2nd St. Paul Recording Studio Robbery In 2 Weeks
WEST ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- The Twin Cities music community is growing concerned after another break-in at a recording studio. It's the second break in at a home recording studio in less than a week.
Bob Cain, who owns Ambient Sound recording studio in West St. Paul, said he came home from a 10-day Christmas vacation at around 3 a.m. Thursday to find his valuable recording equipment gone.
The thief took his Mac computer, a digital recording device, along with a 40-year-old microphone that Cain said is one of a kind. The estimated $15,000 loss has left his studio silent.
"I'm inoperable," said Cain. "There is no question whoever did this knows recording, knows studio equipment, knows what was valuable."
Cain says the intruder even stole from his 7-year-old daughter, taking $7 from her toy cash register.
"She just burst into tears. She had been violated, that's the way we all feel," said Cain. "That's pretty cold, cold, I'm pretty astounded and I've been doing this for 30 years."
On Christmas Day in St. Paul, another musician discovered his home recording studio ransacked. In this case, the thieves took the computer and hard drives; they also walked off with two almost completed albums and 18 months of work.
Eric Lovold, the frontman for the band "The Alarmists" was about to finish mixing the final albums for two local bands: "Kicks and Spurs" and Brian DeRemer.
"We had back-ups and back-ups, but we weren't expecting someone to steal our back-ups," said Lovold.
Yet, the thieves left the tools to let Lovold start again, ironically leaving behind some of the most expensive items in the home, vintage guitars and keyboards.
West Saint Paul police will now investigate similarities and a possible connection. Cain says unlike Lovold's case, the thief left his hard drives. Cain and Lovold plan to compare notes to see if they have anything in common, like clients. They will also search pawn shops and Craigslist to see if any of their equipment surfaces.
Cain calls the loss "catastrophic" and says the break-ins have put the music community on alert.
"I got three phone calls for other studios," said Cain. "Whoever these people, or persons were, had no heart."
WCCO-TV's Lindsey Seavert Reports
