How to avoid the pitfalls of your previous studio experiences—and vastly improve your chances to get your song published with major A&R representatives.
Stephen McElligott reminisces about a recording he made of one of his songs in a local studio. “I wasn’t happy with that production, really,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh gosh, how am I gonna save this?’ I basically turned around and found Studio Pros and thought, ‘Brilliant, they’re my savior.’”
McElligott has been playing music since he was seven years old. He wrote his first song at 16 and soon began playing in clubs and venues around Ireland and Scotland. His music is influenced by music that spans many decades, from The Beatles to Glen Hansard. But after years of writing and performing, McElligott still hadn’t achieved a major goal: recording a professional sounding, radio-quality version of his songs. “I’ve worked with musicians before, and it’s like wearing a blindfold when you take them into the studio because you’ve gotta pay them, and you don’t know how good they are, you haven’t really heard their stuff,” he explains.
Recording A Song Professionally Without Breaking The Bank
The Irish guitarist/singer/songwriter had been in need of a polished, professional recording solution that wouldn’t break the bank. Plus, he was hoping to have better luck submitting his music to TAXI to get song placements and licensing opportunities. He stumbled upon Studio Pros while searching online for recording studios and decided to learn more. “I clicked on it and thought, this is cool, and it’s affordable,” he says. “I had a listen to some samples and thought it was brilliant. I really needed this with the budget I’m on. I would spend 250 Euros on a musician for a day in the studio, whereas Studio Pros is only $125. I thought it was fantastic—it’s not often that you get to work with really good professional musicians, you know?”
Listen to Stephen’s track “She Blew Me Away,” produced by Studio Pros:
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“With Studio Pros, they give you a listen to the musicians’ capabilities, what they’re able to do, and the versatility that the musicians there have. And that really was the winner for me. It was the overall sound even more than the price.” (more…)
Thinking his music career was over, Arizona-based artist Tony Perre used Studio Pros to get back in the game.
“My experience with Studio Pros has allowed me to dream a little bit more about what I can actually accomplish as a musician,” says Tony Perre. “Studio Pros has allowed me to take all of my musical ideas and songs and get them out there. To me, having a very simple process with great musicians who basically do exactly as I ask them to do, with their quality of musicianship, it’s just such a winning formula to me that I can actually dream again from a musical standpoint.”
Perre had all but given up on music after a wakeboarding accident left him with limited mobility in his left arm, effectively minimizing his ability to play guitar. But after adjusting his playing style by relying on the use of a capo, he got the chance to play live music again with some friends in a local band. Knowing he could play again—and realizing he still had good ideas for songs and lyrics—Perre credits Studio Pros with providing the tools he needed to get back to making the music he loved so much. “I found out really quickly how badly I missed playing out, and I found out I could still play,” he explains. “If I could sum everything up in one sentence, it would be that there’s no expiration date for musical and lyrical inspiration.”
Studio Pros first came into the picture when Perre took the advice of a friend who knew he was looking to record an album. “He recommended that I check out the Studio Pros online method of getting my record produced,” he remembers. “When I went on the website and I saw all that Studio Pros had to offer, I was absolutely blown away. I thought I’d give it a try with one of my nine songs, and I quickly realized during my first song that this is no joke, this is world class.”
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Perre soon realized that Studio Pros was the best possible route to take for his music. “I honestly felt that, as a business guy, I don’t have a heck of a lot of time to do what I used to do: cross my fingers and hope that all my band members would have some time to spend in the studio. It was just a really long, very difficult process to get everyone together at one time.” He began comparing his Studio Pros experience to past attempts in recording studios and the choice became clear. “I checked out some local studios here in [Arizona] and it just became very apparent that, because I work a day job, it would be impossible to get something together in a short period of time with the quality of musicians that Studio Pros has.” (more…)
Using Studio Pros to breathe new life into some old songs, English Earl successfully proved to himself that he had what it takes to make great music.
