StudioPros

Tim and Christopher Allen decided to use Studio Pros to breathe a little life into their recordings.  In the end, they ended up getting a bit more than that.

Along with Brad Ackerman (drums) and Kristin Allen (vocalist), Tim and Chris Allen form the band Allenton Hill, who cite influences as diverse as Owl City (on the song “Fireworks,” listen below) and Switchfoot.  ”Truthfully, most of our music has been influenced by three main bands: Hillsong, Phil Wickham, and Coldplay,” says Tim, who plays lead guitar, does some singing, and is the principal songwriter of the group.  He’s been playing music with his brother Chris, who sings and plays acoustic guitar and piano, since they were kids.  ”When we were young, we were always around music,” Tim remembers.  ”Most everyone in my family plays an instrument or two… Eventually the music fever hit Chris and me.”

“Dad always turned up the music when we were driving around and he’d have me pick out all of the instruments,” says Chris.  ”This led to me having significant appreciation for the details in music.”

The members of Allenton Hill, all in their early twenties, got together when they began to play at a local Youth Center in their hometown of Dayton, OH in 2006.  They met Ackerman, who has now been playing drums for about 16 years, when he ended up living at their house for a short time.  Although he currently lives in Nashville, Ackerman drives up to Ohio every week to be with the band.

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With a little Studio Pros magic, Robert Norris is making music fun again.

Robert Norris had all but given up on music by his early thirties.  ”Music just wasn’t fun anymore,” he remembers. “I basically ran out of steam and decided to get on with my life.”

Norris had been a musician since he was a kid, when he took drum lessons and started his first garage band in junior high. As time went on, he began learning music theory, became a lead singer, and even got to sample the rock star lifestyle in the beach town of Marshfield, Massachusetts. “The summer we graduated, 1975, the drinking age was 18,” he says. “We were playing in bars that we were barely old enough to be in. Lots of fun, great experience, and a taste of the life.”

After a brief stint at UMass Amherst as a vocal music education major, Norris sang in several bands around the Boston area and began writing original music. After a band breakup, he took to the studio to record a cassette tape of original songs called Nobody’s Dream Come True. But despite getting some local airplay and seeing some interest in his songs, Norris felt like he had hit a wall; music was set aside and life went on.

But as most musicians can attest to, the music bug doesn’t easily go away; years later, Norris wanted to start singing again. But having been removed from the scene and all his old musician contacts for so long, he needed to hire session players for his recordings. “I contacted a studio locally,” he says. “Having no other viable options, I scheduled a four-hour session to start my first song. He charged me from the minute I walked in till the minute I left with no allowance for the three breaks the musicians took. And to make matters worse, I didn’t really like what we had recorded.”

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With the help of Studio Pros, James Robinson made recordings on the road and expanded his production company’s clientele.

James Robinson is one of the lead writers and producers of APT6 Entertainment, a music production team (also including Dwayne and Dwight Madison and Greg Edwards) based out of Los Angeles, CA.  As self proclaimed “R&B heads,” the team is heavily influenced by such classic R&B greats as Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder and The Underdogs, as well as modern acts like Neyo, The Dream and Trey Songz.

“R&B is just our thing,” Robinson says.  “APT6 was birthed in the church/gospel music scene, so it’s only natural.”

Robinson joined APT6 in 2007, two years after it was formed.  Though originally brought on as a hip-hop artist, he was eventually made a co-owner.  Between Robinson, Edwards and the Madison Brothers, APT6 covered the composing/songwriting and keyboard playing side of things.  Studio Pros helped them have everything they need to be a full-service production team.

“Studio Pros is amazingly simple,” says Robinson.  “I can’t stress that enough.  We uploaded our WAV files, then we were prompted to leave notes and examples of what we were looking for. Within 48 hours we had our first sample! The engineer was almost dead on AND open to making adjustments.”

He soon learned to love the rapid turnaround time that Studio Pros offered.  “When we asked for adjustments on bass levels and reverb, we were shocked at how fast the turn around time was–I believe it was within a few hours,” he remembers.  “That was when I became a huge believer in the quality and customer service of Studio Pros.”

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But the real kicker for Robinson was that he and APT6 did everything while they were on the road.  “We were going back and forth between in-home setups and handling a lot of business,” he explains.  Being in one place was close to impossible.”  And what did he think of what Studio Pros did with his simple recordings?  “The results were amazing.” (more…)

Roger Miller, like many musicians, is a bit of a perfectionist. Luckily, Studio Pros is full of perfectionists as well.

At the beginning of summer 2009, Roger Miller acquired the funding he needed to record a full-length album of his Christian alternative acoustic music. In order to get a professional sounding product, Miller decided he would head to Nashville, TN, rent out a recording studio, hire session musicians, and put together an album that could hold its own against any major label production. But during his online search for recording studios, he came across a more convenient option that caught his attention: Studio Pros.

Unsure of whether or not Studio Pros could really deliver the top quality product he was looking for, Miller sent in just one song to test the waters. The final product convinced him to continue on with his entire album. “The final album and the songs, they exceeded my expectations quality-wise,” Miller says.

