Meet Campbell Jeffrey Wilson of Rocinante Studios in Marina Del Rey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Campbell Jeffrey Wilson.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve been playing and making music in some form all my life, but initially opted to go study English literature then Computing back in Scotland. A computer programming career brought me first to London, then to San Francisco over four years ago. I’ve been writing songs for years, and did a load of gigs fronting a band and doing solo work, but never really took a step back and focused on my voice. In SF, a friend mentioned that she was having vocal lessons at a local singing school, which got me interested.

This lead to several performances, and let me meet a lot of the singing community. I accompanied a few of the singers at shows, on guitar, and then started recording demos for them too. At around this point, I started to get a lot more interested in building up my studio, which was based in a spare room in my Mission apartment. Recording was also something I’d done over the years, in particular using my beloved Tascam 4 track to record my band back in London. But I’d never expanded it to the extent that I could make studio quality recordings.

I was getting a little tired at the time of working in the computer programming industry in SF. The pay was good, but the work-life balance was not. Especially when programming games. The gaming industry is very fickle, and just when you think everything is going ok, you can lose your job. The final time this happened to me, I took about 5 seconds deliberating, then thought ‘Fuck it’ and decided to spend the rest of my life being a music producer.

This was kind of hard to do in SF at a pro level, as I really needed a bigger studio that wasn’t a spare room. My wife and I had talked about trying to get a mortgage in LA anyway, so it seemed like a good time to investigate. It can get crazy thinking about property in SF, and we also thought about where we wanted to be in a few years’ time. LA was perfect. We’d been visiting Santa Monica and Malibu for years, where both of us had our first surfing lessons (which got us hooked).

We eventually found a place in Marina Del Rey which had an external guest house, which we thought would be ideal for a studio. We also found out that we could be at the surf in Venice in less than 15 minutes on a bike. In London, we used to travel for around four hours to get to the closest surf spot, so still can’t believe how close we are now.

I arranged for the guesthouse to be acoustically treated (LA Panels), and had a custom vocal booth built (Scott’s VO Booths), to get me in a state for pro recordings. The has now been opened up to clients, and I’ve been focusing on marketing, which has initially involved Yelp and reaching out to different vocal studios in LA.

My main emphasis for recording is with amateur singer/songwriters. I want to offer a ‘midway’ option, which is a huge step up from a project studio, and not as intimidating as one of the bigger studios used to record full bands. I’ve experienced how nervous some singers can be, so an important aspect of the studio is providing a safe and comfortable place, where a singer’s full potential can be reached. The studio is different from others in a couple of ways. Firstly, we may receive a song sketch or draft, but the singer will ALWAYS remain the centre of the song. We’re not making the song with someone else singing. Secondly, we want to cut out the hurdle of hiring sessions musicians, as everything is done in house, which keeps the costs down. This means an amateur singer can come to the studio, even with an iPhone recording of a sketch, and we can chat about what sort of music they want for it.

The selfish part of this, is that I get to continue writing and making music on a daily basis, which is one of my loves. Also, surfing is another love. Did I mention I’m 15 minutes away on a bike?

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Recording in a spare room in SF was not ideal. With my first couple of clients I was very conscious of getting a pro sounding recording. I was also apprehensive about finding new clients in SF with only a small space. It had just been word of mouth, with local singers.

The other main struggle was losing my computer programming job in SF. This also happened to me AND my wife a couple of years ago, when we were in the middle of our Green card process. This was probably one of the most stressful periods of our lives.

We had been talking about me changing careers and moving to LA before I lost the most recent job. In a positive way, the situation accelerated everything, and forced us to think about what we wanted in life. As a result, I often ask people what makes them happy, and what they enjoy doing in life. I’ve found that a lot of people don’t have an immediate answer. I believe that part of this is because of modern age work life balances where it’s still unfortunately a badge of honor to work long and unnecessary hours, which don’t give you enough time for a balance. In the final year of my programming job, I think my heart wasn’t in it anymore, so I’d gradually started to detach myself from it as a career, and really think about happiness.

