Capturing the Essence of Live Jazz
One Room
One Performance
One Truth
A modern Rudy Van Gelder inspired recording space in the heart of Andalucía
Our Philosophy and Mission
Cold River Studios exists for musicians who believe that the heart of jazz lies in real human connection. In an age when music can be assembled from anywhere, by anyone, our commitment is to the kind made only when people share a room. Our focus is simple and deliberate: musicians playing together, listening deeply, and creating music that lives and breathes.
Drawing inspiration from Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary living-room studio in Hackensack, our philosophy places the ensemble at the centre of the recording process. Technology supports the performance, never dictates it. The spark we seek is the unrepeatable moment; music shaped by breath, touch, and instinct, impossible to approximate by any other means. Our aim is to preserve the spontaneity and interplay that define great jazz, while giving artists a space that invites clarity, warmth and shared musical intention.
Nestled in the quiet hills of Andalucía, Cold River Studios offers a uniquely intimate environment where the room itself becomes part of the sound. Every session is shaped by the natural acoustics, the proximity of the players, and the energy exchanged in real time. It’s a space for musicians who value truth over perfection and storytelling over polish.
Sala Hackensack
Sala Hackensack is our primary recording space and our homage to the place where the sound of modern jazz was forged; not a replica, but a continuation of the same ethos. Like the original Hackensack living room, the space is intimate, warm, and designed to bring musicians closer together, both physically and musically.
A spacious but intimate room of 40sqm with carefully controlled surfaces that create a natural acoustic encouraging players to lean in and respond to one another. With clear sightlines across the room and a shared monitoring environment, communication flows effortlessly. There are no isolation booths, no headphones, and no artificial divisions, just musicians sharing the same air and the same story.
The goal here is to capture the magic of the “once-only” take, the version of the music that can only exist when everyone is present in the moment. Sala Hackensack is not a laboratory for endless overdubs. It is a performance space built on trust, discipline, and the belief that the most truthful music happens when artists listen harder.
Supported by the SSL analogue heart of the adjoining control room and modern workflow where it matters, Sala Hackensack honours the legacy of the great 1950s and 60s sessions while embracing contemporary clarity and precision
Artist Residence (coming Summer 2026)
Cold River Studios is growing into more than a recording space; it’s becoming a place to stay, work, and live with your music. We are developing a dedicated artist residence within the studio floor, designed for musicians who want to immerse themselves fully in the creative process.
The residence is being created with a clear purpose: to give artists the time, space, and focus to record a complete album without distraction. Whether writing, refining, or tracking the final takes, everything you need is close at hand.
The space will offer comfortable sleeping areas, a private bathroom, and a small kitchenette so artists can settle in for multi-day sessions. The aim is simplicity, warmth, and a sense of home.
At the heart of it all, the recording room itself will serve as the living room of the studios, a shared space with sofas, books, instruments, and the atmosphere of a place where people gather to make something meaningful. When you’re not recording, it’s a room to relax, listen back, talk through ideas, or just sit with the music.
And when you want a break, the village of Riofrío is only 500 metres away, with bars, restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries and all the everyday comforts needed during an extended creative stay.
Cold River Studios is evolving into a small creative retreat: a place where the work and the living gently overlap, and where artists can slow down, breathe, and focus on the story they want to tell.
A dedicated space for artists to settle in and record an album from start to finish.
Cold River Studios
Live Jazz Recording
We specialise in capturing ensembles performing together, preserving the nuances and interplay that define real jazz
Open Recording Space
No booths. No walls. Pure ensemble interaction.
Rehearsal Recording
Combos can rehearse and leave with a full multitrack recording—press Record as you walk in.
Production & Studio Sessions
Whether developing arrangements or refining a personal sound, we provide a space that supports creativity and collaboration
Mixing & Mastering
Our analogue-centred workflow and modern tools deliver mixes that maintain the character of the performance while achieving professional detail and balance
Media Production
From tracking to final delivery, we create masters for both vinyl and CD and manage the complete production chain.
Equipment
Everything in the studio is chosen to serve the music, not the other way around. Our role is to capture the dynamic performance honestly and faithfully.
