Machines with Magnets is a full-service recording studio [in Pawtucket] that offers analog and digital audio production and a wide range of multimedia services, including music composition, sound effects, film-to-video transfers, video production, DVD authoring, graphic design and Web design, said Lauren Holt, the co-owner and studio manager, and Souza’s longtime partner.

But producing and recording independent rock bands are Souza and Holt’s passion, and they are getting an international reputation in the alternative, electronic and “noise” rock world...

...On Sept. 8, Machines with Magnets celebrated its anniversary in its new home at 400 Main St. in Pawtucket – a 13,000-square-foot former furniture mill that Souza and Holt purchased in 2004 with a small group of family-and-friend investors and extensively rehabbed.

In addition to the recording studio, the building now houses two live/work apartments and a gallery/performance space...Last June, Rhode Island School of Design hosted its department of graphic design’s graduate thesis exhibition in the gallery. The Rhode Island State Council for the Arts is considering using the space for its fellowship exhibition in February, Holt said.