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The Record Co. – Providing Affordable Access To Recording In Boston

Athan Billias

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During our recent trip to Boston for the AI Music Summit at Berklee College we had a chance to get a tour of the Record Co from Wilce Mascary.

The Record Co. is a Boston-based nonprofit music workspace that provides affordable access to recording studios, rehearsal rooms, production suites, community space, and training programs for artists, producers, engineers, and students. Its mission is closely aligned with access, education, and community-based music creation.

A modern audio production studio with two desks, computer monitors displaying a forest scene, audio equipment racks, studio speakers, and chairs. The room has orange and black walls, and acoustic treatment on the ceiling.

A particularly relevant program is ARPs for All, a collaboration between The Alan R. Pearlman Foundation and The Record Co. The program gives musicians access to rare vintage ARP synthesizers, including a publicly available ARP 2500 collection, so artists can learn, perform, and record with historically important electronic instruments that would normally be inaccessible.

A small room with blue walls features several vintage synthesizers on shelves, a hanging lamp, posters on the walls, and a window letting in daylight, creating a cozy music studio atmosphere.

This is important to The MIDI Association because The Record Co. sits at the intersection of music technology, education, access, history, and hands-on creative practice.

For MIDI.org, it is a strong example of how legacy electronic instruments, modern MIDI workflows, affordable studio access, and community education can work together.

A set of five electronic keyboards and synthesizers are stacked on a multi-tiered metal rack against a beige wall, with some cables resting on the top keyboard. An empty wire shelving unit is on the right.

MIDI Association relevance:

  • Education: A practical partner for MIDI learning, synthesis education, and music-production workshops.
  • Accessibility and inclusion: Their affordable-access mission aligns with MASSIG and the MIDI Association’s broader goal of enabling more people to make music.
  • History of electronic music: ARPs for All connects directly to the history of synthesizers, electronic instruments, and the creative culture that helped make MIDI necessary. The MIDI Association gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Alan Pearlman in 2023.

https://midi.org/alan-r-pearlman-and-arp-synthesizers

Learn more about The Record Co.

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