No doubt, Newport, Rhode Island, is at the center of the music world every summer when internationally heralded folk, jazz, and classical festivals take over the city. Now, one Newport-based producer wants to make it a year-round destination for A-list musicians looking to record their latest hit.
Nick Sarazen is committed to bringing international artists to record in his new studio, which is still under construction, inside Belcourt of Newport. Born and raised in North Kingstown, the Brown University graduate and Grammy Award nominee wrote and produced the recent #1 dance hit, “Hot Honey,” a collaboration with DJ Tiesto and country singer Alana Springsteen, in Newport.
Sarazen and his wife recently returned to Rhode Island after spending several years in Los Angeles. “I moved out to LA to do music full time in 2019,” said Sarazen in a recent phone call. “I signed a publishing deal with Warner, and was brand new in my career, so I needed to be in LA full time. I was doing sessions every day, networking and meeting artists, producers, and songwriters.” While there, he collaborated with notable musicians including Ariana Grande, Snoop Dogg, D Smoke, and Sofi Tucker.
“I have been passionate about the state of Rhode Island all my life, and my lifelong goal has been to bring major recording artists to write, record, and produce records here.” So he moved to the 5th ward in Newport in the summer of 2024, splitting his time between Newport and LA.”
How does he intend to bring top-notch artists to Newport, a city not exactly known as a mecca for recording, like New York, Nashville, or LA?
“It’s something that I always bring up to artists who I work with in LA,” he said. “Most of them never considered Rhode Island a place to work. It came to mind when I was sent with artists on writing trips by their labels, and it was so repetitive – like Palm Springs, a few hours drive from LA or Lake Tahoe, also in California,” he explained. “On the East Coast, the only other option was the Hamptons. I thought that was a lesser version of Rhode Island. No one finds out how great Rhode Island is, if you’re going to the Hamptons over and over again.”
Back in RI, Sarazen began to search for a location for his studio, initially considering renovating a barn, before he was introduced to Belcourt of Newport’s Carolyn Rafaelian. It turns out that the noted RI entrepreneur was interested in developing a space for creatives inside the mansion. “I thought I was going to have to pitch her really hard on the idea, but she opened up by saying, ‘This house was always meant for music.’”
The studio is currently under construction and is expected to be up and running in the Spring. “We started building out the recording studio over the past few months,” Sarazen explained. ”The space is such a draw for people to come to Rhode Island. I can now combine the network of artists that I know with a recording experience unlike anything you can do anywhere else.”
“The main (recording) room is being built in the library. The studio will sort of float in these pre-exiting spaces in the mansion,” says Sarazen, who sees the studio eventually expanding. “There will be a dedicated live room where a full band could play. They already have this massive, beautiful Grand Steinway piano in a front hall, which we’ll keep there and mic it up for the ambiance, the natural reverb and everything. The idea is that the studio kind of lives within this space.”
Sarazen is in touch with artists who are looking to perform and record in the studio in the near future, although he is tight-lipped about who they might be. “We’re going to do a series of small concerts there; that’s part of the plan. We’re also planning a tie-in with the Folk and Jazz festivals with artists coming in to record while they are in town.”
Sarazen is bullish on his #1 song “Hot Honey,” and what it represents for local music makers. “This song went to #1 in December on radio and the Billboard dance chart,” he said. “It’s my first #1 song that was made entirely in Rhode Island. It shows that you don’t have to be in LA to be creating these global records. All this can really be done in Rhode Island. It’s proof of concept that it can be done right here in Newport.”
“I would love for Newport to be thought of as a music town on a national scale,” he adds. “The #1 factor for me wanting to make music here… by far, this is the place I’m most inspired by, and I have this feeling that I’m not the only one.”
Follow Nick on Instagram @nicksarazen.
