BETHEL — On one of the coldest days of the year, Conni St. Pierre, musician, composer and co-owner of The Outlook recording studio, was preparing for a live recording with a local band.

St. Pierre and her husband, Ted, moved from Boston to Bethel in 1980. In 1984, The Outlook was the first recording studio in Maine to have 24-track recording capability. Now, the studio is completely digital and the St. Pierres have just begun recording directly onto USB drives, streamlining the process even more.

In their studio Friday, the two fiddle with channels and wires, trying to get the video feed from the recording studio to show up on the TV in the control room, which also serves as a living room in their 1830s farmhouse. The sight is incongruous as Ted leans over the massive mixing board studded with buttons, toggles and sliding switches, each with their own purpose.

Eventually, Conni finds the right combination of inputs and channels and an image of the studio comes into view. A few rows of chairs have been lined up in front of the stage. Stools and music stands are in a semicircle for the band; stones and crystals decorate the mantel behind the stage. Above that, a wooden sign reads: The Outlook.

It’s a blend of rustic and modern, technical and homey. Today, having a home studio is common, Conni said, but when she and her husband started The Outlook, it was new and different.

“It was really unusual,” Conni explained. “That’s what we kind of wanted to set up, so that people would feel like they were recording at home, so it was more relaxed and not clinical, not really expensive.”

Now, according to Conni, musicians are more educated about recording, and will often bring in prerecorded materials to be mastered at The Outlook.

Mastering is just one on a long list of services offered by the studio, which includes mixing, editing, soundtracks, advertising and analog to digital transfers — even graphics and album art.

“Diversification is absolutely key,” Conni said.

She and Ted provide all services because The Outlook doesn’t have employees.

After 35 years of operation, Conni’s favorite part is working with the musicians. Especially since she is a musician herself, playing instruments, including flutes and the harp.

When a large ash tree blew down on the 103-acre private wildlife preserve the St. Pierres own, they knew they had to use it for something.

“Part of our forestry plan was that we would sell wood to have instruments made,” Conni said.

Al Solbjor, of Dream Spirit Flutes in Waltham, Mass., is a flute maker and often records at The Outlook. Conni provided him with the wood from the ash tree and he made her a traditional Native American flute.

There is still wood from the ash tree to make more flutes, and the trimmed branches from the St. Pierres’ lilac bushes will also be used. Conni even has a flute Solbjor made from an old swing set.

Conni performs occasionally, playing harp at the Moses Mason House at Christmastime, and the flute at the Mahoosuc Arts Council concerts in the summer.

She recently recorded a few tracks for a biofeedback video game, where the player controls the game with their heart rate and body temperature, measured by sensors on the player’s fingers. Conni played the company’s first game in 2005 and thought her music would be a good fit. The company agreed.

A recording from one of Conni’s Mahoosuc Arts Council performances was featured on a compilation called “Saving Cecil’s Pride,” which was put together to raise money for the Big Life Foundation in Africa after the infamous poaching of Cecil the lion.

“Besides my own creative expression, I really like helping other people to get their ideas and music and whatever out,” she said.

The band shuffles in, hauling instrument cases and discussing with Ted how to best set up the stage area. They’re a trio of women homesteaders from Waldo County, called Sugarbush, who write and perform folk and Americana-style music.

Amy Green, who plays guitar and sings in the band, is from Bethel and first met Conni, a regular of the local music scene, when she was 16. After recording solo material with her at 25, she’s now returned to The Outlook with Sugarbush.

The band’s explanation of how they came to record at The Outlook isn’t unusual. People hear about the studio, mainly by word-of-mouth.

“We didn’t even have … a business sign, until 10 years ago,” Conni said.

“We really enjoy the energy that we get when we’re performing with an audience,” Camille Giglio said, a cellist in the band, on why they wanted to do a live recording with an audience.

Conni said The Outlook does a couple live recordings a year. She would much rather be doing things like this than editing promotional materials for the studio, although that’s something she knows she and Ted will have to work on eventually.

The studio has several upcoming projects, including an audio book recording, and album recordings with rock and blues bands and a singer/songwriter. The range is eclectic, “everything from bluegrass to death metal,” Conni said.

Asked if she thinks The Outlook has a long future ahead, she replied with an emphatic, “Oh yeah!”

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