About Cactus House Recording

Cactus House Recording is a music production studio, print shop and publisher located in the historic New Almaden neighborhood of San Jose, California.  Founded by Trevor Gabriel in 2017, we have recorded, mixed and mastered many professional releases as well as stocked our own online store with posters and stickers we print and cut here.  We also publish most of our releases now on all major streaming platforms.  Some of the artists we have produced include:

  • Dark Satellite
  • Periscope
  • Dead Engine
  • Disrupt The Paradigm
  • Tony Gennaro
  • Mr. Refuse / Mystery Fuse
  • Lazyboyz
  • Divided By Seven (/VII)

The studio has been growing since 2017, but the history of Cactus House and the New Almaden neighborhood goes much further back.  New Almaden was originally a mining operation, located in the hills south of San Jose.  Cactus House was originally a cabin built by a miner in the late 1800's up near the entrance to the mines known as English Camp in what is now Quicksilver County Park.  In 1895 the small cabin was moved by a team of donkeys down to where it currently resides on Almaden Road - the main road going through the town.

As the decades went by the property fell into disrepair until in 2013 when Trevor Gabriel, a guitar teacher at a local store and touring musician, made an offer on the property and began renovating.  The original 200 square-foot cabin was in surprisingly good shape, but previous owners had constructed an unpermitted addition on the back with no foundation that needed to be rebuilt.  It took several years but in June 2017 the major work was finished; the original cabin was restored and a brand new two-story addition was built onto the back.  A couple months later, a new employee at the music store Trevor taught at (The Starving Musician, Santa Clara) asked about recording their band at Cactus House.  While working on this EP, and a few others that started shortly after, it became clear that the original part of the house, with it's tall ceilings and proper dimensions, naturally had a lovely sound for recording.

Over the next several years, Trevor built all the acoustic treatment panels, bass traps, installed acrylic panels on the windows, and also installed two heavy duty sound doors for the room while also accumulating all the used pro audio gear he could afford that came through the store.

By 2021 Cactus House Recording had produced over two dozen singles, EPs and albums, with 14 of them published under our own name on all major streaming platforms.  We are still growing and making new connections in our local music scene.  Follow us on YouTube and Instagram to see what we're working on currently, and don't be shy to contact us about production or publishing services.  Support local music, art and small businesses!

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Cactus House is a great, intimate recording space tucked away in a really cute and scenic neighborhood surrounded by beautiful nature on the outskirts of San Jose. Trevor is a great and versatile producer, engineer, and musician and did a fantastic job helping bring my musical ideas into reality for a very reasonable rate. He provided really good insights and suggestions throughout the process, which was really helpful since it was my first time professionally recording music. I would highly recommend Cactus House to any musicians looking for a place to record their next project in the South Bay!

Edward Benkhin (aka The Groovy Lalo) San Jose, CA

Best recording studio in the area hands down. Professional equipment with and an amazing production team, these guys will make your music sound exactly how you’ll want it.

Joe Morrow (of Dead Engine) Dead Engine

Great place to record. Friendly and productive environment. Good vibes. Very professional. Top quality recording gear, mics and amps. Check out!!!

Charlie Hanlon (of Dark Satellite) Dark Satellite

Amazing and very professional. So grateful for their service and help!!

Angelina Sta. Maria Crepelina

About Trevor Gabriel

Trevor Gabriel Cactus House Recording

I'm Trevor Gabriel, the owner and producer here at Cactus House Recording.  I've been playing music for most of my life and originally started Cactus House Recording to produce my own bands.  Watching Cactus House grow as part of the local music community has been a fulfilling experience, and makes me excited for what's to come!

A little about me: I have a BFA in music from the California Institute of the Arts, and have been playing and recording in touring bands for years.  The bands I have worked with have been mostly in the rock and pop world, but I studied and performed classical guitar in college and have been playing jazz shows since high school.  Another regular gig I had for over five years was playing in the church band at Harbor Light (Fremont, CA) and I still get called in for the occasional worship concert at other smaller churches.  I have also been teaching guitar professionally for over a decade, if you are interested in booking remote or in person lessons you can do that on my personal site.