Today we’d like to introduce you to Phil Surtees.
Hi Phil, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was in a band in the UK for 10 years between 2004-2014 doing the London, nationwide and Europe circuit. In 2014 my wife and I moved to San Francisco for her work and I decided to stop playing and started writing and producing. I spent 7 years in SF writing for film/tv, and mixing local artists. When we moved to LA in 2022 we were able to buy a place with an ADU which I have converted into That Little Studio, a boutique, personal and intimate space for recording everything from Jazz, through singer-songwriter to rock’n’roll and Indie. The studio opened as a fully operational space in January 2025.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Being a self employed creative has many challenges, and starting any business from scratch is famously hard. I’ve pivoted or re-aligned a couple of times based on what I’ve learned about various facets of the industry – some that it turned out weren’t right for me, and some that I hadn’t approached correctly… you live and learn. Fortunately I also teach private music lessons, which is a lot more straightforward, so there’s always been a way to keep the lights on, but finding work is always hard especially in the fast changing world of marketing we currently live in – just 2 years ago say, the basics or marketing a business online would have looked very different. It’s great that you can create and run your own campaigns through platforms like Insta, but it also means a steep learning curve, and there’s always a possibility that next year there’ll be something else to consider.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a classically trained musician, but that ship kinda sailed when I was 14 and finally convinced my Mom to get me a guitar. This means I have the theoretical chops to go with a lifetime of listening to everything from The Beatles to Green Day, Queen, Earth Wind and Fire, Miles Davis, Brubeck, Wilson Picket, Bernstein and Gershwin… The same is true of music as it is of reading – you are what you hear. My aim with the recording space is based on my experiences in studios – it’s calm, cosy, laid back – there’s a bar – and artists are free to experiment on their own vision, or I can help them find the right noises to make their tracks really sing. All of the clients who have come through say they love the chill setting and relaxed atmosphere.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
You have to do the work – since becoming self employed I’ve realized that whilst you might get lucky here and there, on average it isn’t luck, it’s hard work – do what you said you would do, be on time, get the result right. I often hear about the amount of businesses that go under in the first few years, and to be honest I’m not surprised. The list of businesses I wont be going back to – restaurants, car body shops, butchers, whatever.. – is long. My main aim is not to be on anyone’s ‘don’t go there’ list I guess!
Pricing:
- Rates advertised online
- Packages available
- Off menu proposals welcomed
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thatlittlestudiola.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatlittlestudiolosangeles/
