Life-Long Dream Comes Alive In Recording Studio

CBS Business Member - Clear Gravy Productions

By Teri Seamark

In the heart of 'Old' Frederick sits a house built at the turn of the last century. In 1904, it was a single story miner's shack. It would be 3 more years before Frederick was a town and 94 more years before it would be sold to a man with a dream. For the next year a massive interior reconstruction took place and, when it was done, the dream became a reality. 99 years after the first miner set his pick-axe in his home there are, once again, axes coming in and out the door, but the axes are quite different from those used to mine coal.

The house is now a recording studio and the home of Clear Gravy Productions. Not just stuck in a spare room, the basement or garage, almost the entire first floor is dedicated to making music. The studio space is acoustically engineered to get the best quality natural sound possible. A large, 3 1/2 x 6 foot window looks out to the studio from the control room, which used to be the kitchen. Plaster walls and ceilings, hardwood floors and a most unusual ceiling design define the studio space. Guitars hang on the walls and a drum kit sits on a large riser. Smatterings of acoustic foam on the walls serve only to temper the natural reverb, leaving life in the sounds created in the room. Capturing life in music is the goal of the studio and its creator/owner, Glenn Scofield.

"Music had always been a part of my life and I was bitten by the recording bug at an early age. Hearing myself fascinated me. My dad had a reel to reel tape deck and I remember spending many hours ‘playing’ with it." His father, George, played drums for Alvino Ray and the King Sisters in the late 40's and his love for music passed to his children. Glenn was banging on those same drums through his childhood. He took up the clarinet in the 5th grade and, by the time he was a freshman in high school, was playing in a band led by Don Butterfield, the world's finest jazz tuba player. Opportunities to record were abundant. Then life took a 25 year detour before coming full circle.

“Pursuing a career in music at the time didn’t seem practical. Life changes so quickly when you’re young and I just let a lot slip by. I remember in 1974, after my military service, I explored the possibilities of solo recording at a studio. The cost was simply prohibitive. An hour in the studio would cost at least a weeks pay, or more. Each little roadblock discouraged me and I simply resigned myself to playing, and recording, for my own enjoyment."

Then, in 1999, Glenn found a box of old tapes and records... "It's a lesson in history to listen to those old recordings. At the time I took it all for granted, as something that was simply a part of being a musician, but now I know that having those recordings is something special. A little piece of me, somewhat permanently engraved on vinyl." It was these recordings, which started the dreaming again. "I realized that there are a lot of people, like myself, that would love to have professional recordings, but simply can't afford to do it.”

The Frederick property was purchased in 2001, because it "sounded" right. "This is an old house. Over the years it tipped, and settled, and what I found was that nothing inside was parallel. The perfect beginnings of a studio without the expense of building it 'crooked'! We have no sound wave problems and that's a huge plus toward getting a natural sound." The ceiling immediately outside the control room was redesigned to emulate 12' ceilings even though they're only 8' high. "It's simply a matter of sound development. Many acoustical calculations went into this and in the end it turned out wonderfully. Sounds within the room have a certain warmth and texture to them."

Jamie Hillyer is the full time chief engineer at Clear Gravy. He loves music of all genres and has the one thing that every engineer needs more than anything else... The ability to understand the vision of others without letting his own creativity get in the way. "This is SO important in this business. People come in with an idea, but no clue how to make it happen. After all, they're musicians and the recording/mixing process can be confusing to say the least.” Jamie has a knack for listening, which is important for a recording engineer, but listening to what a client says is even more important.

“I had a vision of how I wanted my business to run,” says Glenn. “Jamie understood that, and has treated this as his own studio, as if it were his name and reputation on the line. In a way it is." Clear Gravy is involved in the community as well. "We're working with Frederick High School, providing free recording time for the music department and hopefully some CD's that will become as important to the students as the old vinyl I have is to me." Clear Gravy also offers discounts for any student who has a desire to record. "We discount our regular rates 40% for students. That's far less than what I would have spent 30 years ago. In fact, the regular price per hour is about 1/3 of what I would have paid then! I wish someone had done this when I was younger!" Discounts are also available for CBS members.

What’s the goal of Clear Gravy Productions? “I want to provide a comfortable place for the musician to work and create. It’s about the music and being able to share it in the future. It’s about making history, even if that history is only a piece of yourself that will eventually be enjoyed by your grand-children. It’s about putting the music back in the hands of the artist."

It’s about time...

They can be contacted at 303-833-2029 or visit the website at www.cleargravy.com.