Studio time, on-farm bunkhouse lodging, meals, equipment, and full acreage access. The flagship destination for touring musicians finishing a record, bands tracking an EP, and album projects that need uninterrupted focus.
No stripped-down versions. Every package delivers the full Ground Up production bundle — the same infrastructure that touring artists, producers, and album projects use to finish their work.
Full access to the recording studio for the duration of your residency. Control room, live room, mics, outboard gear, monitoring, and mixing desk ready when you are.
The bunkhouse sleeps six — bring the band, the crew, or your collaborators. Solo writers tend to take the Pavilion. Both are on the property, steps from the studio.
Prepared on-site so you never have to leave the creative flow to find food. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and most allergies are easy to handle — tell us in advance.
Expansive Saskatchewan acreage to walk, write, shoot, and reset between takes. The silence out here is the rarest instrument on the property.
Mics, cables, instruments, amps, and production gear are all here. Bring the laptop and your ideas — not the cargo.
Outdoor performance stage with full PA and lighting. Rehearse the set, record a live take, or run an end-of-stay showcase under the prairie sky.
Every residency locks in one schedule. Here's what a 3-Day Sprint looks like in practice — the longer tiers add rehearsal and showcase blocks.
You arrive after lunch. Settle into the bunkhouse, walk the property, then haul gear into the control room. By evening you're patched in, levels are set, and the first rough takes are down. We cook dinner on-site and the day ends whenever the work ends.
The core block. Three meals, a long studio day focused on takes and overdubs, and a late-afternoon rehearsal slot on the live stage for anything you're capturing live. We pause when you do and pick up wherever you left off the next morning.
Morning mix and rough-master pass, file backup, and a clean handoff of session stems. If there's time and energy, the outdoor stage is open for an end-of-stay live take or an invite-only showcase for local listeners. Check-out by 4 PM.
Every tier ships with what you see in What's Included. The difference is duration, crew bandwidth, and how much stage and engineer time is bundled in.
Placeholder slots ready for hi-res photos the moment they land. Drop a <picture> into any slot and the placeholder disappears.
We'll review your application and reach out within 24 hours to discuss dates, the right tier, and next steps. No deposit required at this stage.
If your question isn't here, send it through the application form or email Dave directly — we usually reply within a day.
Ground Up Studios is 25 minutes northwest of Saskatoon off Highway 16, near Langham, Saskatchewan. Most guests fly into Saskatoon (YXE) and rent a car — pickup from the airport can also be arranged for an extra fee. Full directions and an arrival window are sent with your booking confirmation.
Bring your instruments, laptops, session notes, and personal gear — the studio, backline, mics, and PA are all here. Pack layers for prairie weather (sunscreen, rain gear, and a warm layer even in summer), toiletries, and any specialty food items. Bedding, towels, and meals are provided on-site.
A 30% deposit holds your dates and is refundable up to 30 days before your residency starts. The balance is due 14 days before arrival. Cancellations within 14 days are non-refundable but can be transferred to a future date subject to availability. We're flexible — just reach out before booking if anything is unclear.
The bunkhouse sleeps six. Most 4-piece bands and small crews fit comfortably — bigger groups can bring their own camping setup on the acreage at no extra cost. Solo producers and writers tend to take the Pavilion. Tell us your headcount in the application and we'll plan the layout.
Yes — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and most allergies are easy to handle on a working farm. Tell us what's needed in the project description when you apply and we'll plan meals around it. We work with local prairie producers and can usually source almost anything within a day's notice.
Yes. The 4-Day Studio tier ships with an engineer on call. For any tier, you can bring your own engineer or add the house engineer for an extra fee. Video documentation is built into the 5-Day Immersion tier and is available as an add-on to the 3-Day Sprint or 4-Day Studio.
Self-serve bunkhouse lodging on the Saskatchewan prairie. Pull in, kick your boots off, light the fire pit. Nightly for weeknights and weekends, week-long for writers, retreats, and quiet family time.
Every stay — nightly or week-long — ships with the same essentials. Bring food, a book, and binoculars. The rest is already here.
Sleeps six across a queen, two doubles, and a twin bunk. Fresh linens, towels, and a fully equipped kitchen. Heat, hot water, and a couple of lounge corners.
For smaller parties or writers who want their own space, the Pavilion is an add-on — a separate studio-style room with a couch, desk, and skylight.
The full property is yours for the stay. Walk the trails, watch the sun drop, sit by the slough. Acres of Saskatchewan silence on tap.
Wood-fired fire pit with firewood included. Outdoor prep table, charcoal grill, and a propane burner for the morning coffee.
Solid Wi-Fi throughout the bunkhouse. Plenty of outlets, USB ports, and a quiet desk if you need to work between prairie walks.
No front desk. The door code and orientation arrive by email on the morning of arrival. Pull in whenever works for you after 4 PM.
Designed to feel like visiting friends with a farm — arrival is easy, the middle is yours, and checkout is unhurried.
Door code lands in your email at 9 AM on arrival day. Bring your gear in, put the coffee on, walk the property. Fire pit is unlimited — firewood is stacked by the Pavilion.
Sleep late, walk the acreage, cook on the outdoor kitchen, write at the desk, drive into Saskatoon for supplies or a meal. The property is private to you and your group — no other guests overlap, no shared common areas.