When we moved to LA, I definitely got a bit stressed about how to get the studio in a pro state quickly. I thought I could build the acoustic treatment and vocal booth myself, but my wife put a quick stop to that. This was probably based on one of my attempts to build shelves in our apartment in London. I’d still argue that the ones on the right were great, but accept that the ones on the left sagged in the middle. The two local companies I worked with were excellent. LA Panels came out and gave me a consultation which was deducted from the total cost, and Scott (Scott’s VO Booths) was extremely helpful. I started to feel a lot more confident once everything was in place.

I also got a little intimidated looking at the massive equipment lists of other studios in LA. What I did was focus on the best quality signal chain for the vocal (booth, mic, tube pre-amp) instead, which assured me that I can get a competitive pro sound. I worried about competition initially, but I’m not trying to compete with the big studios, and I’m in a better place than the project ones.

After this, the main struggle is marketing/advertising, and getting myself in a position where I can have regular clients who are happy with the work. Some of this also involves getting to know the community, which means getting my ass out into LA more often than I do. Obviously, I prefer making music, but the marketing side is actually interesting. Also, if I ever have to worry about using advanced JavaScript to investigate recording studio searches or track ‘click throughs’ for my website, then computer programming might be useful for my career after all.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Rocinante Studios – what should we know?
The business is targeted at amateur singer songwriters. Sure, we can work with most musicians and smaller bands, but this was the vision I had at the beginning, due to the community I knew well in SF. It’s a magical thing helping someone turn a simple song sketch into a great sounding production. Especially if a singer never thought that the song would see the light of day.

Rocinante Studios specializes in giving an amateur singer/songwriter a pro quality production from any sketch that they have, or any cover they want to sing. We place emphasis on accessibility, and will work with the client before they even venture into the studio. I had a friend who had a bad experience in her first studio. She wanted to record a cover and went in with a backing track. The engineer gave little to no feedback, and she had no idea if she was doing it right or sounding good. This is the polar opposite to what we do here!

What we are known for and what sets us apart from others, is providing a great environment for a singer or musician to record in. If the client isn’t happy, then we’re not happy. It sucks being nervous and unsure of what’s happening in a recording space. I’ve been annoyed (really annoyed!) in the past when no effort has been made with people skills. It’s often a small thing to do that goes a long way, and it’s also an attitude that has followed me through my career. There was a recent study by Google saying that the best teams in the workplace are the ones who are nice to each other. It sounds like a simple and obvious thing that should happen more, but experience has proven otherwise. So, it’s important always to be conscious of a client’s feelings.

I’m most proud of the recordings I’ve done with singers who have been very unsure of themselves. At times making music and writing songs can seem to be an utterly pointless thing. But it’s all about how it makes you feel. You go from chatting with a singer who often doesn’t like the sound of their own voice, to hearing them sing on a full-blown production of what has essentially started as a small and intimate part of their soul.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I would thank my wife Suz before anyone. She’s the one who supported me with the career change in the first place, which was an easy decision but difficult process. Suz is the one who also advises on all business aspects of the studio and keeps me sane. Suz also makes a call on the quality of the final mixes. But that’s a secret that shouldn’t be shared.

I’d also thank friends and clients who have supported the business and have had great things to say about it, like Jen, Sam, Jasmine, Alex, Azure, Teresa and Petra. I’ve made music with all of them in the studio.

Finally, I’d thank my previous company for terminating my job and forcing me to make the decision in the first place.

Pricing:

• Studio prices start at $35 per hour (space with booth can be rented per hour)

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.rocinantestudios.com
• Phone: 415 323 8676
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/rocinantestudios/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/rocinantestudios/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RocinanteStudio
• Yelp: www.yelp.co.uk/biz/rocinante-studios-los-angeles