Grab That Gun<\/a>, a record that would go on to define the band and, quietly, reshape how Simkin thought about releasing music.<\/p>\n\u201cThat process really affected me,\u201d he says. \u201cBy making a record in our building where everybody could hear it, the staff really got close to the records. You\u2019d come in and people would be like, \u2018Shh\u2014listen to that song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
What started as necessity became philosophy. The room turned into a studio. More records followed. And the idea began to take shape: what if creation, production, and distribution could all live under one roof?<\/p>\n
Simkin traces part of that thinking back to an old documentary about Berry Gordy and the original Motown headquarters in Detroit. \u201cHe says, \u2018It\u2019s not complicated. We make the music down there, and we sell it right over there.\u2019 And that really stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vision for 604 Studios was simple: eliminate friction. Cut out unnecessary middle steps. Build something self-contained.<\/p>\n
Then came \u201cCall Me Maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Call Me Maybe\u2019 happens, and suddenly I had the money to buy the building,\u201d Simkin says of Carly Rae Jepsen\u2019s viral single that spread like wildfire and is probably now stuck in your head (you\u2019re welcome). \u201cI\u2019d been saving, but that\u2019s what made it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a line he delivers with a bit of disbelief\u2014half joke, half origin myth. \u201cThe house that \u2018Call Me Maybe\u2019 built\u201d. But walking through 604 Studios now, the scale of that moment becomes clear.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/604-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Atmos studio.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The East Van compound that houses 604 Studios and 604 Records, Simkin\u2019s label that he co-founded with Nickelback\u2019s Chad Kroeger, unfolds in layers.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the recording studio\u2014clean, flexible, designed to accommodate everything from full band tracking to more intimate sessions. There\u2019s the soundstage, a cavernous, adaptable space that can pivot from a live performance setup to a film shoot without missing a beat. And then there are the connective tissues: the control rooms, editing suites, open areas where ideas are tested and reworked in real time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t trying to get into the studio business,\u201d Simkin explains. \u201cI was trying to avoid having to pay other studios to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n
That distinction matters. This isn\u2019t a commercial studio built to maximize outside bookings\u2014it\u2019s infrastructure, first and foremost, for the artists on the roster. A place where experimentation doesn\u2019t come with a ticking clock.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t paint the masterpiece,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I can provide the canvas and the palette.\u201d<\/p>\n
That ethos carries through every corner of the building. The wiring between rooms. The way live performances can be captured and routed directly into the studio. The ability to generate \u201cpristine content,\u201d as Simkin puts it, without the usual costs or logistical hurdles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re doing a show in this room, it all patches into our studio right there,\u201d he says. \u201cWe can make pristine content here basically at no cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, the space hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed beyond the 604 orbit.<\/p>\n
Over the years, the studio has quietly doubled as a production hub for film and television. David Suzuki has filmed interviews here. Jason Alexander once spent weeks in the building shooting a pilot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was weird\u2014having George Costanza here every day,\u201d Simkin says, grinning.<\/p>\n
More recently, 604 has begun opening parts of the facility to outside rentals\u2014carefully, and on their own terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis side of the building has always been open for rent,\u201d Simkin says. \u201cThe studio is harder, because I built it for our artists. But if there\u2019s a couple weeks where nobody\u2019s using it\u2026 why not?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a measured expansion, not a pivot. The core function of the space remains unchanged.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/604-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The live room.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If anything, 604 Studios feels like a response\u2014to an industry that\u2019s grown increasingly consolidated, increasingly abstracted from the artists themselves. And Simkin doesn\u2019t hide his skepticism of that system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to create it here and disseminate it into the world from here,\u201d he says. \u201cThat was the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mission extends beyond the physical space into how the label operates. Shorter deals. Clearer terms. A conscious effort to stay independent in a landscape where many Canadian labels have been absorbed by larger, often American-owned entities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be Universal Music,\u201d he says plainly.<\/p>\n
Instead, 604 occupies a middle ground\u2014large enough to offer real infrastructure, but lean enough to stay nimble.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re in an interesting spot,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re big enough that we can really do things for our artists, but we\u2019re not so big that we\u2019re sinking under the weight of our infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that infrastructure\u2014arguably\u2014now lives and breathes inside this building.<\/p>\n
Walking through 604 Studios, it\u2019s hard not to notice how little friction there is between idea and execution. A rehearsal can become a recording session. A recording session can become a live video. A live video can be edited, packaged, and sent out into the world\u2014all without leaving the premises.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not flashy. It\u2019s functional. And maybe that\u2019s the point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What started as a storage room workaround has evolved into something closer to a DIY blueprint \u2014 one where the distance between making music and sharing it is as short as possible.<\/p>\n
Or, as Simkin puts it: \u201cWe make it here\u2026 and we send it out from here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It feels intentional. But as Jonathan Simkin is quick to point out, his multipurpose compound on the outskirts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-621195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/604-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n