SSL Desk
The SSL Big Six is the centre of our analogue world: a 12-channel desk with immaculate SuperAnalogue mic preamps. It acts as both primary capture device and mixdown hub, bringing the unmistakable SSL glue and character to the final sound.
Microphones
Our microphone collection is tailored for the intimate, detailed aesthetic of Sala Hackensack.
• The Beyerdynamic M88 is our primary vocal mic, delivering exceptional clarity and superb gain-before-feedback.
• Horns are captured with a matched pair of ribbons for warmth and natural presence.
• Drums follow true RVG principles: a single AT4053 overhead paired with an SM57s on kick to create a cohesive, unified image of the kit.
Instruments
While artists are welcome to bring their own instruments, the studio provides a house setup designed to work beautifully within the space.
Bass
The Yamaha SLB300, recorded through a Rupert Neve RNDI, offers an unusually authentic and articulate upright tone.
Drums
A Gretsch jazz kit lives here permanently; drummers are asked to bring their own cymbals.
Monitoring
Our monitoring philosophy mirrors our recording philosophy: what musicians hear should be as close as possible to the final mix.
Vocals receive only light treatment in Logic Pro, a touch of SA-2A compression and minimal reverb, before returning to the SSL desk and feeding a pair of Yamaha Stagepas 1K units. Keys are sent cleanly to the same system, creating a coherent, shared monitoring field.
The SLB300 bass feeds a Markbass 58R head and a 2×12″ cabinet, giving the room the physical foundation that an acoustic ensemble demands.
We do not provide headphones or IEMs. They create distance where we want connection. Musicians in Sala Hackensack hear the room, hear each other, and play to the same truth.
Computers & Control Surfaces
In keeping with the RVG philosophy, the technology at Cold River Studios is designed to disappear behind the performance. A dedicated Mac Studio runs Logic Pro 11, chosen not for spectacle but for its stability, speed and clean signal path.
Our processing chain draws on a carefully curated set of plug-ins from Valhalla, iZotope, and Universal Audio—modern tools selected for their transparency, musicality, and ability to stay out of the way when the musicians are doing the talking.
For hands-on control we rely on the SSL UF8, SSL UC1, and Nektar Panorama CS12. These surfaces give us the tactile immediacy that Rudy valued: the ability to shape a mix instinctively, by ear, without digging through menus. They help maintain the same direct, human workflow that defined so many of the classic Hackensack and Englewood Cliffs sessions: modern equipment used with an old-school sensibility
Sessions
Sessions at Cold River Studios are currently by invitation only, but we actively welcome enquiries from musicians, producers and labels who share our belief in honest, performance-driven recording.
Whether you’re a trio exploring new material, a vocalist refining repertoire, or a full ensemble looking to capture a live-in-studio performance, our aim is to provide a space where your music can breathe, unfold, and be documented with clarity and care.
Every session is shaped around the ensemble itself. We work closely with artists beforehand to understand the sound, the dynamic, and the story they want to tell. When you walk into Sala Hackensack, everything, from room layout to monitoring, is arranged to support listening, communication and musical trust.
Recording here isn’t about chasing perfection. It’s about capturing the energy of musicians responding to one another in real time, the version of a piece that only exists once. For artists who value spontaneity, interplay and emotional presence, Cold River Studios offers a place where the performance becomes the recording.
If your music deserves a space that listens as hard as you do, we would love to hear from you.
Contact: info@coldriverstudios.es
Rudy Van Gelder
Rudy Van Gelder remains the guiding spirit behind Cold River Studios. His Hackensack living room became the birthplace of some of the most honest and influential jazz recordings ever made—music defined not by technology, but by trust, proximity, and the electricity between musicians playing together in real time.
We don’t try to replicate Van Gelder’s methods, but we embrace his philosophy:
a room that invites listening, a workflow that stays out of the way, and a belief that the most powerful take is the one that happens once.
His legacy reminds us that great recording isn’t about perfection.
It’s about capturing people, in a room, telling the truth.
© Cold River Studios, Riofrio, Granada 18313