The mid-March blaze destroyed more than $100,000 in gear, furniture and more at the Adrian recording studio. Musicians and friends are pitching in to assist in recovery efforts.
Before and After: The March 15 blaze did extensive damage to the studio. (Courtesy Photos)
Donate to the Social Recording fire relief efforts at GoFundMe here.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
When he answers the phone, Jake Rye has just finished a day of work salvaging gear at his now shuttered Social Recording Co. studio in Adrian after a fire ravaged the building on March 15.
“So, it’s been a weird day so far. We’ve been basically salvaging everything we can from the building. We got everything into my garage that I could take that wasn’t completely destroyed. I got a lot of stuff in my garage to clean and test out over the next couple weeks,” Rye says.
“You just kind of have a lot of emotions and feelings and then you’re kind of like, you start off with watching it happen and then you’re in disbelief and you’re hoping that it’s better than the outcome. But you see the outcome and then just kind of accept it and move forward.”
A Roller-Coaster of Emotions: Jake Rye (Courtesy Photo)
Rye was having dinner with his family when he got a text from his assistant. The text included a photo of smoke pouring out of the building in downtown Adrian where Social Recording Co. is housed.
He left dinner abruptly, drove downtown, then ran four blocks to the building at 124 Maiden Lane where firefighters were battling a blaze. Fortunately, firefighters were able to save many of Rye’s guitars and his laptop.
Most of Social Recording’s furniture and sound proofing — as well as a vintage turntable, record collection audio interfaces and analog recording gear — were destroyed. Even the items salvaged are still in a state of limbo, until it’s determined if they’re functional. Rye estimates the cost in damages is likely to reach six figures.
“There’s a lot of things that should have been destroyed that weren’t and a lot of things that shouldn’t have been destroyed that were,” says Rye. “One of those complete chaos, you don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s all random and it happens. I salvaged a lot of things.
“But the only things that are guaranteed to be OK are the mic stands and the drum hardware. So everything else that I salvage could be toast. It took me 20 years to get all that stuff.”
At Rye’s house in the garage, there are microphones in bins, preamps with rust building on the side, and speakers that need to be tested. A few companies such as Universal Audio and Shure have reached out to replace some of the lost gear.
A GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN AND A ‘MOVING’ BENEFIT CONCERT
In effort to recoup some of the losses, Rye started a fundraiser on GoFundMe.com that had raised more than $21,000 by late Tuesday, with a goal of $25,000.
Half of the funds will be split between other tenants in the building who were affected. In the meantime, Rye plans to continue working. He’ll transform his home basement into a private mixing studio and relocate his live tracking work to APG, a non-profit in Adrian that provides audio-visual mentoring and works with between 3,000 and 4,000 kids per year.
“We have an actual facility and it’s on the north side of town in an office building. And I’m going to be moving into a room there. I’ll have my own workroom to work in. It’s about the size of a nice master bedroom. It’s pretty big; big enough for like four or five people to sit in there,” says Rye.
The Fire Scene: March 15 in Adrian. (Courtesy Photo)
“I’ll be able to port into a vocal booth suite, which is right outside and then the drum room, which is also there. So I’m going to have access to that space and it’s shared with Logan, who has been working with me for years. It’s where his studio is. We work really well together.”
To further boost fundraising efforts, Michigan musicians, APG and Crossroads Church hosted a benefit concert last weekend. The event raised about $1,000 for the GoFundMe campaign and another $2,000 for the city of Adrian’s recovery fund.
“We had about 100 people attend and the performances were honestly moving,” Rye says. “Greater Alexander did a beautiful job as well as Innocent Vigilant Ordinary and Adoremus. The American Hotel System closed it out with an incredible rock performance.”
The fire’s aftermath has left Rye with feelings of acceptance and determination.
“I’ve been telling people going through this is kind of like getting on a roller-coaster when you haven’t ridden one in a while and you forgot what it was like. And you have no other choice but to go along,” he reasons.
“And if you resist, it just gets worse. You just follow, you just go with it. And then, and then you adjust as things happen. It’s allowed me to emotionally detach from my things a little bit, which has been good for me because when I was watching this happen, I just had a sense that everything was going to be OK.”
Copyright 2025, Spins on Music LLC
