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by
James Borghesani
Journal
Staff
Watson
Reid’s barn in Lincoln looks like many others in the affluent,
leafy community west of Boston stately, old and tranquil.
But instead
of hay-filled lofts and cobwebby horse stalls, Reid’s barn
in jammed with the hardware of the music world: sleek, knob-lined
mixing consoles, synthesizers, state-of- the-art digital recording
units and computers with music-editing software.
It is
hardly usual to find a 90-year-old barn housing a top-notch
recording studio. In fact, it’s about as rare as finding a
56-year old physician and psychiatrist who walks away from
a profitable private practice and hospital staff position
to pursue musical interests.
Enter
Dr. Watson Reid.
The tall,
youthful Greenwich, Conn., native can now add the title of
recording studio owner to a resume that reads like a medical
Top 10 list: Yale undergrad, Colombia Medical School, research
work at the National Institute of Health, a health care position
in the Nixon administration, a private internal medicine practice,
staff positions at McLean Hospital in Belmont and Brigham
and Women’s Hospital in Boston, instructor of clinical psychiatry
at Harvard Medical School.
But last
December Reid brought his medical career to a halt. Now he’ll
likely be found strumming one of his several guitars or putting
the final touches on one of the 16 songs he’s written and
recorded in his studio, Walden Green.
"I’ve
always been interested in music. Since college I’ve been playing
guitar and singing," Reid said during a recent interview at
his 2.5 acre home in Lincoln.
An observer
might think that Reid would be angling for some paying musical
customers following his $250,000 conversion of a drafty barn
into a sound-insulated studio. But making music, not money
is Reid’s goal.
Artists
using Walden Green compensate Reid with their musical skills
rather than recording fees. In exchange for studio time, groups
such as the Boston-based jazz band Ribs have played on Reid’s
compositions.
"I run
the studio on a bartering basis. I find musicians whose style
I admire and ask them to play on my songs. Then I donate some
studio time to them," Reid said.
Musicians
using the studio can also pay for their time by giving a concert.
Unlike most recording studios, Walden Green is well suited
for concert use. There’s a raised stage, seating space for
100 people and a full-service catering kitchen downstairs.
If any
of the studio’s projects generate profits, Reid insists that
a portion flow into the Broughton Charitable Foundation, which
provides funds for the Lincoln Day Care Center. The studio,
in operation less than a year, has yet to turn out a profitable
project.
Benefit
concert
But that
may soon change. Word of the pleasant, woodstove-heated facility
is slowly moving through Boston’s music circles. A benefit
concert for the New England Conservatory of Music was performed
at Walden Green last April. Reid sits on the conservatory’s
board.
In addition,
studio engineers from Decca Records in London have journeyed
across the Atlantic to scout the studio as a possible site
for future recordings. There’s also a chance of a children’s
record being produced at Walden Green.
That’s
all in the future. Today the studio is a wood-paneled invitation
to creativity, which is precisely what Reid intended.
"Most
studios are running on a clock, which puts a lot of pressure
on musicians. I wanted a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere where
people can come and have a good time," he said.
The barn
conversion began for some very practical reasons. Reid, while
still on the staff at McLean and the Brigham, formed a group
called the Lincoln Continentals. The two-drummer group practiced
in the sunken living room of Reid’s rambling, hilltop home.
But,
with his continued purchase of amplifiers and sound equipment,
the rehearsal space grew cramped. The band then moved across
the yard into the barn.
"It offered
some nice space, though we had to contend with the sparrows
and bats," Reid said.
Reid’s
original plan was to winterize the barn in some rudimentary
fashion so the Lincoln Continentals could rehearse throughout
the year. That plan began to expand when Reid in 1992 met
Rob Rosati, an acoustician and studio designer. Rosati’s firm,
Rosati Acoustics, designed the audio/visual elements of the
recently re-dedicated John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester.
Rosati nudged Reid into viewing the barn as more than a mere
rehearsal space.
"He pointed
out that we have to put sound treatment into the floors and
walls, because, as he said, the barn was like a big drum emitting
sound into the neighborhood," Reid said.
Less
than two years later the project, now grown into a full-fledged
…
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The Boston Business Journal
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