David Baron was sitting in the audience at Bearsville Theater last October when U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. gave him an unexpected shoutout from the stage.

“I normally sit at the back and I enjoy that position,” Mullen said during a discussion following a screening of “Left Behind,” a documentary about five mothers seeking to establish New York City’s first public school for children with dyslexia. “But out front, I get to work with great people like David Baron.”

Mullen, a producer of the film, collaborated with Baron and others on songs for the documentary. Their work is one example of the far-reaching projects that pass through Baron’s Sun Mountain Studio, tucked into the mountains above Boiceville.

“I want to develop a brand that does real music, based on the Hudson Valley and what we do here, that captures the energy of where I live,” said Baron, who operates Sun Mountain Records with Sony Music Nashville. “I like the idea that the label itself will be driven by being here and being part of this area.”

Mullen’s visit also extended beyond the studio. Baron took him to Good Night in Woodstock for dinner, and the drummer stayed at Woodstock Way Hotel off Tinker Street.

At Sun Mountain Studio, a room off the deck is used for instrumentation that needs what Baron calls “echo-ey, room-ey sounds.” The drums for the Lumineers’ 2022 album “BRIGHTSIDE” were recorded there.

Downstairs, Baron moved from room to room where recording and mixing take place. Passing a piano, he paused.

“This is the piano that’s on ‘All About That Bass,’” he said.

Baron played piano on Meghan Trainor’s 2014 hit, which was nominated for Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

From his deck, with a mountaintop view stretching toward the Ashokan Reservoir and his dog, Sputnik, nearby, Baron reflected on his career.

“I’ve had a good life,” he said.

Baron has worked with artists including Shawn Mendes, Lenny Kravitz, Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson. He estimated that about 80 percent of his recording sessions involve musicians signed to major labels.

Singer-songwriter Ginger Winn of Kingston recorded at Sun Mountain Studio in 2024. Winn, 26, performs as a solo artist and with Lost Leaders, a band featuring Lumineers bassist Byron Isaacs.

“Sun Mountain is incredibly relaxing,” Winn said. “As soon as you reach the top of the steep road leading to the studio, it feels like you’ve arrived at a place dedicated entirely to creativity.”

As Baron oversaw her recording sessions, Winn said, “David never treated problems as obstacles. He kept things light, fun and focused on making great music.”

Baron was born on Long Island and moved to Woodstock as a toddler. His father, the late Aaron Baron, brought the family north to work with Albert Grossman, the Woodstock music impresario.

Aaron Baron was a pioneer in the recording industry who owned and operated a mobile studio housed in a truck. He engineered albums including the Allman Brothers Band’s 1971 live album “At Fillmore East,” B.B. King’s “Live in Cook County Jail,” also released in 1971, and “Mingus at Carnegie Hall,” released in 1974.

Although Aaron Baron did not work on The Band’s 1970 album “Stage Fright,” he was at the Woodstock Playhouse when his mobile studio was used to record it.

The family’s musical tradition is continuing into another generation. Baron’s 17-year-old son, Oskar, who plays piano and violin, recently graduated from Onteora High School and will attend New York University in the fall.

While David Baron was a student at Onteora Middle School, his family moved to South Orange, N.J. After high school, he studied piano and music technology at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio.

After college, Baron moved to New York City and met his future wife, Jinhi, then a journalist at Entertainment Weekly. The couple moved to Boiceville two decades ago.

Baron said the studio’s economic impact extends beyond his own operation, with visiting musicians and their entourages spending money on lodging, dining and recreation.

Clients have dined at Bread Alone in Boiceville and Woodstock, as well as Silvia, Cucina and the Bear Cantina in Woodstock and the Phoenicia Diner.

“The more resources we have in the area, the more attractive it is to record here,” Baron said. “We all run our businesses and they’re all intertwined. We rely on each other.”

John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.