Thrownin' Down on the Upright

Thrownin' Down on the Upright Piano
...soundtrack of my life.

The studio has acquired a second piano! In addition to our all white Yahmaha C3 baby grand, we now have a Thos. Goggan and Bro. upright piano.

Tony Harrell, one of the co-owners of the studio, arranged to have this ridiculously beautiful upright delivered to us earlier this week. It has a few battle scars from many years of service. I'm not exactly sure how old it is, but it appears older than I am, which is getting increasingly more difficult to say.

With regards to keyboarded instruments living here at the studio, I think we're doing pretty good. Along with the two pianos in our aptly-named piano room, there is also a Wurlitzer, a B-2 with leslie cabinet, a Rhodes, and even a Mellotron available to every client that comes through our doors.

Now we need to get this thing tuned. I'm off to call a soon-to-be-unhappy piano tuner. Our new upright needs some extra love after traveling to its new home.

Music Video Shot At Vibe 56 Studio!

Vibe 56 exists within a house that was built in 1911. Much of the original beautiful woodwork is still here. It served as the backdrop for a video shot here earlier this year.

Megan McCulloch Li not only shot the video here at the studio, but also recorded the song "Blood in the Water" here as well.

This also serves as proof that we record music other than country. In fact, we've had several rock, gospel and bluegrass projects come through our recording space. We're always excited to take on any recording project that takes advantage of our recording space. That natural presence easily comes through on the tracks recorded here.

Full disclosure: Megan McCulloch Li is the daughter of Paul McCulloch, who is one of the owners of Vibe 56.

More information about Megan is available on her website: meganharp.com.

Music Row Photos From Above

Next to the UA Tower
Vibe 56 sits one property away from the 'Artists Building'.

What is most commonly referred to as the UA Tower, the nine-story hexagonal building on Nashville's Music Row, has served as a landmark for us when explaining the location of Vibe 56. There is only one property between the studio and the iconic building.

The building itself was erected in 1973, the same year I was born. I love hearing the stories from folks who worked in one of the many recording studios, radio stations and publishing offices that once occupied the tower.

Newly renamed as the 'Artists Building', it has sat vacant since a 2005 fire that occurred a few weeks before Vibe 56 was born. The building has since been completely gutted from the inside and work is currently underway to transform it's interior as a mix of residential and commercial spaces.

I recently had the opportunity to take some photos of the studio and the rest of music row from the top floor of the tower. Borrowing from an often-used phrase here on Music Row, the view from the top is amazing.

The studio from above:


Looking North:


The GAC building and some Curb buildings, located West and East (respectively) from the tower:


Finally, a couple of photos facing South:


One bonus photo with "Secret Sound" in the foreground, but don't tell anybody:

Engineer By Fire

Engineer By Fire
...figuring it all out.

The Music Industry Glossary defines an intern as this:

Intern
An intern is usually a student studying to eventually become employed in the music industry. In the recording field, they are usually allowed to sit in, and observe recording sessions for the sake of learning the trade. Their responsibilities include anything that nobody else cares to do, including, but not limited to, making and serving coffee, answering doors and phones, scrubbing toilets and cleaning up barf from a highly toxic lead singer.

Tim Brennan, currently one of Vibe 56's interns, has already been "thrown into the fire" a couple of times. Lucky for us that Tim appears to be fire retarded, but sincerely capable with audio related subjects.

The Return of the Yo-Yo of Trust

Yo-Yo of Trust 2
...feel the trust.

Here we have intern Jeff Baker experiencing the business-end of the yo-yo of trust. Thrusting out the trustworthiness would be house engineer, Scott Velazco.

It's my hope that uploading videos such as this might actually diminish the number of telemarketers calling to offer insurance plans. Would you want to insure this kind of activity? I didn't think so. Please stop calling.

Red, White and Blue

Rob Gervia in the Booth

On the whole, summertime is usually a little slower with regards to booking sessions here at the studio. Typically we'll use this period to reach out to independent artists and bands that have a need for a killer-sounding recordings, but may not have previous experience in a professional recording studio.

Vibe 56 was honored to host a session for Sargent Rob Gervia, which took place (appropriately) just before the 4th of July holiday.

Rob is currently serving his country as a member of the United States Army.

During his short leave between deployments, Rob traveled to Nashville to record vocals on some tracks that we had prepared in advance of his arrival. We worked with Mary Jo Burden, Rob's manager, to record the instrumental bed tracks that he later came in and recorded vocals to.

As the summer progresses, our business will get back into the swing of things. Rob Gervia is already back to serving his country as I write this. Helping Rob achieve his dream of recording in a Nashville recording studio has helped put a lot of our daily worries into perspective.

Thanks to Rob Gervia (and Mary Jo Burden) for giving us the opportunity to serve someone who is serving for our entire country.

The song was debuted during the Fourth of July celebration at Fort Lee, Va. At the event over 200 copies of the song were given away to the military, family and friends who were there in attendance. His brief stay while at Fort Lee is helping to shape his future in ways he never could have imagined.

For more information about Rob, visit his Myspace page at:
myspace.com/robgervia