We asked a variety of local businesses the following question:
“With our built-in recording studio, musicians can release the music they played at our club, and our high-definition cameras allow customers to watch live streams from home.”
– Uncle Cheef, owner of the Brewster jazz club Uncle Cheef
As a live music venue owned by a professional musician, we’ve recorded every single performance since we opened our doors in May 2023. For a jazz club, or any club, the audio quality of our in-house recording studio is unparalleled.
“I’ve been building this recording studio for the last 30 years,” says Uncle Cheef, the saxophonist for The Roots owner of the club Uncle Cheef. “When I played saxophone for Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, we worked with the Grammy-award winning engineer Gabe Roth, who has also worked with Amy Winehouse, Bruno Mars, John Legend and many more. Every single time I had the opportunity, I looked over his shoulder and asked him a million questions until he told me to stop. I learned a lot from him.”
Learning from Roth, along with other engineers he’s worked with during his 30+ years recording music in professional studios, allowed Uncle Cheef to build a recording studio, which he moved from his home to his club, that’s on par with any of the top recording studios in Manhattan.
“Every piece of gear we have is meant for a specific reason and was very carefully chosen,” he says. “When we first opened, I brought the recordings home every single night to study them. Then I’d go in the next day and make tiny little changes. I did that over and over again for months until I was satisfied with the sound for each instrument. Together, every microphone and piece of equipment creates a very specific kind of old-school-meets-new-school sound; it’s a funky clarity. It’s the Uncle Cheef sound.”
Our state-of-the-art technology allows musicians to turn any song or their entire performance into an album, and a few musicians have already done so. Additionally, we feature five high-definition cameras that live stream each performance. These performances are streamed on Vimeo because they don’t compress the audio, making it sound almost like you’re in the club.
“This transforms Uncle Cheef from a neighborhood bar to a worldwide music venue,” Uncle Cheef says. “So, not only can our local community watch a performance they can’t attend in person, but anyone around the world can enjoy live music from some of the top jazz musicians in the country.”
While the live stream videos are only available for Friday and Saturday night performances and only during the performance right now, we do provide all audio and video to the performers.
“Artists can bring a hard drive with them when they perform, and they can leave with the multitracks,” he says. “So, if they don’t like the live mix, or if there’s something they want to fix, they have the option to remix it and sync it to the video.”
Soon, we will offer a separate subscription to a digital library where members can listen to any previously recorded performance at any time.
Uncle Cheef is located at 988 NY-22, Brewster. For more information, visit unclecheef.com, follow unclecheef on Instagram, email [email protected] or call 845.793.2717.
To read other articles in this series, click HERE.
This article was published in the September/October 2024 edition of Connect to Northern Westchester.
The editorial staff at Connect To magazine.
