by MATTHEW WOODLEY

“Five years ago, everybody was making dance music,” says Kees Dekker. “Then all of a sudden the trend’s come back to people wanting to sound like the Rolling Stones.” It’s not that the sound engineer has any disdain toward turntable technicians and laptop artistry (in fact, rumour has it his mixing board was used to record Maestro Fresh Wes’s renowned needle droppage in the late ’80s) but this is good news if you own a recording studio.

A year and a half ago, Dekker and his partner Gilles Castilloux opened the Treatment Room—or, rather, moved their arsenal of gear from a small basement to the two-storey building they now occupy at the edge of Mile- End. “We always figured having our own studio was as smart a choice in Montreal as trying to find jobs in the existing ones—which is hard,” he says.

Since the move, they’ve worked with a steadily growing cast of local musicians—Katie Moore, Li’l Andy, SoCalled, their own band the Field Register (and projects involving this writer, incidentally) among them. Musicians usually find the place through word of mouth, Dekker says, though it can’t hurt that the 2005 Montreal band buzz has created a long line up at neighbouring studio Hotel2Tango “It’s starting to happen,” says Dekker. “We’re friends with Howard [Bilerman] there and when they’re too booked, he tells people about us.”

If there’s a sensibility the Treatment Room shares with studios like Hotel2Tango, it’s the emphasis on older equipment and, often, analog recording. “I don’t want to get into all the clichés: tape is warmer, richer than digital,” Dekker says, “but tape physically saturates—it’s magnetic particles aligning and there’s something happening there. Plus the process is more fun. Analog forces people to make different commitments, whereas with computer tracking you can do everything—you know, record 10 of the same vocal tracks, sift through them and Frankenstein them together in Pro Tools.”

Though he’s always happy to talk shop, Dekker (whose favourite piece of gear is his Universal Recording 1176 compressor) is quick to point out that a relaxed environment is key. This means everything from their warm space, mellow demeanour and soothing ’70s lamp collection, to the recommenced pupusa lunch from el Salvadorian joint El Amigo up the street. “We’ve got a few people turned on to pupusas who had never heard of them before,” he says of the delicious bean and cheese pancakes with special sauce. “You can have amazing equipment, but if the musicians aren’t comfortable, obviously it means nothing.”

Contact the Treatment Room at 807-2458 or thetreatmentroom@excite.com.