For nearly two decades, Echo Mountain Recording has been housed in a historic church building on the edge of downtown Asheville — but a new kind of sanctuary is on its way. This week, the award-winning studio announced plans to create an expansive recording retreat on a property just north of downtown, a song + sound oasis of sorts for artists of all kinds.

So we're going on record about the details:

A historic church building is the current studio's home. | Photo via Echo Mountain Recording

The new places

Echo Mountain's eco-conscious facility will be on a 68-acre property and include acoustically designed recording spaces for projects big + small — everything from individual songwriters to audiobooks to film and television projects.

To keep the creative juices flowing even after the mics are off, the property will also include on-site accommodation and full-service hospitality and catering. And of course, there will be no shortage of the inspiring mountain and river views we all know and love.

The project will be financed by the sale of Echo Mountain's downtown property locations, but the studio will continue to operate while the new property is under construction. The team hopes to open the retreat sometime in 2026.

Artists of all kinds have filled this studio will their voices and instruments. | Photo via Echo Mountain Recording

The old faces

Even though the studio will be moving onward and upward from its original home, the sound captured in that space has been just as historic as the building itself. Local artists like Rising Appalachia and the Asheville Symphony have made their mark, but Echo Mountain has also hosted artists like The Avett Brothers for "I and Love and You" and "The Carpenter" (among other albums), The War on Drugs' "Lost in the Dream," The Infamous Stringdusters' "Silver Sky" — not to mention Gladys Knight, Band of Horses, Flogging Molly, the list goes on.

The team has recorded for "The Hunger Games," captured the voice of Serena Williams, and had partnerships with Audible and Simon & Schuster. Music, movies, television, and books have filled the Echo Mountain spaces for 18 years, and we can only imagine that this next chapter will be a memorable one.