The Recording Music Business & The Gradwell House Studio

Rock 'n' Roll Fridays

English - October 28, 2022 13:00 - 21 minutes - 15 MB
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Great interview with David Downham, owner of The Gradwell House Studios.

Yes, it was originally a house with a basement studio/DIY show space in Maple Shade NJ on W. Gradwell Ave. The studio has since occupied a chop shop in Gloucester City (2002-2004), some slumlord's leaky-roofed shit-hole on Atlantic ave in Haddon Heights (2004-2016) and our new wonderful and permanent home just around the corner in a repurposed, custom designed and built Masonic Lodge (Lodge 191 Y'all) on Station Ave in downtown Haddon Heights, NJ.

The original basement location was in Steve Poponi's (co-owner) rented Maple Shade, NJ home for 4 long . . . carpet-remnant-wall-covered, does-that-band-own-a-tuner, Samson-mixer-having, pj-whelihans-chicken-caesar-salad-clogging-up-the-utility-sink-right-behind-my-mix-position-smelling years.

After Steve’s move to the Gloucester City chop-shop location Dave Downham entered the picture as a sparkly blue-eyed second engineer. Coming from his own soon-to-be defunct Cherry Hill NJ "Couches in the Desert" basement studio Dave and Steve became 50/50 partners. In addition to recording horrible bands (it was 2004, think high school Metalcore bands) and a couple good ones (really just Sugar Queef), the Gloucester location also continued to host live shows for touring bands (pretend there is an epic list here) and tons of local garbage.

The limitations of this space and bondo dust in the air as well as the junkyard dogs and the prostitute-sidewalk-highway and the both-my-landlords-went-to-jail-1-month-after-we-signed-our-lease got Steve and Dave looking to move The Gradwell House again thus bringing them to Haddon Heights, NJ. The original Haddon Heights location was built with recording bands "live" in mind, and after 12 leaky-roofed years in this rented location, the limitations of this space once again got them looking to relocate, this time to buy! In 2016 The Gradwell House opened its permanent home, a custom built, wonderfully flexible, 6000 square foot music facility in downtown Haddon Heights.

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