The Duke University Police Department is currently investigating the weekend theft of thousands of dollars worth of equipment from a student-run recording studio on West Campus.
The theft comes just weeks after Small Town Records opened its doors in the West Union Building below The Loop. An estimated $3,000 worth of equipment-an Apple laptop, an external hard drive and two pairs of studio headphones-went missing sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, said Colin Tierney, a sophomore and co-founder of the record label, which is a committee of the Duke University Union.
Tierney said he discovered the theft around 11 a.m. Sunday when he arrived at the studio. The door was unlocked when he got there, and he found a fire extinguisher on the floor and a layer of snow-like discharge coating the room.
"I immediately assumed there had been a fire and that someone had put it out," Tierney said. Minutes later, he discovered the equipment missing and called the police.
DUPD officers said Tuesday that the incident was under investigation, but could not offer specific details about the case.
Tierney said he found no sign of forced entry at the studio, which is also used as a storage space for Freewater Productions, another Union committee. He said he did not know who was the last person to leave after campus band Calloused Hands finished recording Saturday, but he acknowledged that the door sometimes does not completely close after patrons leave.
The only students with keys to the space are members of Small Town and Freewater, said Brian Crews, assistant director of DUU in the Office of Student Activities and Facilities.
Tierney said two sets of footprints resembling work boots were visible in the dust Sunday morning. A number of cabinets had been opened, but several pieces of expensive recording equipment remained untouched.
More than a dozen master files of songs that had been recorded, including material for several works in progress by Calloused Hands, were on the stolen computer.
Senior Patrick Phelan, who leads the band, said they had almost finished recording a six-song disc. "We lost 40-plus hours of work in the studio," Phelan said.
It was unclear Tuesday whether any of Freewater's equipment was missing. Most of their valuables were locked in a closet within the studio, said Freewater Equipment Manager Brian McGinn, a senior and Recess staff member.
Tierney said the space will need to be professionally cleaned, as the chemicals from the fire extinguisher discharge may have damaged some of the recording equipment. The next step will be replacing the missing materials, and he said he hopes to have the studio up and running again within two weeks.
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