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The historic Gunter Hotel in downtown San Antonio is adding a new chapter to a musical history that stretches back more than a century.
The hotel has opened the Gunter Studio, a professional recording facility on its second floor that features a 48-channel Neve Genesys Black mixing console and other high-end equipment. The studio is the final phase of the Gunter’s $57 million renovation, which was completed with the hotel’s reopening in September 2025.
The studio is designed to serve professional musicians, touring artists, students and nonprofits — while giving San Antonio musicians a new place to record and collaborate.
“From the very start of this renovation, we felt that we had a duty to honor the music that has filled these halls for over a century,” said Jiwon Choi, owner and managing director at Axle Capital. “We hope that the Gunter Studio will create more legendary musical moments that people will be talking about for years to come.”
For Elizabeth Fauerso, a consultant and adviser who helped develop the concept for the studio, that broader purpose was important from the beginning.
“When Jiwan and I were talking, it was like, how do we take this from being a side note, like 'Robert Johnson recorded here, isn't that cool,' to being something that we can experience as central,” said Fauerso. “So, we honor that legacy but also make it a vibrant contemporary chapter that is an extension of decades of the hotel being a gathering place and a catalyst for music.”
That legacy goes well beyond Robert Johnson.
In the early decades of the Gunter, musicians and bandleaders, including Alphonse Trent, Mack Rogers and Henry Lange, held residencies at venues inside the hotel, including The Cave, the Keystone Club, the Rose Room and the Crystal Ballroom. Jimmie Rodgers, often called the Father of Country Music, also lived at the Gunter and performed there.
And in November 1936, blues musician Robert Johnson recorded songs in Room 414. That session helped cement the hotel’s place in music history and has made the room a destination for musicians visiting San Antonio.
The new studio is intended to make that history something artists can experience rather than simply something the hotel talks about.
Musician, producer and composer Michael Ramos oversaw the studio’s technical vision. Rather than designing the room himself, Ramos hired Nashville-based studio designer Steve Durr. Ramos selected much of the equipment, including the Neve console and gear from San Antonio’s Alamo Music.
Ramos, a Grammy-winning musician and producer who has spent decades touring and recording with artists including John Mellencamp, Paul Simon, Robert Plant and Patty Griffin, said he approached the project from the perspective of a working musician.
“I know a lot of musicians, and I know what their standards are. If it was my studio that I was building, what I'd want for them as far as the comfort level, and the equipment, the gear, the console, and everything, I just want it to be pro level.”
The studio includes equipment from Universal Audio, Neve, Manley and Pultec, along with Focal Trio monitors. A dedicated engineer is included with every booking, and the studio can comfortably accommodate groups of about six to eight people.
Ramos said the goal was not simply to create another recording facility, but a place that musicians would be excited to visit.
He recalled spending much of his roughly 40-year touring career traveling everywhere from broken-down vans and station wagons to private jets. When he received a tour schedule, he said, he would look for the venues he particularly enjoyed playing.
“We had our favorites. It would give us a little bit more of a spring in our step. You know, we put a little bit extra into it, and that is what we're trying to achieve at the Gunter — not just in the studio, but with our live shows and venues and events that we put on.”
The studio initially plans to charge about $800 for a full day, including an engineer. But Ramos said the rate is not intended to put the facility out of reach for local musicians.
“That rate is not set in stone, and when it comes to local San Antonio artists, maybe a young artist that doesn't have the money or only has a smaller budget — we will work with anybody, just to try to make it happen.”
That accessibility is also part of Fauerso’s vision for the project.
“If you create a place that is generous, meaning it’s well-designed, well-thought out, thoughtfully appointed, and make it accessible, you don't have to try very hard for artists to come in and do amazing things there.”
The Gunter is also giving musicians the unusual opportunity to record in Room 414 itself. Audio from the room can be piped into the new studio, connecting a contemporary recording session with the physical space where Johnson recorded nearly 90 years ago.
The studio is part of a larger music program at the hotel. Guest rooms include record players and copies of Johnson’s King of the Delta Blues Singers. A vinyl library contains nearly 1,000 records, and live music is regularly featured at Bar 414.
The hotel has also created a musical council to advise on programming and the recording experience. Its members include San Antonio musicians Joe Reyes, Garrett T. Capps, and Nicky Diamonds, music advocate Celeste Quesada, Black Pumas producer and musician Adrian Quesada, and Will and Noel Bridges of Antone’s Nightclub.
For San Antonio, Fauerso said, the larger opportunity is to build on a musical identity that has always been part of the city’s history.
The Gunter has spent more than a century bringing musicians and audiences together. The new studio is an attempt to make that role relevant to another generation — giving artists a place to record, perform, meet and create while bringing visiting musicians to the city.
Ramos said, “We are going to probably start booking in earnest sometime toward the end of October and November. We'll hopefully have all the pieces in place, but we're going to be making music in there very shortly.”
The public can tour the Gunter Studio from 6 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday evenings through Sept. 9, before the hotel’s Singer Songwriter Series begins at 7 p.m. on those nights.
