Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Fisher.
Zach, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Big Bad started off as a small home studio in Silver Lake, and after five years we got to a point where a much larger and multi-studio facility was necessary. Working out of a house is a blast and a comfortable environment, but if you want to track big drums and loud guitars, you need a real independent location.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There were the obvious obstacles of city permitting, budgeting, finding a good location, and things like that, but some of the biggest challenges were conceptual. Now that we have moved away from illegal piracy and into commercial streaming, the music industry is in an exciting new era.
Artists are getting more exposure, touring is up, label budgets are up, and money is flowing back into the industry. This seemed to create a hole in the commercial studio market between small project/home studios and the goliaths that have been around for half a century. Taking a chance and predict what we believe the demand will be for a modernized recording studio posed a big risk.
When we started planning the new space over three years ago, we were not sure where the industry was headed, but we knew that we needed to create an environment that provided both the vintage equipment that sounds amazing and familiar while integrating current recording technologies for the modern artist.
Figuring out exactly what that was and how to incorporate that into room size, isolation spaces, amenities, gear and technology was a bit of both trial and error from past experience and a gamble, but it has proven to have paid off so far.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Big Bad Sound – what should we know?
Obviously, we record music, but in reality, we provide much more than that. When we do an album with an artist, it’s not just the physical act of recording and mixing. We’ll sit down with them to work on pre-production and make sure the song is ready to record, we help them design and release promotional material as well as crowdfunding campaigns when necessary.
It’s an incredibly intimate experience, and we always come out of it with an amazing record as well as a new and lasting friendship. Getting to see the bands we’ve spent hundreds of hours on grow and play bigger and bigger shows and hearing new fans shouting lyrics that we help put to tape is an indescribable feeling.
We are proud of the space that we have created, but one of the aspects we are most proud of is that all of our artists come back. It’s a testament to both our technical abilities in putting out a good product and providing a comfortable and friendly environment to nurture aid in our artist’s growth. It really feels like a big family here.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Over the years, the thing that has allowed us to grow the most is the care, detail, and attention we put into every project that comes through the studio. We have been fortunate to work with artists at different places in their career, from their debut EP to veteran Grammy award-winning acts and we always put the same care and quality of work into every record.
It’s difficult to advertise for a recording studio, we don’t have TV ads or billboards, so every record we put our name on is our business card. But more than just the quality of work, the experience we provide has aided the most in our success. We want anyone who works out of here to have a killer sounding album and also an amazing experience so they can tell their friends about how awesome it was at Big Bad.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BigBadSoundla.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @bigbadsoundla
Image Credit:
Sven Doornkaat – http://www.svendoornkaat.net/
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