Miller sang, played guitar and even some cello on his songs, but one of his favorite parts of the process was working with the professional studio musicians that Studio Pros provided. Through this recording process, Miller had access to some of the best musicians in LA playing on his songs, while still involving him in the production of his album. “Going into it, I had pretty high standards,” Miller says. But he was impressed with the caliber of playing he received. “The drum tracks were incredible. They were a lot better than I thought they were going to be. The backing vocals were stellar.” Miller used a strategy that combined using his own very specific musical ideas in conjunction with letting the musicians improvise and do their own thing when the songs called for it.

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Looking to take his recordings to the next level of professional quality, Tommy Owen teamed up with Studio Pros to make his music radio-ready.

“I felt like I was working with a group of super-talented friends that I had known forever.”

Tommy Owen didn’t have a plan for his music; it was simply a hobby for the San Marcos, Texas native.  But working with Studio Pros has a way of opening doors for artists; after putting his songs on MySpace and Facebook, Owen couldn’t help but pay attention to the response he got.  “I must have gotten about 50 emails the day I put it up on MySpace,” he says.  “Half of the feedback is about the quality of the recording!”

Owen, who runs his own graphic design company, has been playing music since he was a teenager.  He soon decided that producing his own music was a lot more fun than playing someone else’s songs in a band, so he bought a 4-track and started recording.  For years, Owen never felt the quality was up to par, but after teaming up with Studio Pros he found himself suddenly being contacted by radio stations asking him for a physical CD (a friend passed on Owen’s music to a radio connection).  He attributes his newfound success to the professional product he was able to make with the help of Studio Pros.

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20 years ago she thought making music might be fun. Now with the help of Studio Pros, Barb Bechler has accomplished what she never thought possible.

UPDATE: Barb has created dance/hip hop tracks from a capella demo versions to professional final products with the help of Studio Pros.  Three of these tracks have been added below.  She has also won two more songwriting awards in the Song of the Year competition for her tracks “Come on Out and Dance” and “Wishers” since this feature was written.

Barb Bechler’s path to becoming a musician is not your typical story. In fact, her creative use of Studio Pros’ services makes for one of the most unique musical journeys you’re bound to hear. While she’s been a fan and admirer of music for most of her life, Bechler never was a musician herself–until she began learning, experimenting, and expanding her musical boundaries with the help of the world-class studio musicians that Studio Pros provided. Utilizing Studio Pros’ services, Bechler found herself going from complete novice to award-winning songwriter in an astoundingly short period of time.

Not too long ago, Bechler was retired from real estate sales and writing children’s stories. Now, she is submitting her music to TAXI for publishing in film and television. “I’m probably coming from a different direction from a lot of people,” she says. “I’ve always admired musicians and listened to a great variety of music. The big thing for me was that I always wanted to be able to write songs.” Wondering how she could translate her story writing abilities to songwriting, Bechler had a breakthrough when her niece, Deanna, showed her how to use GarageBand music software.

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At Studio Pros we like to take from what’s worked in the past and apply it to what we’re doing today. We have worked with many artists that request this sort of “British Rock” sound, and we know just what they have in mind.

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“British Rock n’ Roll”, as they called it, was a significant change in rock n’ roll that took place in the late 50’s/early 60’s in the UK and later spread around the world. Artists were taking from US rock n’ roll influences and giving it a British edge. This style became the characteristic sound of the Beatles , The Rolling Stones , the Who , Herman’s Hermits, the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, The Kinks , the Small Faces, the Yardbirds, and Donovan among many others. It worked. People obviously liked what was coming out of this new era and it changed the wave of music forever.

When we have an artist’s reference to the overall final sound they are going for, we are happy to help in any way we can to produce their song the way they had in mind. Of course, this is not the only sound that we can achieve with our studio musicians at the Studio Pros recording studio, but an option for those post “British Rock” enthusiasts.

To get that “British sound” we tend to use a lot of compression on our piano tracks, space out the drums (big drum sounds are big in this style) and give the overall mix a dark overall sound with compression.

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Emily Russo is a Boston based diva on the rise who just recently finished a Studio Pros Music Production Service.

Listen to the production of her song “The Price of Letting Go” step-by-step with the Studio Pros process:

Step 1: Song sketch

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Step 2: Recording the drum track

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Step 3: Laying down a bass groove

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Step 4: Adding guitars

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Step 5: Recording keyboards

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Step 6: Final mix and master

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She has been playing piano since she was five years old, and started songwriting when she was fifteen. She is currently attending The Berklee College of Music in Boston where she is studying songwriting.  Emily draws her inspiration for songwriting from many different walks of life – both her own and other people’s. She worked with us on her song “The Price of Letting Go” and kindly answered some of my questions about her experiences with Studio Pros…

Who would you say are some of your main influences?

The Beatles for sure, but also oldies, motown, and old school metal. I’m not really influenced that much by today’s modern music.

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