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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1986)
Eugene hosts an active recording industry... The recording business is alive and well in Eugene, but musicians need more sup port. local recording entrepreneurs say. The city supports more than a handful of dedicated recording craftspeople, in cluding two 24-track studios. Gung Ho Studios set the tone for Eugene’s recording resources. Billy Barnett, bass player for Eugene rock band Boys Club, worked in four-track studios in Cleveland, San Francisco and southern Oregon for ten years before getting his break with Black Pond Studios, a 24-track installation in Maryland. There, Barnett recorded a lot of Washington. D.C. rap-funk, among other projects. Offered a partnership in the studio, he decided instead to build a 16-track studio in Eugene, his home for years. Gung Ho Studios, ort line since December, is built “top-down.’' Barnett said The 16-track Trident mixing board is the smallest mddel in England's most °. highly regarded line bf recording . ’ / . equipment.. „ Barnett stressed. "The gear .here is real ly good!" He cited, the Neumann. AKG,° . and Sennheiser: microphones, and the six and-one-half-foot Yamaha concert piano as examples of topfoFthe-lirtte equipment available at Gung Ho. . Barnett added that all the outboard gear .— the digital equalizers, reverb and delays . — are "the transition between the incredi dynamic range of the human ear and the dynamic -range of the taRe.” Special ef fects should usually be "relatively invisi ble.” he said. "There’is a time and place for'everything, though."' . - One of the attractions at Gung,Ho is the half-live room: that is. the walls are half wood, and half carpeted acoustical material. Batnett said that this gives more natural sound.ambience. Barnett considered building eight-track, but is glad he'built 16. He said that for most' projects: tracks nine through 16 are the most important for such necessities as drum sound separation and vocal layovers. • r Gung' Ho Studios charges $20 per hour for complete service. Economically, Barnett feels he is competing with the eight-tracks in price, but. with the 24-tracks in services offered. Rick Nichols^ a local musician recording at Gung Ho, agreed with Barnett that musiciahs need-more support on local radio, and with local fclub owners. Nichols said he preferred to work at Gung Ho because of Barnett’s First-hand knowledge as a musician, and his skilled input in the recording process. Barnett plays several instruments besides bass.,and is also a piano tuner. Along with Boys Club, which expects to , start an album-length project in about a month. Gung Ho has recorded reggae, rock, "post-punk experimental music.” and jazz. • • • „ Trey Gunn, University graduate and dedicated musician who owns Subliminal Studios said that the studio grew out of a ? need for a place to work. • Gunn said he had paid his recording dues in four-track cassette studios. At first, he didn't really want to go eight track, but he was offered a deal too good to refuse. He said that he had not en countered problems with too few tracks. “Usually, you can plan ahead" to avoid that trouble, Gunn said, adding that he had 16 inputs to record into eight outputs, giving, in a sense. 16-track capacity at $15 per hour. Gunn said he has operated Subliminal Studios for three years, but the current eight-track installation had been ih place for six months, with a new AHtkB mixing board. Audio-Technica and Sennheiser microphones, and digital outboard gear. “Digital equipment is superior in ef: fects. but not in recording equipment," . ■ „ Gunn said. “The problem with digitalis that it's so complicated to use. It wili . • always have more capability than ypu .need, and if will always-get less expensive and more, complicated.”.. V, „ . . Gunn said business was .fair right now. .. oHe agreed with Barnett [s'assessment of the problem facing'Eugene recording studios: "Musicians just aren't making any .money arpund here. We're trying to figure how to get musicians more money so they can spend it with us." ° Recently, Gunri has recorded the Falling Spikes, and None If Any. two local rock bands. Last weekend, he had an 18-piece orchestral project. As a musician himself. Gunn looks to his studio to subsidize his music, and will be going to New York Ci ty this summer to work with musicians there. Triad Studios is the longest continuously-operating studio in Eugene. Gene Moritz, a former Air Force in telligence officer, co-owns Triad with his son-in-law, Hungarian emigre Peter Lorenz. Lorenz is also the engineer. Moritz said that the main impetus for him to get into the recording business was the success of his daughter Lori with the jazz Minors, a local combo which came to national prominence 10 years ago. Five years ago. Triad expanded to 24-track. Moritz said