Groove Tunes Artist Profile: Kate Coleman

By Eric Tunison

A few years ago, Groove Tunes Studios sponsored and judged a multi-week talent contest at a local tavern. Kate Coleman and hubby Corey Coleman, new to Atlanta after placing at a talent show in Nashville, won first place at my event.  

From there they came to Groove Tunes to record a Christmas song, inviting lots of local talent to contribute as backup singers. Shortly after that, we produced a radio ad with them for a local car dealership.  

Kate has been performing professionally since 2011. In April 2018, Kate performed on 11 Alive's Atlanta & Co. show to plug the release of her first solo album, “The Past.” In the fall of 2018, I saw Kate performing with Gail Burnett at the Wire and Wood Alpharetta Songwriters Festival. Most recently Kate and Corey have been performing with the band HighBeams at Atlanta-area venues.

Kate is a great example of how talent and hard work together can open doors. We’re proud that Groove Tunes Studio was a stepping stone along the way to her success. Kate and Corey summed up their experience at our studios in the following review:

“Best studio experience we’ve ever had! I can't even begin to adequately express the level of quality Groove Tunes provided us. Eric is a true master, and the resulting product can stand next to anything on the radio or anywhere else. Plush AND Professional. We'll be back many, many more times." – Kate and Corey Coleman on Kudzu Reviews.

From Groove Tunes Studios, we wish Kate and Corey continued success.

Groove Tunes Session Musician Profile: Derek Ferwerda

The session musicians we use at Groove Tunes Studios are seasoned professionals, tops in their field, who work for very reasonable rates for Groove Tunes. In fact, you may be surprised by just how much experience they may have with nationally and internationally known recording stars. And you may also be surprised at the equipment some of these musicians provide to artists who record at Groove Tunes.

Take Derek Ferwerda, for instance. He is a session musician at Groove Tunes, but brings along a tremendous amount of experience as lead guitarist for Cyndi Lauper, The Spin Doctors, Marvin Gaye, Joe Cocker, Rick Springfield and many other famous artists.

Derek is also the owner of The Guitar Room in Duluth, GA, where he is a teacher, mentor, band trainer and professional music and band coach. He also specializes in artist development. Two of his students are Grammy winners - one has made it to the Top 10 on American Idol. And many of his other students are or have been signed with recording labels.

Derek is the host of the MicroMusic Festival (Open Mic) at the Grub Gastro Pub in Roswell, GA every Thursday evening. He is also a member of the trio called The Relics.

We recently asked Derek about his session work and working with Groove Tunes Studios. Here are his comments:

“I have been fortunate enough to play in most major studios in the United States as well as many in England and Germany.  A lot of modern technology, modern instruments and digitation does not lend itself to the best sounds. This is why famous studios like Blackbird Studio in Nashville receive hundreds of dollars more per hour. It’s because of their old school gear.“

“Eric Tunison has a lot of old world gems at Groove Tunes. I’ll give you just two examples with Eric. His keyboard collection and his guitar amplifiers alone are sought after by collectors.”

“The other example is many of the musicians that he uses. When you hire me on the guitar at Groove Tunes, you not only get an authentic Trainwreck amplifier, you also get the best one ever made according to its inventor and designer. In the mid-80s, I charged record producer Bob Clearmountain (Bryan Adams) $200.00 a day to use this amplifier. That was 35 years ago.” 

“Eric’s studio is a real gem and you don’t have to fight traffic and dangerous neighborhoods to get there."

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Our thanks to Derek for his comments and all the great music he has helped us produce over the years. We always look forward to working with him at Groove Tunes.

To learn more about Groove Tunes Studios equipment, click here. Is Groove Tunes the right studio for you as an artist or session musician? It’s easy to find out. For your next recording project, schedule a free private tour of the studio with Eric along with a complimentary consultation. Session musicians, learn more about working with Groove Tunes here.

Artist/Producer Collaboration Achieves Career-Altering Benefits

By Karla Sinclair, October 2018

As a music lover and someone newly fascinated by the music production process, I found this VoyageATL profile about Atlanta composer Marc Lawson interesting as I had recently spoken with Eric Tunison of Groove Tunes Studios in Alpharetta, GA to learn about the music recording process.

