Calgary Popup Session
September 24-28, 2025
The Henhouse Popup Sessions started in 2024, when Nashville-based Juno Award-winning producer/guitarist Steve Dawson rented a studio during a few days off on tour in Vancouver, brought in some of his talented friends, and allowed artists and songwriters to buy a time slot to record with his band. They worked at a fast clip (6 songs a day), but the quality was excellent, and everyone walked out of the studio with a song recorded and mixed, as well as individual tracks from the session. The Henhouse Popup was born, and has made several appearances at various times throughout the year.
This is an excellent opportunity to get into an amazing studio with world-class musicians and get some music made.
“What you can accomplish in an hour with these guys is very impressive, they are pro’s. The atmosphere of a world class studio and the people that come with it doesn’t hurt either.
Don't hesitate and you won't regret it. Good times!"
- Eddy (2024 Participant)
The Details
Cost:
- $800 CDN/song plus GST. No hidden charges or fees. You get a single. Or maybe 6 singles! We all get high 5’s. You can release it, only play it for your Mom, or license it to Tom Cruise for Mission Impossible 18 - it’s all yours. The price is per song, but you can do as many as you want. 6 per day max though! It costs $100 to make a deposit and book a spot right now.
What You Get:
- You will walk out of there with a full mix, a mix without your vocals (in case you want to re-sing it at home), and the individual tracks (in case you want to mess with them later).
The Studio:
- We will work at OCL Studio. It’s an excellent facility about 30 minutes east of downtown Calgary that I’m very comfortable in. The studio has some amazing gear, a beautiful tracking room and several isolation booths.
The Players:
- The band will be Steve Dawson on guitars, pedal steel, and other stringed things, Darryl Havers on keyboards, Jeremy Holmes on bass (upright and electric), and Liam MacDonald on drums/percussion. Sheldon Zaharko will engineer. It’s a great group of award-winning players with decades of experience in an amazing room. What could possibly go wrong?
Further Details:
- We have to move quickly. I will do charts for your tune in advance, we will listen to you play it for us, or if you have an iphone demo that will also work. Then we go out and we will play the song with you singing from top to bottom 2-3 times. You will be isolated so you could conceivably re-sing the track back at home, but in the spirit of the day, we’ll all be going for the keeper takes.
- We will then do a few overdubs as needed. In that time, I usually run the whole song down to do overdubs and if you feel like you want another crack or two at the vocals, that’s a perfect time to do that as well. Then Sheldon and I will do a mix. We’ll be done all that within about an hour and then we have to move on. It’s quick and dirty but such a fun way to work!
- I know the time restraints can put stress on an artist but it’s a lot of fun to work this way and I think being able to re-sing it at a later date alleviates the pressure somewhat. That said, I hope you love your vocals and want to keep them! Plus I’m betting you won’t have that $30,000 microphone at home that we’ll get on you at OCL!
Dates:
Sept. 24-28, 2025. You can certainly request a day/time and I will do my best to accommodate you.
Time slots available each day are:
11AM -12PM
12:15 - 1:15
1:30 - 2:30
(break)
3:30 - 4:30
4:45 - 5:45
6 - 7PM
To book a spot:
$100 CDN/song will hold your place in the Popup. On July 1, I will contact everyone to get their balance paid in full. This is also a good date to get me your demos (voice memo recordings are all we need!). Final payments are non-refundable - We aren’t in a position to be able to deal with cancellations due to all of our expenses.
Since I live in Nashville, my website is in USD, so I’ve made the deposit $70 USD which will be close to $100 CDN - Don’t worry, we will get the exchange perfect when we settle the balance.
Payments can also be made via Interac and in CDN dollars, so just email me here if you’d rather do it that way.
Any questions? Feel free to reach out to Steve here - he’s happy to help.
For more info on Steve Dawson, please visit: www.stevedawson.ca
“I've never recorded live off the floor before, and certainly have never tried to lay down an entire finished song in only an hour, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I can tell you, though, the experience was amazing from start to finish! If you're looking for an incredible recording experience, do a Henhouse Pop-Up session. These guys are phenomenally skilled players, with great musical instincts that will definitely improve your song!”
- Michael (Calgary 2024 Participant)
I made this video about the Popup Session while we were in Calgary last year. Check it out!
And here’s a brand new song by Norine Braun that just came out - recorded at the last Popup session in Vancouver!
We hope to see you in Calgary - Let’s make some music!
"These guys are top of their game for sure, it was such a joy to watch them work and be part of the process!! The song sounds super dreamy, so lovely and truly amazing it was all done in an hour!"
- Norine (2024 Participant)