The Zoo Bar has become one of the nation's premier venues for blues and roots music since it opened 38 years ago — legendary bluesmen the likes of Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Link Wray, Wanda Jackson, Chubby Carrier and more have played its tiny stage over the years. 

 

But it has a flaw.

 

The Zoo is small, so one has had to be in the often crowded bar to hear legendary blues — and sometimes latin, jazz or rock — performances. But that’s not necessarily true anymore. The club at 136 N. 14th St. recently invested in an extra option for its bands: professionally recording their live performances on a newly installed — but quite old — sound system.

 

Zoo Bar sound guys Charlie Johnson and Brent O'Neil put together all the spare gear they had and came up with a beaten-looking, great-sounding system that's uniquely Zoo Bar.

 

“We kind of wanted to stick in the same vein of the Zoo,” O'Neil says. “We don’t like changing a whole lot around here because it’s an old blues club.

 

"It’s the Zoo.”

The new recording system is part-bought part-borrowed mix of high-quality, high-mileage gear. Some of it, O'Neil and Johnson bought used, some of it they bummed from friends and some of it they just had lying around.

 

“Sound guys collect gear like guitar players collect guitars,” O’Neil says.

 

Johnson and O'Neil put the studio together after fielding numerous requests from bands who wanted their sets recorded.

 

"We've both been sound guys there for umpteen years," says Johnson, who owns Lincoln's Fuse Recording. "A whole bunch of guys are always telling us it'd be great if we could record their stuff, so now we decided to go and make a permanent solution to that."

 

The new setup is installed in a comfortable room above the Zoo, only accessible through an unmarked, recessed door next to the main entrance. Decades worth of band Sharpie scribblings cover the walls. The studio itself is rather small and sits in front of a poster-cloaked wall, with a closed-circuit video screen cued to the stage in the middle of it all. It's hard-wired for recording with minimal setup, and almost any band can afford it.

 

Bands can get a left-right stereo track of their whole performance for $50, or all of up to 18 individual instrument tracks the band can mix themselves for $100. And, from what I heard, the quality far more than merits the price. The Zoo has already recorded young bluesman Levi William Latin band Son del Llano and Lil' Ed. O'Neil played a segment from Lil' Ed's recording, and even without being mixed, the rootsy, classic bluesman sounded as though he was in the room. 

 

"There are certain things that make it sound like that, I mean, we’re using vintage gear, here,” O’Neil says. “I’ve even got a Sun Records tape delay set up if they want it.”

 

Note: Bands that want their sets recorded at the Zoo Bar can contact O'Neil at 402.730.8987. The bar's normal stage setup is included with the recording fee, but if a band wants higher quality mics or equipment, this can be arranged for a higher price.

 

* All images by Natasha Richardson

 

Casey Welsch is an editorial intern for Hear Nebraska. He has the blues. You can contact him at caseywelsch@hearnebraska.org.