He shared with me his experiences with several of his clients as a producer and engineer. Hearing scratch tracks compared to the final mastered tracks, and the process and stories behind them, was fascinating for me. With over 30 years’ experience as producer and engineer, Eric has a wealth of knowledge and stories to share. I learned how the close collaboration and trust between the artist and producer is key to the success of the finished recording.

In the VoyageATL profile, Marc Lawson talked about his career path, and how a particular producer had opened his ears to a new path as a composer and producer of film and orchestral music. I was able to confirm that Eric was the producer Marc mentioned in the profile.

Indulging my curiosity to learn more about this particular recording project with Marc, Eric told me more. Here is what I learned.

Marc hired Eric in 2011 to work with Groove Tunes on his second EP of four new original songs. The EP Another Night Alone was subsequently released in 2012.  The fateful song with a string quartet was called Give Me A Sign.

"Up to that point, Marc's songs had been primarily piano, guitar and drum-based arrangements," Eric told me. "On one particular song, however, I ‘heard’ a string quartet. I had some musicians in mind, and Marc was agreeable. I sent the musicians the lead sheets and rough tracks to assist them in writing their strings parts. Marc attended the recording session and was very pleased with the sound, and the string quartet earned a major role in the arrangement.“

As Marc described in the VoyageATL profile, the addition of the strings opened his mind to composing orchestral music and music for movie sound tracks. And he hasn’t looked back.

"I’m inspired by whatever I feel about the music,” producer Eric told me, “and I’ll suggest ideas to my clients to see if they agree. I also love classical music so I was familiar with how string quartet arrangements can work nicely within popular music productions.”

Bottom line: The contributions of a producer have a direct impact on not only the actual recording, but they can also help the artist gain a wider perspective of what is possible for them, including taking their music in a completely different direction and opening up a new future for them.

Check these resources to learn more about the recording and production process:

Recording Your Music What Producers Do Mixing vs Mastering Schedule a tour of Groove Tunes Studios

The 5 Advantages of Using a Pro Recording Studio Over a Budget Home Studio

If you’re considering becoming a home studio enthusiast, you’ll have options for a variety of modern recording technologies and equipment. Yet the purchase price for all the necessary gear can easily set you back several thousands of dollars. And before long you may come to realize you’re not cut out for the vast technical challenges associated with the craft. To make matters worse, you might have spent as much (or more) for all that gear than you would have to a professional studio that likely would have delivered a much better sounding, quality product.

This is just one reason many musicians still use professional studios. Other reasons include: access to a larger recording space with excellent acoustics, a selection of great microphones and preamps, experienced engineer/producers, the freedom to be creative, and the fresh perspective that recording in a pro studio affords the artist.

1. Optimized Acoustics and Space

Pro studios offer acoustic spaces optimized to record music. Pro studios become a necessity for accommodating larger ensembles and live drums, for instance. But there’s much more to a pro studio than just acoustics. In fact, everything from a studio’s air conditioning system to its wiring play a part in the quality of your recording.

2. Great Gear

Of paramount importance is the studio’s mic locker. Different mics have different sonic characteristics, and having access to a selection of great mics — and an engineer that knows where (and how) to deploy them in a particular acoustical space — is an invaluable asset. The best mics aren’t worth much if the signal is degraded by substandard equipment further down the chain, which is why high-quality preamps, equalizers, compressors, converters, plug-ins, and other processors are critical.

3. Talented Engineers

Professional studios of years past typically employed a staff of engineers and assistants. By the 1980s, staff engineers had become supplanted by independent engineers hired directly by the artist or producer. Today, a wide variety of studios are professional in every respect. Some of them, indeed, are in homes; others, in commercial spaces. Many of them can accommodate large ensembles. Many contemporary studios for hire include the services of a professional engineer (often the owner) who may also be able to provide production services if needed.

4. Freedom to be Creative

Engineering and musical creativity use different parts of the brain. If you are the producer and engineer in your home studio, you likely wear all the hats, which impedes your ability to remain creative as well. When you go to a professional studio, you’re hiring pros to handle the technical aspects of your recording so that you can concentrate on musical creativity. 

