Tucked away in a humble suite in Sunland Park, New Mexico, is a recording studio that blends the professionalism of a recording studio with the comfort of a home setting.

Founded by three music aficionados, Ross Ingram (chief engineer and producer), Sebastian Estrada (sound engineer) and Evan Tremper (in charge of artists services), Brainville recording studio has taken full flight since its relocation in August.

“There’s something Ross told me when we met way back–doing stuff by yourself is good, but doing it together always seems better,” Estrada said. “Everything seems more thorough. That process always seemed to grow as I went with them. It all made sense that we should be on a team together.”

Ingram has worked in music studios for 13 years throughout the state of Texas, including Sonic Ranch, Wire Recording, Arlyn Studios and Estuary Recording.

“When I moved back to El Paso, it was with the intent of opening a music studio,” Ingram said. “I had been in contact with some of my musician friends here in El Paso and talked to them about what the city was lacking in terms of a recording studio. At the time, there was no space to bridge the gap of a home studio and a professional recording studio. A lot of bands want to find something that is professional, where they can work on their record and treat the studio as a place of comfort.”

In March of 2015, Ingram set up the studio’s first location at a humble home on the westside. The home was not suitable for the studio’s needs because of its small size

They closed that studio after a year, and then they spent another year and a half to open up a new studio.

It was Tremper who decided to push for the group to go for a location in Sunland Park.

The rest of the team jumped on board with the new location and Ingram drew up the design of the buildings, which took a while and suffered from construction delays. After their last inspection toward the end of the summer, the studio opened its doors and has been heavily booked ever since.

“We try to center our business around building community,” Ingram said. “A lot of people in the music industry are very focused on competitive aspects. Our feeling is, we vastly prefer community over competition.”

It was their ambitious drive and individual deep love for music that made the trio continue to pursue this dream.

“It started as fun—playing music was fun growing up—but then I realized I wanted to make a career out of that and continue to play music,” said Tremper, who has worked with bands such as Great Shapes and Gila Monster. “The dream of having a studio became a reality.”

Brainville offers a multitude of services, including full-service audio, mixing and mastering, lyrical consultation, songwriting, a network of musicians for playing sessions, voiceovers and they are even starting to book audiobook recording sessions.

Additionally, they help the artists book shows, give advice for touring and help with promotion. They also plan to offer educational workshops for engineering, recording and different musical technology skills.

They want to offer their studio to anyone who freelances in musical engineering and also open it up to students who have a desire to learn more in the studio.

“We are freelance-friendly. We want people to come in and work on their stuff,” Estrada said. “For example, students at UTEP, who are taking technology classes in music and need to do other sessions at other places. This would be a perfect place for students to come in, gain some knowledge, get their hands dirty and study what we do.”

Bands they’ve already worked with include The Other Half, Sleep Plan, Cat Suicide, Trost House (of which Estrada is a member), Great Shapes, Alabama Deathwalk, El Campo, Lunas and Sorrytown.

“It’s really inspiring to see the song come from the idea to becoming what it is,” Tremper said. “It’s like a seed becoming a tree. Eventually, you get to see the song release and see how people react to it.”

What helps the group the most is the support they get and receive from one another.

“It always helps having three different, but heavily overlapping perspectives. If there’s a decision or a question, having two others voice their opinion makes a huge difference,” Ingram said. “This is something that three of us built, but we built it together.”

The studio may be reached at [email protected]