StudioPros

Making Music Across Continents With Studio Pros.

Collaborating with Studio Pros mixing and mastering engineer all the way from Nigeria, Silver Saddih proves you don’t have to be in the same country, even continent to make music together.  I was blown away the  first time I heard Silver’s vocals when listening to the mix preview of “I Be Boss”.   I shared it immediately with my Studio Pros co-producer Keeley Bumford.  We both were dancing in our seats listening to this track.

Silver hails from Kaduna state, Nigeria (West Africa) and currently lives in Lagos and Abuja.  His crystal clear R&B vocal tone has undertones of his native African roots which really makes his sound unique.  You can hear his world influences coming through in his vocal performances, combined with contemporary pop and R&B/hip hop influences.  It amazes me how we can collaborate with talent like this instantly between Los Angeles and Nigeria – thanks to the internet.

Silver talks about his life as an artist in Nigeria and what inspires him, “Well, life itself unfolding is an inspiration. I view music as being able to perceive and interpret everyday experiences. For me, it’s ultimately about expression.  Nigeria is a very vibrant country. And this energy reflects in every aspect of it’s social life. It’s in my beats, my melodies and lyrics. The average Nigerian is a happy person and knows how to have a good time. This has influenced the overall feel of my production as well as the instrumentation; with traditional percussion fused into my ‘Afro-pop’ jams.”

Listen to Silver’s final mix and master done by Studio Pros:

Finding The Right Fit For Your Post Production Needs:

Silver had produced his songs in Nigeria with local musicians and producers.  He was looking for the contemporary sound of American producers and engineers for his final mixing and mastering.  When looking into solutions for the perfect fit for the final touches, Silver chose Studio Pros.  “My music partner had explored the Internet for professional music services that are efficient and affordable.  He discovered a number of prospects but thought Studio Pros was offering something worth a try.  We approached the collaboration with Studio Pros as an experiment. We sampled a number of songs and profiles on the website and wondered how the kind of music we were producing would be interpreted by these professionals.   Studio Pros provides professional music services that are worth every cent. The mixing and mastering of ‘I Be Boss’ was the first job and we were very impressed by the overall quality of the service – it got accepted without a single correction.”

How It Works:

Silver and his music partners were able to order the mix online with Studio Pros’ convenient online mix order form.  They selected the style, services needed and were able to specify specific mix notes directly to our Grammy Nominated engineer.  After the order was placed, they were able to upload their final wav files of their project directly to their order through the Studio Pros’ server and they are instantly transferred to our engineer in the amount of time it takes the upload to complete.  Forget snail mail!  Within 72 hours, our engineer had a final mix/master and tuned preview for Silver awaiting him in his account.

Silver has continued with two more additional projects from his album and we are helping him get his songs Broadcast Quality for promotional purposes and radio airplay.  So I asked him, what’s next? – “We are currently working on a promotional album of these tracks. The target is to create beautiful music that can be enjoyed just about anywhere in the world.  As an artist, I would like to share my gift with as many people as possible. I would equally like to perform for as long as possible growing through every stage of the journey.”  You may wonder the same thing I do, WHAT IS THE RECORDING INDUSTRY LIKE IN NIGERIA? Silver states, “The Music Industry in Nigeria has come a long way. Time and again, a good number of artists have and continue to make their mark across Africa and indeed the world. The Industry is sophisticated with a lot of talent, some of the best recording studios in Africa and very good prospects for commercial success. In the last five years, there have been several collaborations between Nigerian Artists and popular acts across the pacific: the likes of Rick Ross, Kanye West and Snoop Dogg.”

I can only say good things about Silver and his voice.  While I’ll keep the other two tracks a secret for now, I will tell you one thing, THIS GUY IS GOOD!  I am looking forward to continuing a long term working relationship with Silver as an artist as we continue to help him with the final touches on his album.

If you have a project you’d like to collaborate on, contact me, Kati O’Toole at: 1-310-928-7776 or order online: http://studiopros.com/mixing.php

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 $150. 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:

“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.”

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.”
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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.”

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.”

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Do you check your email first thing in the morning?

Do you get up to date with the news online over an early cup of coffee?

Do you use the web to check your bank account balance?

These days we use the Internet for just about everything: communication with old friends via Facebook; updating our financial portfolios and checking stocks; even buying movie tickets for the 8:30 show. If you’re anything like me, the net is your go-to resource for just about everything. Sometimes I roll out of bed and land at my desk, checking my messages before I even brush my teeth. Now with smart phones providing Internet access just about anywhere, pretty much everything is tied to the online world. Even grocery shopping has moved from a notepad to an iPhone app for many people.

I use the web for music stuff, too. I like discovering new music, reading news about my favorite bands, even listening to streaming music online is simple now. But the net is not just a great resource for hearing other artists’ music; it’s also a great resource for your own music career.

Sure, there are sites that have articles about making it in the music industry today… So many in fact that it can be a bit overwhelming to read all the advice that’s available to you. But while many musicians turn to the Internet for tips on how to take their career to the next level, most don’t realize the Internet can actually be used to take their career to the next level.

I’m not talking about making a Facebook music page, although that’s certainly a good thing to do. I’m talking about using the web to record an amazing album.

That concept may even sound a little crazy to you. But ten years ago, the idea of being able to instantly watch millions of hours of video probably sounded a little crazy. And here we are, all regular users of YouTube without even thinking about that simple fact.

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Chord Slinger N Lola used Studio Pros as the glue that held together their long-distance musical collaboration.

When Chord Slinger N Lola instrumentalist Don Wallingford first heard Lola sing, he immediately imagined how her voice would sound over his music. “I said, ‘My God, that would be so good for my music,’” he remembers. The only problem was that they were living in two different parts of the country: Lola sang in a metal band in New York City, while Wallingford was based in Cincinnati. “I sent her an email and asked if she’d be interested in a collaboration,” he says. “My music was very different, it was more ambient stuff. But her voice just sounded like a perfect match.”

Lola is originally from Greece, but came to America to pursue a master’s degree in psychology. Some of her influences include the Cranberries, Fiona Apple, and The Gathering; Wallingford’s inspirations skew a little more toward classic rock artists such as Simon & Garfunkel and The Who, but he also loves some modern bands such as Green Day. The two of them started putting music on websites such as Thesixtyone.com where they enjoyed some success on the charts. As they moved on to bigger sites, the duo realized they might need to start getting a little more serious about their recordings.

“We were on Reverbnation about six weeks and we were number one in the region and doing pretty well globally,” Wallingford says. “We thought, you know what, we probably need to take this to a higher level.” Inspired by all the positive feedback they were getting, they decided it was time to record in an actual studio–but there was still the problem of being in remote locations. “We had another problem because I play all these different instruments on the synthesizer, but when I use drum loops it doesn’t sound the same as a real set of drums,” says Wallingford. “I’m also not the best bass player in the world. I can’t get that professional sound because bass isn’t really my thing. When one person’s doing all of the instruments, it’s impossible to get really good quality.”

As he was looking for options, Wallingford saw that Studio Pros had been selected by Sound on Sound magazine as the best online recording studio–which he realized was the exact type of service he needed. He soon became impressed with Studio Pros’ personnel. “I got to reading about how [Studio Pros] has all these Grammy award-winning people that really have their act together to play with you and make suggestions,” he says. “I talked to Lola and she said we should do it because we needed something studio-grade.”

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