MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - APRIL 2008: Although it is arguably the lesser known of Tennessee's great "music cities," Memphis has nurtured a long, rich legacy of groundbreaking artists and independent record labels, and continues to
support a bustling and eclectic contemporary music scene that shines on the national stage with exceptional brilliance.
At the heart of the luster, however, is a gritty world view borne of life's very real struggles and triumphs.
Although the musicians who call both Memphis and Memphis' Archer
Records their home have carved out distinct niches in the disparate genres
of Americana, Classical, Folk, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, and Rock, they all
approach their music with an authenticity that is the hallmark of their
great city. In 2007 label owner Ward Archer acquired the Sounds Unreel
studio located in one of Old Midtown's historic limestone buildings. With
design help from David Cherry and George Augspurger, he rebuilt and rewired
the studio, completely reversing the layout and adding more isolation rooms.
The equipment was upgraded to include a 5.1 PMC monitoring system, a
96-channel Pro Tools rig with blackburst synchronization, a 24-track Sony
analog tape deck, and, in keeping with the organic honesty of the music he
releases, a 48-channel, all-analog, all-discrete API Vision console with
full 5.1 implementation.
Archer Record's happy blend of studio/record label is something of a Memphis
tradition. Sam Phillips operated the Memphis Recording Service and Sun
Records out of the same studios, which are now one of the city's highest
volume tourist attractions. It was there that Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many others recorded and
released some of the most cherished and influential albums in the history of
modern music. Willie Mitchell, recently awarded a Grammy for Lifetime
Achievement, ran Royal Recording and Hi Records and recorded and released
albums by Al Green, Syl Johnson, and Ann Peebles. Jim Stewart and Estelle
Axton ran Stax Records out of an old movie theater, again taking on the
synergistic tasks of recording and releasing Otis Redding, Carla Thomas,
William Bell, Booker T. & the MG's, and The Bar-Kays.
"Memphis has something of an independent streak to it," reflected Archer. "People here tend to do their own thing, guided by their own inner light,
and sometimes it breaks through nationally and internationally." Archer's
signees, including jazz/blues/pop-inspired singer/songwriter Amy LaVere,
classical guitarist Lily Afshar, boogaloo outfit The Grip, American neo soul
innovators The Gamble Brothers Band, jazz singer Kelley Hurt, and blues man
Sid Selvidge, benefit from Archer's keen marketing insight and, more
importantly, his unwavering dedication to the truthfulness of their music.
Archer's plans for the new studio center unambiguously on his artists. "We've built it to be a very comfortable place to create," he explained. "We
were careful to keep the isolation booths within view of the main live room
and the control room since we all like to cut tracks with everyone playing
at the same time. I like that vibe. If we're not using it, I'm happy to have
other like-minded artists rent it." Archer is marketing the studio
separately from the label-naming it "Music + Arts" studio.
In addition to providing the ideal working environment for his artists,
Archer is excited to foster further ties with Memphis' burgeoning film
community. Director Craig Brewer shot "Hustle and Flow" and "Black Snake
Moan" in the city, and Archer Records has licensed three songs to films in
the past few years, including Amy LaVere's "Take 'em or Leave 'em" to the
Ben Stiller romantic comedy "Heartbreak Kid." The film community's growing
expectation for surround mixes is part of what motivated Archer to purchase
the surround-capable API Vision. The other, arguably larger part, is API's
legendary analog sound. The studio is presently working on music mixes for
the motion picture, "Gospel Hill," directed by Giancarlo Esposito and
starring Angela Bassett, Danny Glover, Adam Baldwin with music director
Scott Bomar and engineer Kevin Houston.
Despite the fact that most Memphis engineers and producers have API rack
equipment and also cherish the "API sound," Archer Record's Vision is the
first API console in the city. The Vision is the only fully-discrete analog
console in production that was designed from the ground up to effortlessly
mix for mono, stereo, and surround simultaneously and incorporates API's
signature mic pres, EQs, dynamics, moving faders, and bus topology. Archer
argues that the Vision's pristine signal path is the very best way to get
signal into the digital domain and to mix it subsequently.
With the new console up and running as of January 2008, the Archer Records
roster is breaking the new studio in with the sort of inspired and
spontaneous creation that Archer had hoped for. Of course, everything they
do sounds wonderfully organic, wonderfully analog!
Automated Processes, Inc. remains the leader in analog recording gear, with
the Vision surround production and Legacy Series recording consoles, the DSM
Series rack-mounted mixers, and the classic line of modular signal
processing equipment.
api audio
