After two years of planning, Michael Nehs’ all-digital recording/post studio, Templar Sounds, will open in September in a unique Old Town building.
Construction has started in 7,000-sq. ft. space in the distinctive glass atrium building at 1212 N. LaSalle, and will include a scoring studio big enough to accommodate a 40-piece orchestra.
Nehs says the 1,600-sq. ft. live room most likely will be the biggest in the Midwest.
The studio will be located in the atrium part of the building, and Templar will be the building’s sole occupant, except for the first floor offices belonging to American Invesco, the building owner. For some strange reason, the building has stood vacant since 1985.
Templar Sounds should rank among the top recording places in the country by virtue of its design and construction by world-famous Michael Cronin Acoustic Construction of Nashville, whose studios can be found on six continents.
Cronin, a former Londoner who lives in Nashville, is presently constructing Simon Colwell’s new “American Idol” recording studios in L.A. and had built Nashville’s Blackbird and Mutt Lange’s studio in Switzerland, among many others.
Cost of the facility is “under $1 million,” with $600,000 earmarked for the latest digital equipment and the remainder for the build-out.
Funding has been raised among private investors over the course of the last two years. The studio, which had been scheduled to open last February, now has a mid-to-late September date.
Templar has a five-year lease with two five year extensions.
