This Asbury park studio and academy is helping put the beat back into the local music scene

by Jessica Jones-Gorman

For years, songwriter and producer Jon Leidersdorff made records out of a quaint studio he built in his refurbished Victorian-style Interlaken home. Happily, business boomed and he needed to expand, so he went straight to New Jersey’s music epicenter, scouting out a location in iconic Asbury Park.

“I wanted to put together an infrastructure in Asbury that really supported creativity,” Leidersdorff said. “So we built two world-class recording studios and connected them to other music businesses that would support and connect with each other.”

The spaces were designed by John Storyk, an architect and acoustician whose first recording studio was Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village. In a three-story brick building overlooking Wesley Lake collectively called Lakehouse, Leidersdorff assembled a virtual entertainment oasis.

“On the first floor there’s Russo Music Center, which sells sheet music and instruments, and was just voted independent music retailer of the year,” noted Leidersdorff. “Then we have our Music Academy, which offers both public and private programs for hundreds of students. There’s also Cowerks, an arts and tech group supplying shared office space on the third floor, and which hosts everyone from music and entertainment attorneys to coders, graphic design artists, web developers, and on-air radio personalities. Another space is occupied by Holtz Photography and Video, which takes care of mostly music projects…then Mumfords Cafe, which feeds everybody.”

A small performing space also falls under the Lakehouse umbrella, and more space is currently under renovation so that the business can expand.

“We’ll have a few record labels coming in and will also be adding this sort of hipster hair cut place,” Leidersdorff said with a grin. “There’s also a motorcycle lifestyle business, and more in the works,” adding that the whole complex has garnered attention both locally and internationally since opening in 2013. Many of the programs at Lakehouse Music Academy have been the focus of that buzz.

“When Jon built this music company, placing a music academy in the building was of great importance to him,” noted Albie Monterrosa, director of the Lakehouse Music Academy. “Together we brainstormed…talked about the programs we wished we would have had as kids, and that’s exactly what we developed here.”

The Academy offers a selection of group-based classes sectioned by age and talent level. There are a total of 150 students currently enrolled, ranging in age from 6 months to adults. Monterrosa, the former lead singer of desalt, a successful Latin rock band that toured the globe over the past decade, serves as head instructor.

“When we got off the road, a lot of my band mates got regular jobs…went into construction,” Monterrosa said. “I was blessed to find a way to keep the music going.” He added that students choose which instrument they’d like to play after trying out the guitar, bass, piano, and drums.

“They see where they want to take things,” the musician said. “This is more than just learning a few keys; this is also about building social skills, mentoring, and building confidence. And in the end there’s a payoff: all of the students get to perform for an audience at the end of the semester at one of Asbury Park’s famous venues.”

In addition to hosting private classes, Lakehouse Music Academy also offers public programs at local Boys and Girls Clubs and raises funds to get music back in the classrooms of area schools.

“It’s all about passing on the power of music,” Monterrosa concluded. “There are so many kids out there who want to excel in this business and make a living doing something they love…not taking the typical route of accountant or lawyer. We’re surrounded by artists here, both young and old, and if we can put them in a recording studio and show them how to cut a record, then we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.”

Lakehouse Recording Studios & Music Academy
619 Lake Avenue, Asbury Park / 732.455.5462
lakehousemusicacademy.com