A Pittsboro Recording Studio is For Sale — But Don't Expect Its Goals to Change

A celebrated local recording studio is on the market, seeking new ownership who aims to maintain its status as a back-to-nature haven for artists.

Manifold Recording off Seaforth Road in Chatham County is for sale, as owners Michael and Amy Tiemann are moving to New Zealand. The 5,617-square-foot facility — alongside a 4,500-square-foot residence on the 17 acres of land — is currently being offered at $6 million with BOLD Commercial Real Estate operating as the broker.

Michael Tiemann, who is also the studio’s general manager, said the original goal of Manifold was to establish a creative spot for the Triangle’s artistic and audio scene that both reflected the natural environment and offered the highest fidelity. After finding the property nestled between Jordan Lake and the Haw River, the owners broke ground in 2008 and partnered with acclaimed Chapel Hill designer Wes Lachot to create the cutting-edge studio.

“It is really remarkable,” Tiemann said in an interview with 97.9 The Hill, “that even though Pittsboro is growing up, Chatham County is growing up, when you enter that property, you’re in your own world…which is a wonderful feeling of privacy and security as well as having all this built environment to be put to use.”

The design of the building and recording spaces, according to Tiemann, were partially based on the slow food movement and sustainable agriculture — which is based on the mentality of “preparing the field to harvest the fruits.”

“In the world of audio recording,” he said, “we applied the idea that we wanted to create an environment that would be conducive to that organic realization of music and other acoustic pursuits.”

The results were a 1,400-square-foot tracking room — which features 24-foot ceilings and custom acoustic clouds inspired by the Golden Ratio — and two isolation booths with 16-foot ceilings. A 64-channel API Vision analog console anchors the control room, with a studio annex that also features a 144-channel digital console for mixing, scoring and post-production. Beyond the infrastructure, the clientele speaks to the studio’s success in its goals; artists ranging from James Taylor, Branford Marsalis, Béla Fleck and Rhiannon Giddens to Superchunk, Nnenna Freelon and Sarah Shook have used the Pittsboro space for their projects or performances.

A look at one of the mixing rooms in Manifold Recording. (Photo via BOLD Commercial Real Estate.)

An aerial view of the property around Manifold Recording and the residence up for sale off Seaforth Road. (Photo via BOLD Commercial Real Estate.)

While the Tiemanns are departing, the Manifold Recording brand and staff are still in place and have clients booked through the winter of next year. Tiemann said he hopes that consistency and expertise will be attractive to potential buyers — as will the studio’s beautiful, environmentally-conscious setting. He said keeping the latter will be especially important to him as they weigh offers for the property.

“The fact that the studio has been built…we’ve done all the hard work, we’ve moved the earth,” said Tiemann. “When you sit in the chair overlooking the console, in the distance, you can look straight out the window into nature and you’re literally at eye-level where the rabbits and wild turkeys traverse the grass. Somebody who is interested in maintaining the connection with nature with their musical pursuits, potentially being a mentor [or] a shepherd to new artists, and helping continue to grow the musical community that exists here in the Triangle…this is a fantastic opportunity to reach into the community and really be able to offer something.”

BOLD Commercial Real Estate will hold an open house for the property on Thursday, July 24 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Those interested in learning more can also visit the company’s website set up for the property’s sale.

Editor’s Note: BOLD Commercial Real Estate is an advertiser with the Chapel Hill Media Group and shares an owner. This article was not sponsored or paid for by BOLD nor Manifold Recording.

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A Pittsboro Recording Studio is For Sale — But Don’t Expect Its Goals to Change

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