ASBURY PARK – Jon Leidersdorff, owner of Lakehouse Recording Studios in Asbury Park, became immersed in the art of music after his parents divorced when he was young.

“I grew up in two households,” Leidersdorff said. “Both my parents were very much into music. My mother had a boyfriend who had a band who played in my basement. I grew up very interested and connected to music. It made me want to play.”

He moved in fourth grade and was unable to get music lessons for the drums, his first love. “Even though I felt like I was too old at age 12, my neighbor sold me his drum set for $5. I paid for it in quarters in my paper route. I started with a friend of mine who lived down the street and we were the beginning of my first band. Neither of us knew how to play. He took guitar lessons and I taught myself how to play the drums.”

It was the early 1980s and Leidersdorff continued to play with his band as they accrued more members. They started to play more gigs and continued to evolve.

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“I did not go to college, but we did have success even at the high school level,” Leidersdorff said. “When we made that commitment to give it a go, we started playing at the Stone Pony every week soon after high school. We started opening with Bob Bandiera. He is a guitarist and singer and is an amazing musician. He is a local legend.

“We grew a fan base and got a record deal,” he continued. “We toured around the country, and we were not hugely successful, but regionally successful.”

‘I was still all about the music’

From his late 20s to early 30s, Leidersdorff started playing on recording sessions as a drummer.

“I started playing on different records for different artists,” Leidersdorff said. “I became a good drummer and was getting hired by producers to do my thing. I was still also playing with my band Outcry up until that point and were putting out records and performing as well.”

Leidersdorff began to write and sing his own music as well. The other members of the band followed new oaths, but he wanted to stick with his musical passion.

“I did well with that,” Leidersdorff said. “I formed a band called blowup (with a lowercase b). I think I had a lot more time and desire to continue playing music, compared to the rest of my other band, Outcry. They were getting married and had families. I was still all about the music. That other band did well. We played internationally and did a lot of tours. It was a different set of guys playing different instruments and I was now the singer and songwriter of the band, instead of playing drums.”

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Throughout the process, Leidersdorff learned how to record music.

“I started to record myself,” Leidersdorff said. “I started out with a home recorder. I eventually got to a point where I recorded myself playing all the instruments. I still put a band together for the live performances, but I was playing most of the instruments, as well as writing songs and singing for most of the recording. I developed a talent for recording and that was interesting. I was helping other people write and finish their music, which led me to start producing acts.”

As Leidersdorff began to produce other bands and music, he built a recording studio in his basement.

“I had this old Victorian home, and I built this recording studio there,” Leidersdorff said. “I got really busy. I started to do that full-time, while also starting a family. I really enjoyed the process of helping others get to their next level. At the time that I decided to move out of that space, I had to ask myself what the next dream was for me. I wanted to continue to evolve and take the next step.”

Leidersdorff wanted to take what he had learned for all his years in the music industry and apply it on a larger scale.

“I felt I could have a larger impact if I did something to create more community,” Leidersdorff said. “The concept of Lakehouse Recording Studios came to me. I wanted to have world-class recording studios, but more than just one. I wanted to have all the necessary things and the right gear that everyone wishes they had when recorded.

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‘It resonates with them’

“I brought in recording studio designer John Stork to help build everything and Lakehouse Recording Studios was born 11 years ago in 2013,” Leidersdorff said of his Asbury Park business. “I wanted to create community and infrastructure. I wanted to have a music store and multiple recording studios there that were accessible. I made it possible where you could afford to come in and record.

“From an education point of view, I wanted to have relevant music education, so we added the Lakehouse Music Academy in Red Bank,” he continued. “I wanted to have people learn the way I learned by playing every day. That was the vision for before we opened and then we did it.”

Leidersdorff also was eager to promote music among people in the Asbury Park community.

“When we first opened, there were not very many kids coming in from Asbury Park,” Leidersdorff said. “What I ended up doing was joining the Asbury Park Music Foundation and finding ways to get kids here. This foundation is a nonprofit organization that serves Asbury Park by creating opportunities for musicians by putting on shows and concerts for the community. It also raises money for music education.

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“Now, we go into all types of schools and teach music in the surrounding areas, including a newly added location in Red Bank,” he continued. “We have hundreds of kids that we teach music education to through this foundation. … There are kids who have never played before but have that interest in music and it resonates with them. We’ve seen these kids go on to musical colleges and they become singer/songwriters. We see how music can have an impact on people’s lives. The whole Lakehouse music business is mission-based, and we have core principles that are here to serve in a way that is helpful to others. We try achieving levels of excellence with the art.”

Some of the core offerings at Lakehouse Studios are music lessons, recording sessions and even offering artists the opportunity to be a part of a record label called Shore Points Records.

“I feel it’s my role to create opportunities for the artists, students and employees here” Leidersdorff said. “Some are them are writers, musical directors, managers and culture builders. I want to create a culture where people can feel comfortable, be part of a community and flourish. Some of our artists go on to be on the biggest record labels in the world. We are doing a lot.”

Leidersdorff has no plans to slow down.

“We want to help more youth of Monmouth County, including Asbury Park, Red Bank, Neptune, Long Branch and Freehold Borough,” Leidersdorff said. “We want to create more opportunities to play and experience music education. We want to help them to have better schooling and success in the music industry. Those are some of our goals.”

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Lakehouse Recording Studios

Owner: Jon Leidersdorff

Location: 619 Lake Ave., Asbury Park

Phone: 732-455-5669

Website: lakehouserecordingstudios.com