Los Angeles, CA (January 10, 2025)—A series of wildfires, fueled by tinder-dry vegetation and driven by hurricane-force winds, roared through several L.A. communities this week. Just in the two biggest blazes, in coastal Pacific Palisades and in Altadena, 25 miles inland to the east, as many as 10,000 structures are estimated to have been charred by the days-long conflagrations and 10 people so far are reported to have died.
Watching the fires on TV, it’s hard to grasp the extent of the destruction. But to offer a comparison, the Eaton Fire in Altadena has so far laid waste to more than 14,000 acres, almost equal to the size of the borough of Manhattan, and is only 3% contained at time of writing. The Palisades Fire, currently 8% contained, has scorched over 20,000 acres. Hundreds of thousands of residents remain under evacuation orders or warnings.
Los Angeles being one of the world’s major media and entertainment hubs, it’s no surprise to learn that, in addition to the widely reported impact on Hollywood celebrities, some of whom watched their houses burn to the ground, audio professionals have also lost their homes and the tools of their craft. Innumerable industry pros, not just in music recording but also film and TV audio post, have long maintained production facilities in their homes, city wide. The full extent of the losses will only come to light once the smoke has cleared and people can return to their properties.
In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, shortly after the Palisades Fire broke out, award-winning mixer, engineer and producer Bob Clearmountain reported that his home was a total loss. “I just saw a picture of what used to be my home and studio and it’s just a pile of ash, actually. The entire town is just gone. It’s just history. It’s horrible,” said Clearmountain, whose house, which he shared with his wife, Betty Bennett, founder and CEO of Apogee Electronics, was just off Sunset Blvd., about a mile from the Pacific Ocean.
Clearmountain, who built his Mix This! studio in the house in the early 1990s and had upgraded it for Dolby Atmos, recently working on immersive album mixes of Roxy Music’s Avalon and Sparkle in the Rain by Simple Minds, said that he spotted the flames while driving. “I get home and then before I knew it there were sirens and all hell broke loose. So we just packed everything,” he told ABC, including valuables and old photos that his dad, a photographer, had taken.
After singer-songwriter and actor Mandy Moore posted on social media about the ravaged Altadena neighborhood around her home, she reported that, while the main part of the house is still standing, it is unlivable. “Everyone we know lost everything,” Moore wrote on Instagram, noting that she was able to visit the house on Thursday and that the garage and back of the house—where her husband, Taylor Goldsmith, front man of the band Dawes, and his brother, Griffin, the band’s drummer, had built a recording studio—has been destroyed. “We lost Taylor and griffin’s [sic] studio with every instrument and piece of equipment they’ve ever owned,” Moore wrote.
In a follow-up post, Moore wrote, “Yesterday, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law Griff & Kit lost their home and everything they own in the Eaton Fire. With their first baby on the way in a matter of weeks, they need our support now more than ever. Griff is a touring musician and also lost his entire arsenal of drums/percussion he uses to make a living.”
| RESOURCES |
| MusiCares • musicares.org/get-help Entertainment Community Fund • entertainmentcommunity.org/am-i-eligible-help Sweet Relief Musicians Fund • www.sweetrelief.org/naturaldisasterfund.html |
In Malibu, the 20-mile-long beach community west of the Palisades, Harbor Studios, a residential facility that has hosted Jack Harlow, 21 Savage and SZA, is no more. “I am profoundly sad to announce that Harbor Studios has been lost to the Palisades Fire,” wrote studio owner Zach Brandon on Instagram.
Harbor Studios has a storied history. Originally established by Weather Report founder and keyboardist Joe Zawinul, in 2008 it became the home base of Paul Dinletir, a scoring composer whose film credits include Avatar and The Avengers. The studio, constructed by studio builders and acoustic designers Steven Klein of Sound Control Room, Inc. and Hanson Hsu of Delta H Design, was rebranded Harbor in 2021. It officially opened the following year, attracting Nicki Minaj, who produced her Pink Friday 2 album at the facility, and Doja Cat, who recorded Scarlet 2 CLAUDE there.
Brandon is determined to build again. “This is not the end of Harbor,” he wrote. “We are restarting from scratch (again)… nothing we haven’t done before. Not only that, but I have gained so much knowledge and experience from Harbor 1 that I will be implementing into the rebuild.”
Greg Wells, the Grammy-winning Canadian producer, mixer and multi-instrumentalist behind the soundtrack of Wicked, did much of his work on the blockbuster movie in the immersive mix studio that he built in his house in the Palisades area. On Wed., Jan. 8, he told Tom Kenny, Mix’s Co-Content Director, that he and his family had lost the house and studio, including his prized 1920s Steinway grand piano.
The Recording Academy’s MusiCares as well as the Entertainment Community Fund and the Sweet Relief Music Fund are among several organizations pledging support for the music community impacted by the L.A. fires. The organizations are encouraging those affected by the fires to reach out to them for assistance with immediate expenses and to replace musical instruments.
