Nashville, TN (September 14, 2026)—Since leaving his Stratford, Ontario, home at age 16 to begin a career as a touring musician, David Kalmusky has held just about every job title one can hold in the music and recording industry. He’s been, at various times, a producer, tracking/mix engineer, artist, songwriter, touring musician, session guitarist, tech, studio designer, product developer, educator, studio owner—a true multi-hyphenate—though he shakes his head at anything having to do with labels, slots, categories, genres, boxes or roles.
“I’m a record maker,” he says, simply and humbly. “A music maker.”
Today, he’s a rejuvenated music maker, writing more songs, working on more projects, spending more time with other creatives, and embracing an old-new production style that has brought him back to his roots, to a time when everybody got together in a room and walked out with a record. He attributes it all to the decision in late 2023 to relocate his facility, Addiction Sound Studio, from Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood to the top of Music Row, within the former Masterfonics facilities, now known as Curb 28.
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“There’s so much happening down here right now,” Kalmusky says. “Next door, we have Sound Stage [Black River Entertainment], Dave Cobb took over RCA and revitalized it, Keith Urban just renovated The Tracking Room, Dan Auerbach is down the street on 8th Avenue, Electric Feel moved in last year, Ocean Way is a few blocks away, and Curb has done an amazing job with their main studio, 43. Ron Fair is also a resident here at 28, and they’ve renovated the legendary Studio 6 in the back of the building.
“It feels like a community again,” he continues. “My publisher’s down here and the musicians are down here, and people are dropping by before and after sessions. Music Row is starting to feel a little bit like it once did.”
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Bumping shoulders with friends on a daily basis has certainly proven a benefit, but more importantly, the move prompted a complete makeover in his production style, in how he makes records.
The Berry Hill version of Addiction opened in 2012 and included multiple tracking spaces and mix rooms—all of them separated by glass— in a three-story residential building. It was a traditional tracking/mixing setup, and Berry Hill was booming. But then, modern workflows started getting much more mobile, remote and individualized, and bands were booking shorter chunks of time; 90% of mix sessions were unattended. By the time Covid hit in early 2020, Kalmusky was already feeling isolated.
