StudioPros

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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Kevin Tye had never made a professional product with his music.  With the help of Studio Pros, he’s now taken his passion to the next level.

Kevin Tye has quite a bit of musical experience–he played in local bands for almost a quarter century. Eventually he moved on to writing his own material, taking advantage of the fact that he could set up a home studio very easily with today’s computer recording options. These days, he writes and records songs in his spare time when he’s not a this full-time job as a teacher. “I do it as a passion,” he says. “I just like to create things.” But until recently, he had never attempted to make a fully professional recording of his music.

Tye writes in multiple styles and genres, but as of late he has been focusing his creative efforts mainly on writing country songs. He saw an ad for Studio Pros in a magazine. “I decided I would give it a try,” he remembers, “to see what one of my songs would sound like through a professional studio.”

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“I was a bit unsure exactly how it was all gonna play out,” he admits. But Tye’s confidence grew with each step of the recording process with Studio Pros; it started with a song sketch and built from there, while he gave his input on each of the tracks as he heard them. He was particularly interested in hearing the musical direction his songs would take by letting Studio Pros’ session musicians make their own decisions. “I wanted to see what the choices would be for people who are doing this thing day in and day out,” he explains. Then, giving more of his own feedback as the process went on, Tye struck a balance that he felt optimized his songs. “In the end I think it was a good mix of musical choices. For example, the singer did some slightly different things in the vocal than I had done, which I ended up liking quite a bit. So it was kind of that process where I was just feeling it out at first, then giving more input at the very end stages.”

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Jeff Heiniger knew the importance of a professional production–so he turned to Studio Pros when he didn’t want to settle for anything less.

Jeff Heiniger has known what goes into a professional production for a long time. In 1987, he won a national songwriting competition in the UK that was put together by Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. The prize: a chance to record in the Stones’ state-of-the-art mobile recording studio with top producers Mick McKenna and Terry Taylor. “It was brilliant to work with actual professionals,” Heiniger remembers. “They turned our demo into something that was fantastic.”

Heiniger first started taking music lessons after getting a piano when he was 13.  He also started listening to all sorts of pop music, from Electric Light Orchestra to Depeche Mode, ABBA to The Beatles. Since winning the competition he has put together a Pro Tools-equipped home studio, but soon realized that without a professional producer behind the board he wasn’t going to achieve the same sort of radio-ready product he got with is winning song. “The problem is that I’m not an engineer, so I didn’t have anybody to record my stuff,” he explains. “What I found was really good about Studio Pros was that the production was sort of taken out of my hands in a way.”

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When he found the Studio Pros website, Heiniger was actually looking for session vocalists on the web. “I couldn’t find anyone locally who was any good,” he says. “It’s quite laborious, taking your music to a recording studio and finding an engineer who will record a session singer who you may not like. It seemed quite a lengthy process, and one that may not yield results at the end of the day.” He found himself intrigued by the Studio Pros website. “The site itself looked very professional. Professionalism and price were important.”

With Studio Pros, Heiniger was able to focus on writing a song on piano, then letting our team of world-class studio musicians build the rest from the ground up. Along the way, he would provide input and feedback to make sure everything came together how he wanted it. In order to make it easier, Heiniger would provide reference tracks with other music that matched the vibe he was going for with each song.

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