By Laura Foti

NEW YORK – Aspiring musicians know the hardship involved in cutting a demo tape. Most new acts are unable to afford sufficient time in a high-quality recording studio, and must settle for a rush job with often unsatisfying results.

Because his studio in Connecticut, The Schoolhouse, is not strictly a business, Dan Hartman is willing to give new acts a break. By no means does he shun big names –recent productions have included works by Neil Sedaka, David Johanson, Johnny and Edgar Winter, .38 Special, the Average White Band and the Plasmatics – but those just starting out hold a special place in Hartman’s heart.

"I’m not in business," Hartman says. "I’m not soliciting anybody. There is no ‘Schoolhouse Recording Studio, there’s just my house."

A one-room schoolhouse built in 1760 serves as a living room; there are 15 other rooms, including the studio proper.

"The only things that are recorded at the Schoolhouse are projects of my own that I’m doing or projects for friends who would like to use the studio and make a record in the kind of atmosphere that exists here," Hartman explains. "Partly that’s because the studio is two doors away from my bedroom.

"Studio rates are not exorbitant," he continues, "that if you only have a certain income, you’re rarely given a chance to get a sense of who you are musically. I want those people to get a chance, so I make my studio available to them at reduced rates. A group called the Outsets, for example, just finished a two-day demo tape."

Hartman, a songwriter, producer and engineer, is first and foremost an artist himself; his latest album, "It Hurts To Be In Love," was recently released on Blue Sky Records. Past singles were disco hits "Relight My Fire" and "Instant Replay," but Hartman is returning to his rock-oriented roots these days. His musical career began with the Edgar Winter Group.

In fact, his first home studio was in a house at Sands Point, N.Y. where he and the Winter Group were based until their 1976 break-up. "We needed equipment in the house," Hartman says, "so we could capture an idea right there." The equipment in sands Point included a 16-track set-up.

The Schoolhouse, by comparison, houses a $300,000 24-track studio and illustrates Hartman-the-artist’s approach to recording. "creativity is an interesting thing," he muses. "You can sit back, have a glass of wine, watch some television, whatever, and get a terrific idea of what you want to do. If you then have to book time and travel to New York City, it’s often not possible to re-create the same feelings. The great thing about being at home is that as soon as you get an idea you can put a mike at the piano and record it. That way you don’t lose the vibes, and you don’t have to worry about finishing the studio’s next booking arrives. I know a lot of people write in the studio so they don’t lose the immediacy, but my bills aren’t as high."

Although the Schoolhouse features carefully chosen, sophisticated equipment, Hartman claims his approach to recording is artistic, not technical. "I never look around to see what’s new," he says. "I’ll never be asked to serve on a AES panel. But every six months I talk to the top people in the field and get their advice. What it all comes down to, though, is that it’s not how clean a record is, it’s the feeling behind it.

"Why spend $3 million on a studio?" he asks. "you can get some great sounds in a funky four-track studio with a few bottles of champagne. Recording is a human thing, not technical. There are computer chips that can exactly duplicate the sound of a snare drum, right down to including mistakes. That’s nice, but where do you get the human feed-back? We’re all becoming wizards- what about the drummer’s energy? That adds a sexualness, a vibrancy you can’t get no matter how sophisticated equipment is."