On the Record
A hilltop estate and studio inspires beautiful music.
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Dreams of rock stardom usually die young. The high school cover band always breaks up; members of the college trio inevitably move away after graduation. For years it seemed that the musical aspirations of Bill Zabit, a self-professed Beatles fanatic, had also fallen victim to adulthood. After playing the electric bass and singing in various amateur bands in the 1970s, he shelved his dreams of turning professional and went on to make a fortune as a communications executive. But Zabit’s passion for writing and recording music never truly died. In 1999, he began laying plans for his fantasy recording studio, to be built in tandem with a large residential estate in California’s wine country. The fruit of these plans is Sonoma Mountain Studio and Estate, a six-building compound on close to nine acres, just an hour north of San Francisco.Integral to the property is one of the universe’s most exquisitely crafted recording studios—disguised as a New England horse barn—and a five-bedroom residence, built as an exact replica of a 1760s Colonial saltbox. Though Zabit finally recorded his own album at Sonoma (“It only took 30 years,” he jokes), he didn’t build the estate and studio solely for his own amusement. The compound is now available for rent to other individuals or groups whose musical opuses are long overdue. “This is not a commercial studio,” says Zabit. “It’s really for the select few who can come and enjoy the entire venue and record in a world-class studio.”
Renting the studio and estate—which includes two guesthouses, a two-story treehouse, a heated pebble-bottom pool and an entertainment suite and gym—costs $250,000 a month. This includes 24-hour concierge service, use of a 45-foot Ferretti Italian sport yacht berthed in Sausalito, a chef and a full-time recording guru to help channel the studio magic: veteran engineer Scott Church, who has worked with Bob Dylan, Cher, Black Sabbath and the Jacksons, among others. “But I’ve never worked in a place where I can look out the window and see a family of deer,” Church says.
Above this package is the Star Experience Records project, a fantasy-destination experience that allows you to record a four- to five-song album featuring celebrity musicians, based on availability. A variety of scenarios are in the realm of possibility; past guest stars on Sonoma “vanity” albums have included former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Al Stewart and Cher (who sang backup for a well-paying amateur). “There isn’t an artist who couldn’t be booked for the right price,” says Zabit. Artists are either flown into the studio, or record remotely and send in their parts.
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The New
England–style Sonoma Mountain Estate blankets nine acres of
California wine
country. (Click image to enlarge)A small cache of venerable producers, such as Sonoma regular and Grammy Award–winner David Kershenbaum (of Duran Duran, The Police and Tracey Chapman fame) may also be available for hire. The base price for Star Experience is $500,000 for a 10-day stay, which includes all the amenities attached to the basic recording package, plus the producer, a private videographer and photographer, security detail and the design, packaging and pressing of 250 CDs. “The price typically ends up being more like $750,000 to $1.5 million,” says Zabit, “depending on artist selection.”
Both packages offer optional services priced à la carte, such as private air transportation (Petaluma Airport is the closest), catering, fishing charters and additional staff such as an onsite nanny, tennis pro or masseuse. “Whatever anyone could possibly need or want, we can get,” says Zabit, “from Ferraris to jets to jellybeans.”
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Pine-planked floors, a grand fireplace and a table that seats 12 dictate the
rustic-luxury mood of the estate’s dining room. Photograph by Vince Valdes. (Click image to enlarge)The 12-room main house feels like a spacious Vermont cabin and features pine-planked floors, seven fireplaces, high-speed Internet in every room and a dining table that seats 12. Zabit delights in showing people the “not-so-secret” room accessible through a hidden door in the master suite’s walk-in closet. Up a narrow winding staircase is a room no larger than the interior of an SUV, filled with all manner of treasures: antique glassware, an alligator-skin table, a zebrawood armoire and an antique sea captain’s box containing a glass bottle labeled for absinthe. The ceiling is covered in suede and secret panels in the walls hide locked safes. “If you want to know how to spend a quarter million dollars in one room, this is how,” Zabit says.
Sonona Mountain Studio & Estate
707.665.0849
www.studioestate.com
