Featured Artist: Conor Matthews

We have just had the pleasure of completing an EP for a talented young songwriter with a lot of promise in his future. Still a high school student, Conor Matthews writes with a maturity way beyond his age. You can hear his influences of Jason Mraz, John Mayer and Rascal Flatts in his carefree style and sincere lyrics. It’s no wonder since he’s been writing, singing, playing piano and guitar from the young age of 9 years old.

Recording Your Productions Step By Step

Being an active high school student, Conor didn’t have the time to spend long hours in the studio. After searching online and speaking with our head producer, Kati O’Toole, Conor found that Studio Pros had everything he needed. Working online was simple for Conor. “I loved the step-by-step approach to recording so that I could determine if each instrument matched both the notes and the feel I had in mind. Working online made the whole thing really easy for me”, he says. “It allowed me to give my input and reactions at a time that was good for me.”

We started with a simple guitar/vocal demo of Conor playing his song, and then went more deeply into the production process layering each instrument step by step. Our guitarist laid down a basic sketch of his song to a click track which laid down the solid foundation track for the rest of the musicians to build off of. We worked with Conor to tweak the previews until he was pleased with the first sketch layer. Next, we moved on to live drums, and after his suggestions and our changes, we moved on to bass, guitars, keyboards, vocal tuning, backing vocals and finally mixing & mastering. He was involved every step of the way and provided guidance and feedback throughout the process so we were sure we were producing in the direction he envisioned.

Check out Conor’s songs here:

Rockin’ One Seat Over: 

Let It Bleed: 

Searchin’ For You: 

Recording Your EP Online

Besides the ease of working online, the help of the producers and the access to our staff of professional Los Angeles based studio musicians was really beneficial to Conor. “They had fantastic musicians available for every instrument and this was especially helpful when I was looking for a certain sound but didn’t know how to play that instrument”. A great moment in production was when we were working on backing vocals for “Searchin’ For You”, a light hearted pop tune. Something was missing. Conor suggested a “call and response” section at the end, but didn’t know exactly what he wanted. With the help of the producers and the vocalist, we all developed a really wonderful backing vocal that added layering and depth to build the dynamics of the music.

What’s next for Conor?

Using the songs he recorded with Studio Pros, Conor has put together a portfolio and is now applying to music colleges.  He is looking forward to studying various aspects of the music industry, and continuing to grow as a songwriter.

Until then, Conor is working to finish up high school and playing gigs around town to promote his songs, all which are available on itunes.

We are always so inspired to work with such fresh talent as Conor and how he’s just begun his career in songwriting. I can see a promising future ahead for this talented artist!

Get Your Songs Produced with Studio Pros!

To read more about StudioPros music production:

https://studiopros.com/music-production.php

If you’d like to get your project started, contact our available producers at: 1-310-928-7776 or email  us at info@studiopros.com

Posted on: June 30th, 2014