Day 1!

Yup... we did it. Me and one of my best friends (JT Terrell) finally made good on our threats and we are opening up a recording studio. We have talked about this for a long time and finally decided the time was right. Really, it's much more than a recording studio. We plan for this to be mainly a commercial facility when it opens taking on business from anyone that wants to book the studio. Over time, as we pay off our initial investment we plan to use the studio a lot ourselves to develop artists we will be signing to our production company (CGR Nashville).

Anyway, we found a GREAT little mini "complex" in Berry Hill. There are two buildings that will be referred to from now on as "Studio A" and "Studio B", though Studio B is many different things. Here are some outside pictures.

We loved this place despite that fact that it wasn't quite as big as we wanted because there were two buildings, it's an AWESOME neighborhood (Berry Hill, which is often referred to as "Music Row South"), and the place just has a GREAT vibe. As you can see.. there is a huge deck out back between the two buildings, and also a huge front porch. To us, having a good place to hang when you weren't in the heat of it has always been a huge plus for studios we have worked in as a musician or as an engineer. This place definitely has that!

It also had enough space to allow us to do what we wanted to do room-wise. There is a really cool room that will become the drum iso room. It's a pretty good size (I forget the exact dimensions) and has a ceiling the slopes up to an 11 foot peak. It's at the far end in the picture above (the tape is for our planned walls and where the console will be...). The drum room is bigger than it looks in this picture... and yes, the console is huge. And 11 foot long Amek Mozart with 40 (gulp!) Rupert Neve inline channels and Super True automation!!

Here is another shot looking back the other way from inside the future drom room... yes, we know there is a lot of glass. :) I will tell you more about all of that as we move along.

We will have 3 isolation rooms as well in Studio A, each with a unique sonic signature. In "A" there is also a kitchen, a fairly decent-sized entry way (both of which could be pressed into use additionaly iso's if necessary. There are 2 decent-sized closets that will become machine rooms (one for the console PSU, and one for the computers). Oh... and there is a bathroom too... could be a great place for a nice small guitar amp if there be a HUGE band coming in or something. :)

Here is a shot looking into the back room which will be the largest of the 3 iso's (not counting the drum room) at about 11 x 12. And yes... I did drop some gear off that wasn't being used currently to make room in my unbelievably crowded room at home.

"Studio B" is also gonna be really cool! There are 4 rooms in this building. The owner of the complex (we are leasing) asked to keep one of them for the first 12 months for storage, then we get it back. So... the main room when you first come in will be our "lounge" or "green room". This will be the indoor place to hang out. The 2nd largest room will be my office and a mini studio where I can do all the technical stuff I do and also do some basic audio work. The 3rd room is going to be another iso room/storage room that I can use with my mini studio, but that also can be tied in to the main studio (in case a HUGE band is tracking there... lol).

Here are some pictures of how it looked before we started on it (I am a little late getting this blog going...we started work about 1 week ago. :)

Looking out at the "lounge" from the entry of the back iso room.

Looking into my future office/studio and out at my bright yellow vehicle... lol. :)

Looking into the future studio b iso room (about 10 x 9)

So.... I am pooped, so that's it for tonight. Much, much more to come!! Stay tuned. :)

Steve Lamm

www.crypticglobe.com

www.cgrnashville.com

www.clubcubasenashville.com