In one of the cooler adaptations I have seen in a while, David Steingard has converted his original Laughing Man coffee shop, the diminutive space next door to the current cafe, into a fully-equipped and staffed sound studio.

Laughing Man Studios is set up now for podcasts, video interviews, recording sessions — anything you can think of for a soundproofed room with two lounge chairs, a digital recording set-up and an in-house engineer.

Already they have gotten some traction, hosting a bunch of productions from an audiobook recording to a Spike Lee interview and several commercials.

“We do everything from simply handing you an audio file to full-on productions,” David said. Chris Zen is his in-house engineer, who provides services for every rental, setting up the sound and lighting and producing the recordings. “Most people don’t want to set up their apartments for this kind of thing, so we have had a great response.” (It’s also made for a great birthday gift, if adults or kids want to come in and record themselves.)

The studio offers:

• Hourly rentals with equipment for podcasting, photo shoots, content creation, video shoots, green screen, product shots, etc. (They are equipped for remote interviews if guests are not in town.)
• A range of production help up to complete development, recording, marketing and launch of podcasts or other content
• Brand content and social media management (one-off or continued services)
• Pop-up retail opportunities in the cafe with the ability to add content services through the studio to enhance reach
• Small meeting space

There’s also a podcast that launched out of the studio, All Be Happy; David says he’ll talk to anyone — as long as it’s interesting. So far he has hosted, among others, Mr. USA Cormac Murphy. cookbook author Serena Wolf and FOMO expert Patrick McGinnis.

The idea is a passion project, he said, a way to nurture his creative side, and he also intends to use it to help local businesses (the tag line is “Your Friendly Neighborhood Studio”) along the way with marketing or other media input. “Part of the idea is to bring Laughing Man beyond our four walls.”

Laughing Man Studios
184 Duane | Greenwich & Hudson
212-680-1111
david@laughingmanstudios.com