Smart Studios, the brainchild of co-founders Butch Vig and Steve Marker, started back in the mid 1970's. According to Vig, "Steve had a four-track tape recorder, and we spent a lot of time recording all kinds of strange stuff in his basement." One can only imagine what those tapes must sound like.
In the early 80's, Vig and Marker moved their studio into an old Madison factory building. Steve sold a guitar, Butch scrapped together some cash, and the two invested in an eight-track tape recorder and a couple of mikes.
The lack of gear forced the two to expand their creative efforts to get a good sound. As Butch recalls, "I think part of the reason those early records turned out okay was that I wanted to hear separation of things. If there were a fucked up hook or an atonal guitar riff, I'd try to always make sure that it was focused. Even if I had crummy mikes, if a band had crummy gear and they sucked, I still wanted it to sound good."
In the late 80's, Smart moved into its current location, and Marker and Vig continued to perfect their craft and play in bands. Butch’s work with Killdozer convinced Jonathan Poneman to have Butch record his little Sub Pop trio when they came through Madison. You’ve probably heard the rest.
Butch and Steve re-invested their money into a state-of-the-art facility, outboard gear (while keeping the tubes and analog gear), and added to their growing staff of engineers, mixers and producers. Today, Smart still represents these original ideals: hard work, creativity, experimentation, and making the best sounding recordings possible.
You can find us in the dilapidated brick building next to EVP coffee on East Washington. We like plate reverb, tape delay, tube electronics, and tape. Upstairs, there’s a bunch of guitars and keyboards. We’ve got lots of old junk. We’ve got plenty of new gear. Most importantly, we like music. A lot.
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