Song & Sound Retreat at Capon Springs, WV May 7-12, 2023
The Song & Sound Retreat is intentionally not like anything else. It is far more than recording and songwriting workshops. It is about community, music, and great sound. It is five days of learning, listening, and relaxing in a community made up of world-class mentors and fellow music makers. Each year about 80-90% of the attendees sign up again for the following year.
This retreat started as two separate programs, the “Mountain Recording Retreat” and the “Mountain Songwriting Retreat”, but after an experimental combined event in 2021, we found that the participants loved the new format. The two programs are now combined, with the possibility of adding more components in the coming years.
We will have daily workshops, listening panels, easy access to mentors, DIY gear building workshops, and bingo where you can win prizes from the Capon shop.
Learn from World Class Mentors
Our mentors this year include Ronan Chris Murphy, Dave Nachmanoff, Nancy Moran, Fett and Peterson Goodwyn. Check out our Mentors Page for more information on them.
Daily Schedule
Each day will feature workshops by various mentors. Throughout the week there will be listening sessions where you can have your music evaluated by the mentors and other participants, but there is also time carved out to socialize, collaborate and enjoy the beautiful resort. Meals are served family style and all of our attendees and mentors share meals together.
Lectures and Listening Panels
The schedule will be posted as we get closer to the start date of the retreat, but there will be workshops throughout the day, every day. Several nights throughout the week, you’ll have a chance to have your work listened to and critiqued by your mentors and fellow attendees. The late nights are usually dedicated to fun party / jam sessions, co-writing and DIY projects.
The DIY Playhouse
Build your own gear—no experience required!
The DIY Lounge has become a highlight of the retreats. We have guided builds for absolute beginners that have never used a soldering iron, and a chance to work on more advanced builds including EQ, microphones and this year’s synth component. Many of our regular attendees have become accomplished builders. The DIY Lounge is a peer-to-peer support area, but we will have regular support and some builds by Peterson Goodwyn from DIYRE.
Soldering kits will be available for those that do not bring their own.
*There will be extra materials fees for DIY projects, but we are getting special discounts from DIYRE and microphone-parts.com.
Testimonials
The other day, I applied what I learned at the retreat to a song I had previously mixed. Listening back, it was night and day. It was stunning: the clarity, the punch, the total difference. Were the old mixes bad? Not at all. But the new ones were completely different. And better. Thank you Ronan, John, Brad, Mark, Peterson, and all of the other participants. I can hear your voices in my ears as I mix—this record is going to sound great, and it’s because of you. All of you.
I had never touched a soldering iron before the retreat. In the DIY workshop, Peterson led a small group of newbies on soldering best practices and made all of us comfortable with the soldering and build process. In those few workshops, I built, a SAFE Audio interface protector kit, a passive Reamplifier, and two fantastic 500 series CP-5 preamps. Afterwards, I went completely crazy and built two 500 series opto compressors from DIY 1176. All of these came off without a hitch and were fantastic additions to my studio. None of this would have been possible without the good folks at the Retreat.Thanks, as always, to:
