Santa Monica, CA (September 18, 2025)—On September 6, less than nine months after the Palisades Fire burned their home (and studio) to the ground, legendary engineer Bob Clearmountain and his wife, Betty Bennett, co-founder and president of Apogee, hosted a family and friends party to celebrate the reopening of Bob’s famous Mix This! Studio, now dubbed Mix This! FTA, for From the Ashes.
Located on the ground floor of a two-story home directly behind Apogee’s Santa Monica headquarters, the studio turned out to be only part of the overall reshaping of Bob and Betty’s lives. The upstairs has been renovated to serve as the couple’s residence, a guest cottage and the adjacent lot has been transformed into a backyard urban paradise by Betty’s daughter Alexandra.
All was on display at the reopening, which also featured a live performance on the Apogee stage by the band Chevy Metal, featuring Taylor Hawkins’ son on drums and, for one song, Bob on bass. Bob actually pulled double-duty, also mixing the show live in Atmos from his new studio, the two buildings being connected through a Dante A/V network.
The studio itself features a custom SSL 4K console, with Tom and Chris Lord-Alge each gifting Bob a full board in the days after the fire, then a team putting it all together to re-create his custom workflow. A 7.1.4 Genelec monitoring system has been set up and tuned, with gray finishes replacing the previous white.
There was a Kogi food truck, Italian and Mexican food in Alexandra’s Garden, beverage stations featuring 805 beer and custom margaritas throughout and a guest list that spanned Bob’s career, with many showing up from his days in New York. All were encouraged to bring a favorite LP, signed, to start rebuilding Bob’s once-treasured vinyl collection.
All in all, a wonderful night, and an amazing new studio. And Bob’s commute hasn’t changed a bit!
