About Us:
This year a group of us put together all our resources, quit our jobs and built two beautiful recording studios and 13 practice spaces. We believe in DIY so we planned and we built. We were up early, we were up late, we hung up drywall, endlessly, building. The toll it took on our bodies and lives was high, but in the end it was worth it. We had two studios built and working non-stop in tandem with other friends who wanted to Do It Themselves. We had 13 practice rooms that we made sure were nice, really nice, so people could create in an environment unlike any practice space any of us had ever been in. Everyone helped that occupied a space, and honestly... it was amazing. It was a massive space, 7000 Square Feet and Hurricane Sandy destroyed every inch of it. Walls were knocked over, doors snapped in half and all the gear in the entire building, erased and covered in a toxic sludge from the Gowanus Canal. But it was the people that made it amazing, not the walls or the gear and that is the reason I won't let this go. My friends, who I built this building with are too impressive for me to just let this go. We are going to make something else. I insist. I don't know what yet exactly, but it starts with first fulfilling our obligations to each other and everyone else who helped us build. So... for the first time in my life I am asking for help in the form of money. Please donate what you can to help us back on our feet, then I can assure you... we will do the rest.
Mike Law on behalf of John, Andrew, Paul, Andrew II, Jeremy and Dennis.



Here is a recent article about the building before the hurricane:


The Civil Defense has been owned and run by Jeremy Scott since 2001. Jeremy has worked with some of the most championed Brooklyn bands of the last few years. The Civil Defense had some of the most unique gear of any Brooklyn studio and can make weird things weirder, mutate the mutated. Jeremy comes from the Florida scene of DIY and brought that same ethic to Brooklyn which is how he and Mike Law originally met sharing a tiny recording space in Williamsburg in 2002.


The South Sound was the brainchild of John LaMacchia (Crooked Man and Candiria), Translator Audio's Mike Law and Andrew Schneider, Civil Defense's Jeremy Scott, Dennis Darcy (Battle For Wyoming) and Paul Michel (Spirit Animal). The idea to construct a building that housed two recording studios as well as over a dozen practice suites seemed like the ideal environment to hand pick a great community of musicians. The concept all along was to make it unlike any practice facility in Brooklyn so great expense was spent on comfort and aesthetic. Help us recalibrate!


Translator Audio was founded in 2003 by Andrew Schneider and Mike Law, later joined by Andrew Gerhan in 2010. We have worked with bands from around the world and around the world of Brooklyn. Translator Audio has made famous records that people love and we have made unknown records that we love, we make records. A hurricane erased our gear and our walls, but we will make records again, pure fact. The studio has always been driven by our community of friends and fellow musicians. We believe in building and doing things ourselves, but we do need some help to get back on our feet.