English Earl suspected he had some good songs on his hands, but he knew his productions just weren’t going to cut it against the high-quality recordings of today’s music industry. “I kind of wanted to resurrect my old pop songs and write a few new ones, I thought it would be a great opportunity to prove to myself that some of my pop music wasn’t so bad,” Earl says with a laugh. This “resurrection” refers to the fact that he has been writing pop music since he was a 15-year-old in a garage band, but formally Earl was classically trained on piano and violin. After getting degrees in music theory and composition from the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City, he had established his classical chops. But Earl wanted to see how his pop and rock writing had evolved.
In order to really see what he could do, Earl knew he had to graduate from his local Charleston, South Carolina music scene; he needed to hire some real professionals. In the process of working with Studio Pros, he realized that their world-class session musicians weren’t just good for laying down polished sounding tracks… They could also give him valuable input and musical insight to improve the production of his songs.
“I think the main reason I chose Studio Pros was because I knew they had some very good musicians and vocalists there,” Earl explains. “I knew that the people I’ve worked with before in the studio who were just local musicians, they were there to make a living but were not really there to put too much into a song or its production. I felt that the quality of the studio musicians at Studio Pros might be higher.”
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Logistics also played a part in Earl’s decision. Most of the musicians he knew were in Virginia (where he used to live), making the price of recording a little too steep. “Living in Charleston made it impossible for me to go back and forth to record there, so I would have to drop all those musicians and start all over again, anyway,” he says. “And my schedule’s so busy, I couldn’t go in and teach everyone a song. Instead I could start recording with Studio Pros and not actually have to be in a studio.” Earl calculated the costs of recording an album the traditional way and decided Studio Pros was the way to go. “It was way too expensive for me to continue [the old way]. By the time you pay for studio costs, the musicians, the time you spent traveling, the CDs themselves and the artwork and everything, I felt like I was spending a lot more money than I needed to.”
Studio Pros artist Eliza Kelley has been a professional musician for years, but not of the rock variety. With a master’s degree in French Horn performance from Boston University, she has been playing and teaching classical music for a living in her hometown of Atlanta, GA. “I play with the Greenville Symphony, and I play in Atlanta with the Atlanta Pops and the ballet and the opera,” she says. “Those gigs are very fun, but they’re also very serious, very focused and high-pressure.”
Looking to enjoy the lighter side of music, Kelley took up a hobby as a singer/songwriter, a decision she’s glad she made. “I’ve been totally having a ball with it,” she says. But she didn’t initially intend on playing the indie-rock that now defines her sound until she began collaborating with Studio Pros. Originally writing pop songs with cello and percussion arrangements, it was a conversation with Studio Pros’ head engineer Kati O’Toole that convinced Kelley to go the rock band route. “When I talked to Kati the first time, she told me about the full production,” she remembers. “I thought I’d try it. I’m really happy with the direction it’s taken with Studio Pros. It does make me want to find a guitarist and bassist that I can go out and gig with.”
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Kelley found Studio Pros while searching for ways to get professional recordings of her songs. “I was trying to record my own stuff. I have plenty of friends that are musicians, but getting a good recording, I mean I’m not a sound engineer,” she admits. “I could use some help with it, and I loved that Studio Pros was a great package. You get musicians and pretty much everything’s done for you. I didn’t have to rely on lining people up and doing all of that. I really loved the way that Studio Pros was all-inclusive.”
With an upbringing that included classical Indian poetry and Eastern mysticism, it’s no surprise that Dimple Sharma’s music is infused with the sounds of music heard on the other side of the globe. Born in India, her parents passed on their love of the local culture. “My father’s side in India descended from a long line of meditators,” she says. “Thus, the mysticism of the East was ever present in my upbringing.”
Sharma has since moved to Toronto, Canada, but the Eastern inspirations of her childhood remain in her music. Combining a love of singing and writing songs with her seven years of experience studying ancient esoteric texts, she managed to develop a unique style that’s as much spiritual as it is musical. “The music became a mix of my east Indian origins and western sounds akin to Delerium or Tangerine Dream,” she says, referring to her use of instruments such as sitar and tabala on many of her songs. “The lyrics were written for the urban monk–the individual adapting to the ever-changing, modern paradigm, yet still upholding traditional values and principles.”
