CT music studio, with visitors like Allen Stone, Justin Long, Jaimoe from Allman Brothers, and Lizzo, has new home

What do Allen Stone, Justin Long, Jaimoe from the Allman Brothers, and Lizzo all have in common?

They all have made a stop at Parkville Sounds in Hartford over the years.

The professional music studio, with its new state-of-the-art 8,000 square-foot studio space, dance floor, lounge, and multiple recording spaces, aims to put Hartford on the music scene map. A tour of the building reveals its scale and professional quality down to the floorboards.

The $300,000 project took nearly two years to fully complete. The building, located at 1800 Park St., once housed a former bakery that sat abandoned for years.

“It took a long time to try to figure out how we could even get the old bakery equipment out of the building,” Parkville Sounds owner Stephen Cusano said. “There was this massive oven and all these old kitchen appliances. There was a lot to figure out.”

Cusano, along with his wife Jillian, are the brains behind Parkville Sounds. They both opened their first studio, also named Parkville Sounds, in 2017 in the basement of an old tire factory across from Hog River Brewing. The pair moved their basement studio to 30 Arbor St. in 2019 before settling into their newly remodeled Park Street location.

“Proudly, we were the first people in that basement,” Stephen Cusano said. “It was how we began this company and how we got this all started. Mixed-use buildings are just not right for a studio when we’re bringing in larger productions. We were packed to the brim in our other locations. So we’ve been looking for years for a stand alone location. This is a massive step up for us.”

The pair, both artists and music aficionados, met while students at the University of Hartford. Stephen Cusano is a 2015 graduate of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at The Hartt School while Jillian Cusano graduated with a BFA in ballet pedagogy and has performed ballet professionally. Jillian Cusano also is the president of the Hartford Dance Collective.

“A lot of people think Hartford is a pass through place, but it’s a stomping ground,” Jillian Cusano said. “It’s also the meet in the middle spot. There will be a band with a member in Rhode Island, New York, Springfield or Boston. You name it. We even have a regular client from Philadelphia. So they come here to meet. Hartford really is a hub. And they’re excited about it. They realize when they come here, how great it is. ”

The two are on a mission to spread the word that Hartford has both talent and a thriving music scene. The couple’s space, with its three recording studios, aims to please even the most detail-oriented artist, they said.

Studio A, a 600-square-foot sound treated room, has a skylight and the ceiling to ensure acoustic perfection. Walls shaped in a Y-pattern aim to ensure sound is best absorbed. Acoustic dampeners and barriers placed strategically around the room are there to ensure the best sound quality.

“The whole space is very intentional,” Stephen said. “You don’t want parallel walls. There’s a lot of angles in the space. Every part of each studio is (intentionally) placed to maximize its capabilities. Everything is articulated to get the most out of each production.”

The studio is connected to a 350-square-foot control room named Studio C with state-of-the-art equipment. Easy microphone hookups along the wall in Studio A allow for over 24 microphone channels directly connected to the control room. An isolation booth also sits off to the side with over 8 microphone channels feeding into the control room for ease of mixing and recording.

“Having each studio separate makes everything so much easier,” Jillian Cusano said. “It allows for multiple recording sessions and productions at the same time. In our old space you would have to walk through a production to even go use the bathroom. This is just such an upgrade.”

The space also has a lounge entrance for artists to kick back, grab a refreshment, use the bathroom, or play some Nintendo 64. The dedicated lounge space, which once housed the bakery, retains its original floors as a nod to the buildings former life.

In addition, the building has a 2,000-square-foot space named Studio B used for dancing and larger choreographed productions. The space has 12-inch thick ceilings, a 42-inch mirror wall that extends the length of the room, and a 55-inch floor-to-ceiling Rose Brand stage curtain. Other amenities include dimmable track lighting and LED stage lighting and floating bamboo floors for comfort.

“The other huge thing is having double doors where trucks can back right up and offload equipment,” Stephen Cusano said. “It really makes a huge difference for bigger productions. No stairs to go up or down. Artists can just load their equipment right into the production space.”

The couple received a Hart Lift grant from the city to help revitalize the former abandoned space.

Under the Hart Lift program, property owners can qualify for grants up to $50 a square foot — up to $150,000 in total — through federal COVID relief money. The program, which the city first piloted, has helped finance over 60 storefront businesses in downtown and in city’s neighborhoods.

“That was huge for us,” Jillian Cusano said. “We probably could have built out the place without the grant but it wouldn’t have looked anything like this. The grant really helped make this studio look the way it does.”

As for next year, the music recording duo hopes to bring back the Parkville Sessions, which they started back in 2018. The sessions bring local bands to the studio and records them for public viewing. In the past, the sessions were aired solely on CPTV.

“We would like to even do live audiences this time,” Stephen Cusano said. “We did a few episodes and then stopped, but we’re hoping to bring those back now and really show off local talent.”

Parkville Sounds said this time around they hope to showcase future recordings on their Youtube channel.

“I’m a cheerleader for Hartford,” Stephen Cusano said. “This city has a vibrant music scene. It’s one of those things that you know if you know. But it needs to be amplified. When people get here, they realize just how special it is.”

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com