It was sometime around his early high school years, around the time he got a cassette four-track, around the time he and his friends, instead of going to parties and getting drunk, would go to his house and spend the nights recording “really weird stuff,” like adaptations of the songs sung by the dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.”
“I didn’t really think I could make it as a musician, but the combination of science and magic together is really perfect,” he said. “You have something people need from you that can also be creative. I was like, ‘Dude, that’s perfect.’”
Two decades later, Bridavsky is 12 years into the existence of Russian Recording, his Bloomington-based recording studio.
Though the studio has consistently worked with Bloomington staples such as Good Luck, Turn Pale and Busman’s Holiday and notable figures in the greater indie music scene such as Mac Demarco and Magnolia Electric Co., 2015 marks something of a revival for the studio and for his dream job.
The revival — “almost a grand reopening,” as Bridavsky said — involves interior decorating and Lil BUB, Bridavsky’s cat, who skyrocketed to fame a few years ago.
“My cat got really famous a while ago, and that came at a time when I was pretty jaded on recording,” he said. “I was in financial despair because the studio cost so much money. I was also just in a funk and pretty grumpy about recording.”
Lil BUB’s sudden fame helped relieve Bridavsky’s financial stress, and when studio manager Kyle Houpt started working at Russian last year, Bridavsky decided to make some changes at the studio.
About a year ago, the studio stopped having shows, which it had done for a time.
Bridavsky said he had started to get more emails about having shows than about recording bands, and he said he didn’t want Russian to become known more as a venue than a studio.
Furthermore, he said the physical element of the shows put too much stress on him.
“People would trash the place, and some shows would be like 200 people, and there was graffiti all over the bathroom,” he said. “There was a time in my life I thought that was cool, and I could party and hang out with people. But I’ve got a kid now. I’m married, and I have too much work to do. The idea of having a show in my recording studio is the worst. I’m like an old guy now.”
In addition to stopping shows, Bridavsky and Houpt repainted the studio, bought new furniture for it and outfitted it with the equipment to make it a “perfect studio.”
He said the process was therapeutic, a final remedy for the strain put on by his period of financial woes and a stagnancy that came with his disillusionment with recording at that time.
Now he said the upkeep is one of his favorite parts of owning the studio.
“It’s like ‘Sims,’ but in real life,” he said. “Or I sometimes compare it to ‘Dungeons & Dragons.’ You’ve got to upgrade your sword and your armor, but it’s recording equipment, like extra microphones. A well-designed studio — one thing can break and many things can break, and you can still make a record.”
Among the records they’re working on right now is the combination of Bridavsky’s studio and his famous cat.
He said Russian and label Joyful Noise Recordings will officially announce the Lil BUB album next month, but it’s been in the works for a while.
Bridavsky said the album is a collaboration between him and his Memory Map bandmate Matt Tobey.
“It’s an instrumental record, and it’s extremely conceptual,” he said. “It starts with BUB crash landing to Earth, and then she kind of gets used to the gravity here, and then she meets me and makes all these friends and makes the world a better place.”
With Lil BUB’s fame and Russian coming full circle, things have started to look up financially for the studio.
Bridavsky said a recording studio is a horrible business model because most days are busy days, but most bands can’t afford to spend much money on recording.
While he’s still never made money from the recording studio, he said it’s now in a comfortable situation.
“I’ve figured things out a bit,” he said. “It’s self-sustaining. It pays for itself. And that’s all I’ve ever really wanted. I’ve got my personal dream studio here for myself, and people can use it — it’s a thing that keeps itself alive.”