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When she was having trouble finding reliable musicians to record her projects, Sharma turned to Studio Pros to get Los Angeles session players to quickly record professional tracks for her songs. “I had read positive things about Studio Pros in music magazines years back, and I decided to contact them,” she remembers. “In the past, it was not easy to find musicians that had the technical expertise in addition to a high level of professionalism and ability to follow through on a timely basis.”
EDGE is a Studio Pros artist with a very unique sound. “My musical style is a mix of all the influences I had from my work and personal life,” says the French-born musician. “It’s also a mix of all the different periods I went through with music styles.” Some of these musical phases included The Beatles, Erasure and The Cure. He’s also been influenced by Brit pop like Pulp and the Manic Street Preachers, French music and American bands like Smashing Pumpkins and System of a Down. The result is a sound that touches on each of his international inspirations and keeps the listener wondering what to expect from the next song.
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Currently residing in Switzerland (after some time living in London and Madrid), EDGE came to Studio Pros after several disappointing experiences working with various sound engineers. “I was looking for people who could understand what I wanted to reach in terms of production,” he explains. “I found Studio Pros on the web and listened to the previews on the website. I found them just amazing, and decided to try.”
Italian artist Andrea Iorio incorporated Studio Pros into his writing process from thousands of miles away.
Andrea Iorio’s curiosity was piqued when he read an article about Studio Pros in Sound on Sound magazine. Living in Tuscany, Italy, he thought Studio Pros’ Los Angeles-based session players might be the best option for his songs. In fact, Iorio saw living in a different country from the musicians who would be recording his tracks as an advantage for his music. As an artist, he has always preferred letting musicians come up with their own take on his work instead of giving specific direction to achieve strictly his own vision. Working from a remote location made that process even simpler for him. “I like to hear a completely different vision from what I’m doing,” Iorio explains. “I try to give as little instruction as possible for my projects so as not to influence the performer. With Studio Pros it’s fantastic, because it can be different for sure.”
Growing up in Siena, Iorio was turned on to music at the tender age of 9 when a friend showed him Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. A few years later, it was a fusion band expanded his musical horizons even more. “At 13 I was astonished by the bass part of Weather Report’s ‘Teen Town,’” he remembers. “That started my musical education.”
Iorio studied jazz bass in Siena for a decade while also dabbling in piano and guitar. He began learning about the production and recording process and put together his own small studio. “The studies I’ve done gave me a 360-degree interest in music,” he says, “from jazz to rock to metal.” As a result, his music covers wide ground stylistically, having distinct jazz roots with a straightforward rock edge. Now he lists some of his favorite artists as Miles Davis, Steely Dan and King Crimson. He recently developed a strong interest in experimental electronic music as well.
Listen to Studio Pros musicians and vocalists playing on Andrea Iorio’s songs:
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Theodore Frederickson used Studio Pros to help him write and record his songs and won a highly-competitive songwriting competition from Broadjam.com.
“I vividly remember watching the very first appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show when I was just a young kid,” remembers Theodore Frederickson. “It really turned me on to music, as it did many people of my generation.” Frederickson continued his love for rock music throughout his life, but didn’t enter the industry as an artist until he had wrapped up a business career. “In early 2008, I semi-retired from the business world and began focusing on writing songs,” he says. “For the last three years I’ve really focused heavily on songwriting, and I’ve worked with a lot of studios and musicians.”
One of the studios Frederickson began working with was Studio Pros, which he found to be “truly unique” among the many online services he tried. “Their process is highly interactive,” he explains. One of the things that made Studio Pros unique to him was the fact that he could adjust his songs as many times as he wanted during the recording process. “It’s unlike most demo companies, which just send you the finished product without any opportunity for changes along the way.”