5. The Ingredients of a Great Sounding Recording

If you suddenly decide a song needs an acoustic strings section, or a sax solo. a professional recording studio will have the best local session musicians on speed dial. Also, consider the value of the experience. You will learn something, and possibly a lot, about the art of recording, which you can then apply to other projects going forward. 

Get a private tour of Groove Tunes Studios and a free consultation about your project. 

Find out if your project qualifies for a 20% discount.

Mixing vs. Mastering

I would say the majority of people just starting to learn about audio engineering, or any musician just beginning to record their music in a professional studio, can’t tell you the difference between a “mix” and a “master.” Both are important parts of the process, but they are entirely different.

Mixing 

Most professional recordings are recorded through an array of microphones into large consoles that allow the separation of vocals and instruments into separate channels. This is called multi-channel recording. It’s important to keep the instruments and vocals separated so that the engineer can tweak the sound in each channel separately. For instance, the engineer may want the acoustic guitar to be panned slightly to the left speaker, the piano to the right, and the lead vocal equally balanced in the middle; and he may want to add a short delay to the guitar, a different special effect to the piano, and some reverb to the vocal; and he may elect to have the guitar and piano volumes about the same and the vocal to be a tad louder than the sum of the instruments, etc., and this process for all other channels that were recorded. None of these actions would be possible if these instruments or vocals occupied the same channel. The act of deciding what sonic tweaks will be implemented to each channel of an entire multi-channel recording is called mixing. The end result of mixing is a pleasant and interesting sounding 2-channel stereo recording. A typical multi-channel mix may take several days if not weeks to finalize, with listening sessions in between.

Mastering

Once a mix is finalized – that is, everyone is happy with it -- the next step is to have the mix mastered. Mastering is usually (but not always) performed at a studio that specializes in this. The mastering engineer applies global compression and equalization to the final mix to help smooth out peaks and bring the overall track volume up to industry standards (“radio ready”). Mastering does not change the mix, it enhances the overall sonics, and is the final step before the songs are sent off for duplication or submitted for online distribution. Mastering a song usually takes less than one hour.

"The" Vocal Mic

Over the years, Atlanta studio Doppler amassed an impressive list of credits, including Areosmith, Akon, India. Arie, B-52s, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Bow Wow, Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Ciara, Georgia Clinton, Jimmy Buffett, Jermaine Dupri, Aretha Franklin, Faith Hill, Whitney Houston, Incubus, Ludacris, Outkast, Pearl Jam, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Gwen Stefani, Stone Temple Pilots, T-Pain, TLC, Third Day, Train, Usher, Kayne West and Stevie Wonder.

A couple of years ago Doppler closed its doors and liquidated its equipment. Groove Tunes Studios was fortunate to acquire their Sony GPAC C800 tube microphone, widely known in the recording studio industry as “The” vocal mic, and the very mic that most, if not all, of the above artists sang into.

Now you, too (!) can hear your voice recorded through this incredible microphone at Groove Tunes Studios. Here’s how to get the ball rolling: Contact Us or Arrange a Private Studio Tour and Complimentary Consultation

What Producers Do

Not many people are familiar with the role of a producer. They listen to produced albums but are not aware of the crucial role the producer plays in the process of making a truly professional, listenable record. Producers do a lot of different things and not all producers do the same things. Basically, the key role of a producer is to provide the integrity of the project, which means they are responsible for focusing the creative vision of the project, for acting as an intermediary between the artistic and technical worlds, and for overseeing the logistics of the project.

Focusing the Artistic Vision

Producers are the people who decide how best to artistically and creatively represent the artist in a release. Using popular music as one example, there might be four different kinds of artist-producer relationships:  the "personality", the "singer-songwriter", the "multi-instrumentalist", and the "lyricist". Sometimes producers are songwriters and, in these cases, the producer will select songs either from their own repertoire or, if more appropriate, from the repertoire of other writers. This used to be the norm in the music industry. Elvis (a "personality") wasn’t a songwriter – his producers were.

