It Shouldn’t Be Illegal for Record Producers to Work in Their Garages: New at Reason

When Lij Shaw’s daughter was born, he decided to work from home so he could spend more time with his family.

A record producer in Nashville, Shaw found a slightly offbeat solution to achieving work-life balance: Investing over $100,000, he completely soundproofed his house’s detached garage and transformed it into The Toy Box Studio, a professional recording space featuring state-of-the-art digital equipment and classic analog devices. Over the next decade, Shaw hosted countless musicians, one of whom even mixed the album that won the first ever Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album. During this time, not one of his neighbors ever complained to Shaw about noise, traffic, or anything else regarding his studio.

Nonetheless, in 2015, Nashville’s code enforcement ordered Shaw to cease and desist. Only by dropping the studio’s recording rates from his website and removing its address from Google Maps was he able to escape prosecution. Business for the studio—Shaw’s main source of income—plummeted, writes Nick Sibilla.

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