By William B. Leonard
Photos By Matt Rose
When Michael Youngwood says that he lives in a recording studio, images of wires, electronic components and musical instruments scattered about immediately come to mind. But Youngwood’s dream was to create a studio where musicians would feel at home, and he has achieved that dream with the place he calls home — a comfortable, open floor plan house complete with a large stone fireplace and hardwood floors. It also happens to be a state-of-the-art studio.
Youngwood has named his 1,700-square-foot house/studio space "Sleeping Wolf Productions." The structure, set on a mountainside just north of Waynesville, was completed on September 10, 2001.
"Yeah, I opened my doors for business to begin recording just the day before 9/11. When it happened, I thought well, that’s it…no one will be coming to record here," Youngwood says, shaking his head.
But to his surprise, musicians did come, and they’ve kept coming, although Sleeping Wolf Productions is definitely off the beaten path. The single-lane gravel road leading up to the studio twists and winds for nearly a mile across steep terrain. Somewhere along the route, it occurs to you that the studio name certainly fits the setting — a place where you would expect to run into wildlife rather than musicians.
Youngwood’s original goal was to have a top-notch studio in which he could both work and live. His intent was to offer the facility to musicians in Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee who couldn’t afford or didn’t have access to larger and more mainstream studios.
Most of the musicians who have used Sleeping Wolf fit that description, and Youngwood is proud that he’s been able to help them out. Even so, some well-known names have made the trek up the mountain. In 2003, singer-songwriter Peter Rowan and world-renowned guitarist Tony Rice came to Sleeping Wolf to lay down several tracks for the their 2004 release, You Were There for Me. "I sat there listening to Tony play and Peter sing, and I thought, wow, I’m actually getting paid to do this," Youngwood recalls.
In the original design, the control room was located on the main floor. After several years of living among the plethora of musical instruments, amplifiers and sound boards, Youngwood and his wife Jeanine decided to completely gut the house and remodel the interior.
In July, the renovation was complete and the couple now has a well-appointed and nicely decorated living space that can double as a recording studio, instead of the other way around.
"It’s a much more comfortable space now, and I’ve simplified, streamlined and reduced the amount of equipment I had," Youngwood says.
The new control room is located in the lower level — formerly an unfinished basement with a dirt floor. The room is completely soundproofed, with two Mackie Digital mixing consoles as the centerpiece. An Apple desktop computer is the workhorse on which Youngwood records the music. He can then burn the master recordings onto compact discs or copy them onto digital tape.
Although the lower level of the residence is now specifically designed for recording, Youngwood says he has recorded several groups in rooms on the main level. The great room is a congenial place for musicians to play together.
"Some groups like to have the different instruments and vocalists isolated from each other so you don’t get overlapping sounds," Youngwood says. "And I can accommodate that pretty easily here."
Even the downstairs bathroom has been commandeered as an isolation booth of sorts. Bathrooms can actually have great acoustics for vocals. It’s been reported that The Doors, for example, recorded their classic "L.A. Woman" with lead singer Jim Morrison sitting on a toilet.
Youngwood’s interest in building his studio stems from his own musical career. He learned to play the violin and guitar but eventually fell in love with the Native American flute, which is now his instrument of choice. He has recorded three albums of his own work and is currently working on the fourth.
"It’s about done. I’ve recorded most of the tracks and I’m working on mixing them now," he says.
The remodeling of his studio, and a resolution to relaunch his career as a registered nurse has slowed his progress. He admits that he grew tired of recording, but the decision to take time off to study for nursing exams and remodel the studio has actually rekindled his passion for making and recording music.
"I’m ready to jump in again, and I feel good about it," he says. Jeanine agrees, and finds living in a recording studio entertaining. "It’s been an adventure for sure, but it’s been a really fun adventure," she says. "And I can always look forward to something different happening around here."