These days it’s more common for the artist to be a songwriter. Singer-songwriter type artists generally will provide the producer with little more than the song and its soul around which producers will craft a new, fully realized arrangement. A good example of this sort of thing would be a songwriter who writes songs as solo compositions on the guitar. A producer would then craft and guide the song into a complete arrangement, maximizing the feel and artistic intent of the original composition. To that end, the producer would hire musicians who would be adept at performing the style and character of the music.

Perhaps the most important value that producers provide occurs when artists have not yet thoroughly developed a mature ‘sound’ and have not yet found a core audience. Producers provide the critical ear, experience, and objectivity that many artists lack on their own, and can turn a good song or album into a great one. The degree of producer involvement, and to what ends the production eventually becomes, is often dictated by the client’s budget.

An Intermediary Between the Artistic and Technical Worlds

In addition to being adept at the musical aspects of songcraft, producers also need to be knowledgeable about the technical aspects of capturing and generating the recordings that represent the song. Whereas engineers are generally technical types – they know the gear and are directly responsible for capturing and manipulating the sound of a recording -- a producer is responsible for understanding the creative needs of the artist and the song, and how to technically achieve the desired result. The producer needs to be able to hear the needs of the material and understand what needs to be done to achieve the result.  In some studios, the producer is also the engineer. Such an arrangement may have the best of both worlds, especially if budgets are tight. Either way it is imperative that the client visits the studio, meets with the producer/engineer, and feels comfortable with the people and courses of action and estimated budgets. Then once the recording commences the artist can focus on performing and the producer/engineer can focus on creating the arrangements, running the equipment, and keeping everything sounding as it should.

Overseeing Logistics

Recording sessions and records don’t just happen. Producers are traditionally responsible for making sure that everything that needs to happen for the project is accomplished. Generally during the negotiation process a producer will come up with an estimated cost for producing the project, which includes an itemized budget for studio time and paying session players.

Using the film industry as a comparison, music producers take on the equivalent roles of both the film’s producers and directors. They are the project managers and point-men for everything that happens in creating the finished recording. 

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If you are considering a recording project, arrange a private studio tour and complimentary consultation with our producer/engineer.

Genesis

My Bio, and the Genesis of Groove Tunes Studios - by Eric Tunison

I started making music in the early ‘60’s in Whittier, California, on a ¾ size nylon string guitar I borrowed from my twin sister. Strumming along to Michael Rowed The Boat Ashore was great fun for awhile, but double-picking surf music solos was way more cool, so it wasn't long before I talked my parents into buying me an electric guitar. Within six months I was playing the same three guitar chords in four different rock bands, and twin sis got her nylons back. Then one day, I was asked to play rhythm guitar with a band called the Classics, a pop group that featured some of Whittier High’s finest hopefuls, including founder Bob Birath on drums, Steve Lively on bass and keys, and Jim Hall on lead guitar.

Upon the emergence of the Beatles in the mid-‘60’s and the resulting transformation of popular music, the Classics transformed themselves into a British surf-rock band. By now I was playing lead guitar and singing lead vocals. Credit collective talent, hard work, youthful energy, and especially luck, for by 1965 the Classics were recording our own original music in a major Los Angeles recording studio. How cool was that?! We thought we were destined for stardom, but as fate would have it the songs were never published. Nevertheless, it’s easy to see how, at the tender age of 17, I caught the recording bug.

The Classics dissolved after we graduated from high school and band members moved away either to attend college or to pursue careers that actually made money.

In 1966 I studied jazz guitar, enrolled in junior college, and later began part-time teaching guitar to California teenagers. I received a tape recorder as a graduation present from my parents – a reel-to-reel 2-track deck, complete with plastic microphone and a blank reel of tape. I was in seventh heaven! The birth of Groove Tunes Studios was now a mere four decades, six relocations, and five major equipment upgrades away.

I moved north to Seattle in 1968 to study engineering at the University of Washington. During my studies I purchased a sound-on-sound tape deck, which enabled me to record and bounce up to four tracks, one track at a time. Having now doubled my track count, but no longer having my band mates handy, I taught myself how to play bass guitar, piano, and drums. Before long I became a master at the art of sound-on-sound recording, and I proceeded to fill reels and reels of self-produced songs in between my studies.