Strip the bedding, take the trash to the bin by the gate, leave the kitchen as you found it. Lock the door on your way out and send us a quick text — that's it. We're neighbourly, not fussy.
All tiers include the bunkhouse, acreage, fire pit, and self-check-in. Longer stays save per-night. Add the Pavilion as an upgrade on any tier.
Placeholder slots ready for hi-res photos the moment they land. Drop a <picture> into any slot and the placeholder disappears.
We'll confirm availability and send a booking link within 24 hours. A 30% deposit holds your dates once confirmed.
If your question isn't here, send it through the booking form or email Dave directly — we usually reply within a day.
Check-in is from 4 PM on your arrival day (self-serve — door code is sent the morning of). Check-out is by 11 AM. Early check-in or late check-out is sometimes possible mid-week; just ask when you book.
You'll get the door code, Wi-Fi details, and a one-page orientation (where the fire pit is, how the outdoor kitchen works, what neighbours to expect) by email on the morning of arrival. No front desk — just pull in, settle, and stay.
Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the acreage — the bunkhouse is pet-free. We ask that pets stay off the furniture and out of the Pavilion. Please mention pets in your inquiry so we can plan around livestock on the property.
Yes — plenty. Pull right up to the bunkhouse, with room for multiple vehicles, trailers, or a small camper.
No smoking inside the bunkhouse or Pavilion. The fire pit is open seasonally and firewood is included. No open flames on the grass in dry summer months — we'll point you to the safe spot when you arrive.
There's a $75 cleaning fee per stay. We ask guests to strip the bedding, take out the trash, and leave the kitchen as they found it. A walk-through isn't required — we're neighbourly, not fussy.
Recording studio access, producer mentorship, mixing and mastering, plus the accommodation bundle so the team stays on-site. Built for artists finishing records, EPs, and album projects who want a producer in the room.
Every tier ships with the full production package. The difference is how many songs you're tracking, how long the team stays, and how deep the producer engagement runs.
Full access to the control room, live room, and vocal booth for the duration of your project. Mics, outboard, monitoring, and the mixing desk are tuned and ready — patch in and go.
Dave is in the room. Arrangement feedback, take-direction, mix references, and listener-perspective notes through every stage. Tap into two decades of prairie and city studio work.
Bundled mix and master on every tier. Stems handed back at the end of the session — radio-ready mixes plus the multitracks so you can revisit later if a record needs a refresh.
On-site lodging for the entire production team. The bunkhouse sleeps six; longer projects fold in the Pavilion. No commute between sessions — you're already in the room.
Mics, cables, instruments, amps, and outboard. Bring the laptop, the demos, and the references — leave the cargo at home.
Final mixes and masters delivered as WAV and MP3, plus full multitrack stems. Backed up on-site and on cloud for at least 12 months. You can pull files any time.
Every tier locks in one schedule. Here's what a 3-song EP project looks like — the album tier stretches the same bones across more days.
Team arrives after lunch. Walk the studio, settle into the bunkhouse, sit down with Dave for arrangement and reference-list review. By evening you're patched in, scratch vocals are down, and the first takes are ready to overdub.
The core production day. Long studio block focused on full-band tracking where it fits the project, overdubs for parts that need isolation, and producer-side direction in the room. Three meals, an evening recap, and a plan for Day 3.
Morning mix and rough-master pass in the room with the artist. References checked, files backed up on-site and on cloud, and a clean delivery of stems and masters. The team checks out by 4 PM.
Every package ships with studio access, producer mentorship, mixing and mastering, lodging, and equipment. The difference is scope — pick the tier that matches the record.
Placeholder slots ready for hi-res photos the moment they land. Drop a <picture> into any slot and the placeholder disappears.
We'll review your project and reach out within 24 hours to discuss scope, tier fit, and dates. No deposit required at this stage.
If your question isn't here, send it through the inquiry form or email Dave directly — we usually reply within a day.
The room ships with a full mic locker (large-diaphragm condensers, dynamics, ribbons), an analog summing mixer, a quality monitor rig, and a deep plugin suite. There's a drum kit, multiple guitars and amps, a piano, a synth rack, and DI stations for whatever you bring. If you have something specific you want, list it in the inquiry and we'll confirm it's in the room or plan around it.
Dave is in the room with you across the project — arrangement notes, take-direction, mix references, and listener-perspective feedback. It's not a fly-on-the-wall engineering gig and it's not a co-writing arrangement unless you want it. You bring the songs and the vision; Dave keeps the room pointed at the record you're trying to make.
Yes — bring whoever you trust. Just mention it in the project description so we can plan the room setup and integrate the workflow. House engineer support is also available if you want a backup or for parts you want a different pair of ears on.
For Single and EP tiers, the mix and master happen in the room during the project — you walk out with the files. For Album tier, rough mixes are delivered in-session and the final masters land within 2 weeks of the final tracking day. Revisions are bundled into the tier scope; out-of-scope revisions are quoted separately.
Radio-ready mixes as 24-bit / 44.1kHz WAV and 320kbps MP3. Masters as 24-bit WAV and MP3 (with the option of higher sample rates for vinyl or hi-res streaming). Full multitrack stems are bundled in too, so you can revisit the record anytime without us.
Absolutely — many projects blend a production tier with extra residency days for rehearsal, or with the stays tier for out-of-town team lodging. Tell us the headcount and dates in the inquiry and we'll quote a combined package that's tighter than booking them separately.
Everything starts here. Built from the ground up.