From left, Charlie Reinertsen, Joe Waters, John Murphy, Josh Weise and Jessie Elizabeth join together in the first ever SL’OO Line at The Garagery while shooting a promo video for the “Saranac Lake Hootenanny,” a weekly open mic starting this Monday. (Provided photo — Charlie Reinertsen of Twolined Studio)

SARANAC LAKE — There’s a new weekly open mic starting up at The Garagery this Monday. Host Charlie Reinertsen said the “Saranac Lake Hootenanny,” or “The Hoot,” is an event where artists can get their performances recorded and produced for free.

Reinertsen is no stranger to the Saranac Lake open mic circuit. He’s been joking that the last thing Saranac Lake needs is another open mic. There’s already a lineup nearly every day of the week, sometimes two a night.

But he hopes his will offer something a little different. Reinertsen is an audio/visual producer by trade and is the owner of the Twolined Studio production company. While he typically works in conservation and education, he wants to turn his attention in his free time to music.

All performances at the Hootenanny will be recorded, produced and uploaded to social media, Reinertsen said. Performers can then download the footage and use it how they want. He just asks for a shout-out for his studio and the Garagery.

Reinertsen moved to Saranac Lake in 2020 and found a welcoming community with many places to perform, and he looks forward to having a chance to “give back.”

“I’ve been blown away by the music community here,” Reinertsen said. “To be in a place that is this wild with so few people, the density of artists and musicians is amazing.”

He said he wants to promote artists who are doing amazing stuff but don’t have the time or resources to make recordings of their own work. He said the Hoot is “for musicians, by musicians.”

Reinertsen himself has been playing guitar since he was “tiny” and said writing and playing music has been a huge part of his life. He always wanted to record but did not have many chances. Now, he can, and he wants to open it up to the community.

When he reached out to Garagery owner Adam Harris with the idea, Harris said it was exactly the sort of event the basement event space is meant for, and will become the space’s first weekly event.

“Twolined Studio will record and produce the SL Hoot with a full-length, single-camera, horizontal-format 4K film with mixed and mastered audio that will be shared each week on The Garagery YouTube channel and on Twolined Studio platforms,” Reinertsen wrote in a news release. “Each artist can download and edit these films to post to their own channels. Your performance is yours to share, just give a shout-out to the film production crew @twolinedstudio and the venue @TheGaragery when you post and we’ll be sure to promote your work.”

If people want further editing, but don’t know how to do it themselves, Reinertsen is offering these services for a fee.

Last week, a slate of musicians went there to record a promo reel for the event.

“It was a blast,” Reinertsen said.

The promo reel can be viewed at tinyurl.com/c2wyzzf2.

Reinertsen said every open mic has a different “flavor” and draws a different crowd. He’s hoping the Hoot will cross some of the boundaries and bring people together to break out of their typical routines.

The Garagery is a smaller, intimate venue, he said, and the stage and studio lighting put performers in a different space.

He also said people can just come to listen.

“Come with or without music,” he said.

Drinks will be served at the bar and chatter is encouraged. Reinertsen said he’s hoping the Hoot will be a gathering place for people to hang out and talk and celebrate artists.

The open mic sign-up starts at 6:30 p.m. Reinertsen and featured artists will perform until 7:15 p.m. when the open mic starts. Then at 9:30 p.m. the event will move into the “SL’OO Line.”

That name is a bog joke. Reinertsen is a photographer by training and runs a marketing business. His day job involves education around conservation. A slough (pronounced like slew) is a channel in a wetland.

He said the SL’OO is his nod to the Tri-Lakes’ more open jams, where musicians come together with what they have and figure it out as they go, where artists who have never played together work through a song together.

The Garagery can be found by the Grizle T’s dumpsters in the Dorsey Street parking lot.