After a full decade in New York, Dean Baltulonis has relocated The Wild Arctic recording studio to downtown Portsmouth, where he plans to continue working with national acts and provide services to local artists.

A graduate of the Berklee College of Music with a degree in music production and engineering, Baltulonis founded The Wild Arctic in Brooklyn about 10 years ago and moved it to Queens five years later. He has worked with numerous folk, rock and hardcore bands, including The Hold Steady, The Gay Blades, Ra Ra Riot, Agnostic Front, Piebald, Sick of it All, Bouncing Souls and Trapped Under Ice. 

When his lease expired last year, Baltulonis decided to move to his girlfriend’s native city of Portsmouth. He began building his new studio around Thanksgiving and finished it by Christmas. He spent the first two weeks of January recording a new CD by New Haven-based folk-rock band Call It Arson.

Baltulonis said his single favorite project so far was recording The Hold Steady’s 2005 album “Separation Sunday” (he also recorded their most recent album, “Heaven Is Whenever). He plans to bring several nationally touring acts to Portsmouth to record, but he also hopes to get involved with local bands. 

The Wild Arctic joins a wealth of other Seacoast recording studios, including The Electric Cave and Mill Pond Music in Portsmouth, Milltown Recording and 1130FT in Rollinsford, Studio 1.1D and The Ghost Mill in Dover, and Thundering Sky in South Berwick, Maine.
For more information, visit www.thewildarctic.com.