JUNE STUDIO REPORT
Paul and Austin Walters at APRADIO.NET
Our June studio profile features Paul
Walters from APRadio.net in Northwest
Indiana
IE: You've been involved in the studio
business in the past what brought you to
open your studio in ears NW Indiana?
PW: My youngest says I was having a
midlife crisis [laughs], but I saw a
Behringer Eurodesk MX2442A at Billy
O's Dynamite Music in mint condition
and I bought it. I had no use for it, but it
stirred something old and nostalgic in
me from my recording days in
Hollywood. I did a lot of work in
between labeled sessions doing the A&R
development recording for newly signed
bands at a 16 track 1/2 tape studio called
The Annex back in the mid-'80s to early
'90s. So I went on Reverb and searched
for the MSR-16 1/2" 16 track deck, and I
found one near Waukegan. It pretty
much snowballed from there doing
everything from what I could remember
from a lifetime ago. I'm a near-empty
nester, so I have a lot of open rooms. So I
took out a closet, added doors and
soundproofing and turned part of my
house to an analog recording studio.
IE: You're not traditional recording stu-
dio though. You're supplying radio and
podcasting content online too.
PW: The radio station came first that was
something I've wanted to do for the past
year. I talked about it with a friend of
mine in early 2018, but it never went
anywhere. I had a board, so when I was
forming the studio in my head, the radio
station thought came back to the front
burner. I had everything I needed so I
signed up with Live365 and Austin
brought on a couple of friends that were
excited to have a radio show and it sort
of took off. We are still building the
brand we are half talk shows and half
music shows and aren't broadcasting
24/7 yet, but it's growing. We just start-
ed a daily morning drive show, and I'm
really excited about it. All of our talks
shows have podcasts on all the popular
services. I have a show called The
Independent House where I play all local
and independent artists and try to talk
them up and profile them. We are going
to start bringing bands in for interviews,
which is exciting. The radio station is
really a lot of fun, and I think once we
get our content built-up, our audience
will grow because we'll offer things you
can't get in our area.
IE: After 30 years, the trend in the
recording industry that was all digital
and pro tools seems to be shifting. Some
studios are going back to their roots,
using analog recording not only to limit
the number of tracks - but to bring more
discipline to their recording sessions
where the live performance is critical,
and the additional tracks are just a way
to sweeten a song, great live band or
artist. How does APRadio.net fit into
that philosophy?
PW: I was right there at the beginning of
the digital transition back in 1989. I saw
the first Macintosh computer come into
the control room; I saw Pro Tools 1;
direct to disk recording; and the horrid
ADAT. I didn't like it; I found digital
thinned the sound and sounded artifi-
cial. Fast forward 30 years and music is
too clean, too perfect. While technology
has improved the low end and artificial
sound, there is no breath in it. Musicians
aren't as neat or disciplined today
because they don't have to be. The com-
puter will fix it, which homogenizes the
music because of an over-reliance on the
computer to fix everything, so the end
product sounds the same. In my journey
building our studio, I discovered an
entire industry that charges hundreds or
thousands of dollars for plug-ins or 500
series carts that simulate analog noise.
Think about that; the industry wants to
offer simulated analog tape hiss. To me
that makes no sense - just record on tape.
So the philosophy of AP Radio and
Continued on page 52
ALL ANALOG
RECORDING!
2" 24-Track Analog Tape
1/2" 16-Track Analog Tape
Digital Audio Workstation
Vintage and Modern
FX Processing
EP Packages Available
(tape included, 1/2" 16-track)
Available for bands, solo
artists, mix downs, jingles.
Schedule an appointment.
BOOKING NOW!
(219) 595-5632
APRadio.net Twitter Facebook Instagram: @apradio2 [email protected]
june
2019
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