business is off. over the long run. He said that three years ago, he was running two shifts per day. and now operates only one. "We were going great guns up ‘till about two years ago. but a lot of the bands have moved away. There’s no place to make any money. It's hard for a studio to make it around here.” he said. Moritz added that his advertising pro duction business was doing better than the music recording side. “There's just not much exciting happening right now," he said, adding that that would be the case as long as the local economy remain ed so flat. The talent of Lorenz as an electrical engineer has helped Triad, Moritz said, because the studio has never had any significant “down time" in ten years. Moritz said one of the highlights of the last ten years had been recording Danny Siegel, a University graduate and jazz pianist. Triad has also worked with popular local musician Ron Lloyd. With a Tangent 24-track board. AKG. Neumann, Sennheiser and PZM microphones, and a Yamaha concert piano available, music and advertising produc tion costs $40 per hour at Triad Studios. Tom Gushuret. of Independent Sound, specializes in live sound reinforcement — he rents equipment to groups for live per formances. However, he also provides recording services at these performances. "We rent the (recording) equipment of whatever size is necessary" to capture live performances, said Gushurst. He added that he would either sublet the equipment and work with a group's own sound per son. or come in and do the recording |ob himself. Gushurst said he charges a . sliding scale for recording, depending on the. complexity of the job. •* . Among local groups Gushurst has work ed with are the {-Walkers. Shakubuku and pianist David Young. He also said he . . sometimes records demo tapes for infor-' • m*il and semi-forma 1"garage" bands. . Gushurst explained that in order "to get good live sound..it's best to have two sets of engineers — one to mix.the live show, and another to record it. You need « mike splitter, and you should have-a separate room, or a van. from which to do the.ac tual recording,'* he said. Independent Sound often provides amplification at the WOW Hall, as It did for Shakubuku and Shumba last Friday night. Eugene's other 24-track studio. The .Recording Arts Center, is owned by the* Eugene Arts Foundation. The Recording Arts Center is a "world-class facility." ac cording to Harnett. The center produces advertising in addition to recording music. Finally, on the periphery of the Eugene recording scene are those for whom the recording of music is a documentary func tion. Hob Heisser. of Group W (table’s Cable Access Center, records audio-video performances of local and regional artists for airing on cable-access channel 11. Heisser. a drummer as well as a techni cian. says he thinks of recording as "a reporting medium rather than an artistic creative medium per so." He added that that was why his cable-TV show consisted of live performances, unlike the "concept video” work of his sometime partner, jerry Leff. "I think (cable-access TV) is a fantastic opportunity" for musicians to get ex posure. Heisser said. The Cable Access Center was provided by Group W. as part of its franchise agreement, to provide the community with an opportunity to use the visual electronic medium. « Heisser said that the trend was strong toward audio-video production in record ed music. "This is unfortunate, in a way. because visual appeal is an added burden, which all good musical performers may not handle equally. They am two separate art forms; you can’t replace music, though," he said. Beisser regretted that music is not as important to today's youth as it was to those growing up in the lBttOs, particular ly with regard to lyrics. "Rock 'n' roll is In a sorry state, because production has taken over." he explained. "Glossy sound is more important than content today." . . . but representatives of area recording studios say that local and regional musicians need more community support if they are to at tain the affluence that will enable them to take advantage of the recording facilities available in Photos by Steven Gibbons hugene Story by William Homans Top right Hoys Club bass player Hilly Burnett opened his southwest Eugene recording facility. Cung Ho Studios, lust December. Below: Like Burnett. Trey Gunn is a musician who records us well. Gunn ' X 'jT established the 24-track Subliminal Studios to answer a need for a place to rm:ord his music and that of other musicians struggling for a little exposure. VINO'S SPAGHETTI HOUSE PIZZA /O H #4 342-8111 Introducing . . . FREE Delivery Service! * Tree delivery with a minimum order Also offering: • Full dinner menu • White or whole wheat crust • Limited delivery area 15th and Willamette Hours: Mon - Fri 11.00 - Midnight Sat. 5:00-1 00 a m. 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