Nicolas Vernhes — Producer, Mixer & Engineer

Nicolas Vernhes is a French-born record producer, mixer, and recording engineer with over 20 years shaping the sound of independent rock and pop music. He is the founder of Rare Book Room — originally a beloved Brooklyn, NY recording studio (1995–2019), now reborn as a residential recording studio and creative residency in the high desert near Joshua Tree, California, with a complementary production room in Los Angeles.

Nicolas is a long-standing collaborator with acclaimed artists including Deerhunter, The War on Drugs, Animal Collective, Spoon, Dirty Projectors, Daughter, and Wye Oak, with credits released through Domino, 4AD, Sub Pop, Matador, Merge, and Dead Oceans, among dozens of other leading independent labels.

A Brooklyn Legacy

For over two decades, Rare Book Room operated out of Brooklyn as an independent recording studio built around vintage analog consoles, tape machines, and a hands-on production approach. Nicolas produced, engineered, and mixed landmark records for Deerhunter, Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors (including work with Björk), The War on Drugs, Silver Jews, Atlas Sound, Wild Nothing, Wye Oak, Black Dice, and School of Seven Bells — delivering finished masters to Domino, 4AD, Sub Pop, Matador, Merge, Dead Oceans, Secretly Canadian, Drag City, DFA, Jagjaguwar, Warp Records, and Rough Trade.

The studio's name is a namesake tribute to Baby Tooth, the New York indie rock band Nicolas played guitar and sang backing vocals in during the early 1990s — Rare Book Room takes its name from the band's final release.

A New Chapter in Joshua Tree

In 2019, Nicolas relocated Rare Book Room to 12 private acres in the high desert near Joshua Tree, California — designing and building a residential recording studio inside a converted 1970s ranch, with an original settler's cabin serving as the control room. Miles from light pollution and surrounded by boulder fields once used as a 1950s Western film set, the solar-powered property offers four guest rooms, full production services, and a Dante-linked live room with 16 channels of Neve and Focusrite preamps.

The control room houses vintage outboard gear — four Neve 1073s, four API preamps, two Great River units — alongside ATC, Barefoot, and Yamaha monitoring. Every vintage instrument and amp from the original Brooklyn studio made the journey west, including pianos, guitars, a Wurlitzer, a Rhodes, a 1950s Lowrey tube organ, and a Leslie cabinet.

Today, Nicolas splits his time between the Joshua Tree studio and a production room in Los Angeles, producing, engineering, and mixing for artists including Spoon, The War on Drugs, Terno Rei, Maximo Park, Francis of Delirium, and Wintersleep. Beyond music, Rare Book Room also hosts residential creative retreats across disciplines — experimental sound, writing, painting, sculpture, pottery, meditation, and yoga — for artists seeking to disappear into a body of work, undistracted.

Just three hours from Los Angeles and one hour from Palm Springs, Rare Book Room feels like another planet while remaining fully within reach.

Selected Artists

Deerhunter · The War on Drugs · Animal Collective · Spoon · Dirty Projectors · Daughter · Wye Oak · Silver Jews · Atlas Sound · Wild Nothing · Speedy Ortiz · Ought · Matthew Dear · Fischerspooner · Maximo Park · Terno Rei · Francis of Delirium · Black Dice · Small Black · School of Seven Bells

Selected Label Credits

Domino Records · 4AD · Sub Pop · Matador · Merge Records · Dead Oceans · Secretly Canadian · Drag City · DFA · Carpark · Jagjaguwar · Warp Records · Rough Trade · Bella Union · Ghostly International · Kranky · Captured Tracks · Fat Possum

Background

Raised in Paris, France, Nicolas relocated to the United States and settled in New York before eventually moving to Southern California, where he now works between Joshua Tree and Los Angeles.