I graduated from college with my engineering degree in 1971, fully employed now, and ripe for some major equipment upgrades. Multi-track tape recorders were becoming the norm in professional studios in the ‘70’s. I invested in a 4-track, and soon thereafter an 8-track multi-track tape recorder, complete with mixing board, outboard processors, and some nice mics. It was at this point that I started recording other people on a professional basis.

In the early-‘80’s in Tacoma, Washington, I was appointed Music Director for a musical-comedy improv group called The Twilight Zone Players. In that capacity I wrote musical arrangements of song parodies and played and recorded all the instruments for the troupe’s entire creative output. One of their most popular songs Puyallup Vally Boys (a parody on California Girls) received radio airplay. During my years in the Pacific Northwest I operated private analog recording studios in Tacoma and Federal Way, Washington. Digital recording technology was still in its infancy in the early ‘80’s so I elected to pass on that format for the time being, opting to stay with the tried-and-true analog format. Concurrently, I was utilizing my education, managing engineering projects for large corporations, and making some serious coin.

I became interested in the physics of sound and the esoteric (and expensive!) gear that reproduced sound accurately. The outcome of my audiophilia was a rapidly declining bank balance. More relevant to this story, my goal soon became not just to record a good number of tracks, but to also record tracks that sounded good.

I moved to Georgia in 1991. While living in temporary quarters I designed and built my new studio in Alpharetta. I worked closely with my builder to ensure my studio design details were properly implemented, including room dimensions, sound isolation, and wiring. Also, to ensure short commutes to work, I had my home built on top of the studio.

By 1994, having already invested more in my studio than what it would cost to send five children to college, I decided it was finally okay to get married. To this day I am happily wed to my wife, Kate.

In 2004 I was by now convinced that digital recording technology sounded as good as, if not better than, analog tape. With its great, clean sound and far superior editing and mixing flexibility, computer-based digital recording systems had surpassed the capabilities of analog recording studios in efficiency and in quality. I was now ready for my most significant upgrade to date, to Pro Tools. The current recording gear at Groove Tunes Studios utilizes the recording industry standard, 192- track, Pro Tools HD Accel 3 digital recording system. 192 tracks and great sound! Score!

Groove Tunes has been the recording venue of choice for many Pop, Rock, Americana, Country, Christian, Children, Jazz, Alternative, Classical, Fusion, Folk, Latin, Post-Punk, Heavy Metal, Soft Soul, R&B, and other musical genres.  I appreciate just about all types of musical expression, although I do refer rap artists elsewhere.  I work with clients of all ages, musical backgrounds, and levels of expertise.  My favorite type of clients are those who show up on time and pay in advance.  Seriously, whatever the type of project, I love working with my customers, helping make their performances sound great, and sending them home with smiles on their faces.

If you made it all the way to the end of this blog, congratulations, and thank you!

- Eric

Groove Tunes Studios

Recording your Music

A few months ago I wrote a series of articles collectively titled "Recording Your Music!" that appeared on Dave Craver's Open Mic website. You may read the 5-part series HERE.

- Eric

Helping Hands

Giving More Than The Music

I had the pleasure a few years ago to produce an album with Italy's top rock/pop group, MOMO Family. Fede, Daniel, and Marco came to Atlanta from Florence, Italy in the Fall of 2007 and spent the next two months at Groove Tunes Studios recording 14 songs of amazing music. One of the songs on their CD "Tomorrow" was conceived out of love for their fellow man and, in particular, for the children of the world. Taking their message a step further, MOMO released a video for the World Food Program (WFP), a branch of the United Nations.

Terri Brumit is a mother of twin sons who are currently stationed in Afghanistan along with their father. All three are in the Special Forces. Terri asked me to produce an album of original songs she had written. All the songs are dedicated to troops who are risking their lives overseas so that we can live our lives peacefully at home. Going the extra mile, Terri recently flew to Washington DC to personally hand out copies of her latest single, "Still a Warrior", to injured soldiers at Walter Reed and Bethesda Hospitals.