rock and electronic subgenres, including synthpop, metalcore, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nothing (band)</span> American rock band

Nothing is an American shoegaze band that formed in 2010. The band self-released several EPs before signing to Relapse Records. They released their debut studio album, Guilty of Everything, in 2014. The follow-up album, Tired of Tomorrow, was released on in 2016. Nothing's third studio album, Dance on the Blacktop, was released in 2018, and their fourth studio album, The Great Dismal, was released in 2020.

<i>Stories</i> (The Bunny the Bear album) 2013 studio album by The Bunny the Bear

Stories is the fourth studio album by post-hardcore band The Bunny the Bear, released through Victory Records on April 16, 2013. The album peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.

References

  1. 1 2 "Doug White of Watchman Studios". The Apparatus. January 2, 2008. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  2. 1 2 "Featured Interview Lemiria". Supernaut Booking. Archived from the original on 2008-07-30. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  3. "Get Better - CD/LP". LemuriaPop.com. August 2007. Retrieved 2013-09-27.
  4. "Watchmen Studios". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-09-27.
  5. "Equipment, Watchmen Studios".

Coordinates: 43°07′59″N78°41′38″W / 43.132931°N 78.693813°W / 43.132931; -78.693813