Two songs that Frederickson recorded with Studio Pros, “Tragedy” and “Blissful Sadness,” won in the highly competitive 2010 Broadjam.com 6-Pack Songwriting Contest. Broadjam has almost 200,000 members worldwide consisting of musicians, songwriters and producers who review each others’ work and vote on the contest.
Listen to Frederickson’s winning Studio Pros productions:
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Juggling his music and a busy personal life, Manx found Studio Pros to be the perfect way to get professional recordings without having to leave his best friend’s side.
Studio Pros customer Manx calls his music “blue-eyed reggae,” although he plays much more than that. “I do a little bit of everything,” he says. “I have one country song and some pop/rock songs, I have a rock song, I even have kids’ songs.”
Manx has been playing music for most of his life. “Growing up, my father wouldn’t let me leave the dinner table unless I sang to Johnny Cash and Nat King Cole and played a little plastic guitar,” he remembers. But it wasn’t until he moved to California to treat his mentor and best friend Leigh for cancer that he finally decided to make some professional recordings of his songs. “I got a chance to follow through on my dream,” he says. “Leigh wanted to make sure I could follow through with the whole music thing.”
After not having much success in having his songs forwarded by TAXI, Manx signed up for Studio Pros after seeing a magazine advertisement. Without a band of his own, and knowing he would need to spend a lot of time with Leigh instead of spending days in the studio, he called the decision to go with Studio Pros a “no-brainer.” His choice was justified when a former bass player for Bob Marley heard his song “Give a Little Love” and wanted to work with Manx (hear the song below).
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Working from halfway across the world, Reign Lee used Studio Pros to record with world-class LA studio musicians from the the comfort of her own home.
Playing across continents is hard work, but recording an album with musicians that are halfway across the globe is even harder. Unless you do what Hong Kong musician Reign Lee did: record with Studio Pros. Lee has no trouble finding musicians to back her up in the many countries where she gigs, but when it came time to record her songs, she came up short. “I’m a solo artist, so when I tour I play with different players in different parts of the world,” she explains. “I don’t have a set band that I can just head into the studio with and start working on a record.”
For her latest EP, Angels in the Dirt, Lee decided she would use Studio Pros to record with top Los Angeles session musicians while staying in Asia. “About a year and a half ago I came across an ad for Studio Pros on Reverbnation,” she says. “I’d also read an article in Sound on Sound magazine and was very intrigued by the whole process. I knew that with this record I wanted to have a different experience than what I’ve had in the past and I really wanted to kick it up a few levels. That was why Studio Pros really appealed to me.”
Lee cites two primary factors in helping her decision to record with Studio Pros: “From a practical point of view, there was no better way that I could budget my money to get anything better than what they were offering. The other factor was scheduling.” She found the convenience of Studio Pros’ 48-hour turnaround very appealing. “I’ve never, ever had anybody’s parts completed in that amount of time.”
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“My experience with Studio Pros has allowed me to dream a little bit more about what I can actually accomplish as a musician,” says Tony Perre. “Studio Pros has allowed me to take all of my musical ideas and songs and get them out there. To me, having a very simple process with great musicians who basically do exactly as I ask them to do, with their quality of musicianship, it’s just such a winning formula to me that I can actually dream again from a musical standpoint.”
With an upbringing that included classical Indian poetry and Eastern mysticism, it’s no surprise that Dimple Sharma’s music is infused with the sounds of music heard on the other side of the globe. Born in India, her parents passed on their love of the local culture. “My father’s side in India descended from a long line of meditators,” she says. “Thus, the mysticism of the East was ever present in my upbringing.”
EDGE is a Studio Pros artist with a very unique sound. “My musical style is a mix of all the influences I had from my work and personal life,” says the French-born musician. “It’s also a mix of all the different periods I went through with music styles.” Some of these musical phases included The Beatles, Erasure and The Cure. He’s also been influenced by Brit pop like Pulp and the Manic Street Preachers, French music and American bands like Smashing Pumpkins and System of a Down. The result is a sound that touches on each of his international inspirations and keeps the listener wondering what to expect from the next song.
