Hindsight offers name-your-price CDs

“We recorded all 18 local bands, at no charge to them, in order to get exposure for them and for our new Hindsight Recording Studios,” says Trisha Saxon of the upcoming Hindsight compilation CD, which features V Child, Dear the Liars, Buddy Banter, Alligator Republic, the Junk Poets, High Tide, Zones, Idols Plague, and others. The range of musical genres reflects the city’s stylistic diversity. “We’ve had thousands of bands come through and have experienced many different subcultures,” says Saxon.

The March 29 release party at Hillcrest’s Ruby Room will feature performers from the album, including Chica Diabla, Neon Cough, Seeking Alpha, Lucky & Wild, and Mad Traffic. “We’ll be offering the CD at a name-your-price option at the show,” says Saxon.

The new recording facility is part of Hindsight Rehearsal Studios, which has rented out hourly, fully equipped practice rooms at two locations in the Miramar/Mira Mesa neighborhood since 2004. Currently featuring 14 units in one warehouse (nine hourly rehearsal rooms, four monthly lock-outs, and one recording studio), founder and operator Neil Hamovitch explains, “We set up one of the [rehearsal] studios as a control room with high-quality gear and installed a snake to our showcase room, to use as a live room.”

The native San Diegan, who formerly played with the band Non-Prophet (2004–2008), partnered with local musician Kenny Hill (the Quakes, the Blackjackits, the Regime, Ready Fire!) to install the recording gear from Hill’s own operation. With rates averaging $30 hourly, Hamovitch says, “We don’t have a facility like Studio West or Signature Sound, but that’s not really our clientele. People who go there pay hundreds of dollars an hour, or thousands an album, and they no doubt get a great product. But what we offer are the cheapest rates in town, which you’d expect to pay in someone’s home studio.”

Hamovitch says Hindsight’s freebies will pay off by exposing locals to services he can charge for. For instance, “We just started a new gear-rental program for bands that need gear to play shows if they don’t have it, or if they just want something better than what they do have.”