Inside West Chester's Full-service Recording Studio by jesse piersol
id I ever tell you about the time I had my life threatened because this guy thought I stole his beats?”
Chris Cotter, founder of TribeSound Records, is catching up with old friend Jay Stowell, a local musician known in hip-hop circles as J Scroll. It’s late on a Thursday evening, and the three of us are ensconced in TribeSound’s dimly lit control room, deep within the basement labyrinth underneath Taylor’s Music Store. Chris is telling the story of a hip-hop musician who once accused him of using some of his recorded music without his consent. “Yeah, he left a threatening message on my answering machine, which had the number on it, so I called him back.” At first, the caller hung up on Chris, but Chris persisted, finally making clear the serious nature of threatening someone. “Then, the guy relaxed, and wanted to come in and do some recording. Of course, I told him that he wasn’t welcome in the studio. Ever.” Death threat aside, the day-to-day activities at TribeSound are still anything but mundane. Since 2005, TribeSound has been providing top-shelf recording services, as well as artist management, video production, and pretty much any other service musicians might need to get their sound out to the masses.
Chris is wearing a red scarf, with close-cropped hair and the quiet intensity of a drummer, which he is. “I never wanted to be anything but a drummer. It’s pretty impossible to get by doing that, but I can give music lessons. I can record. Combined with the teaching, it allows me to make a living.” The centerpiece of the studio is the $8,500 Telefunken U47 microphone. The crew at TribeSound became so enamored that they made a video about it, now posted on the front page of their web site. Described as “old-school engineering and modern electronics that deliver timeless U47 tone” by Sweetwater online music store, the characterization aptly captures TribeSound’s philosophy as well. High quality is a TribeSound hallmark, and part of that quality comes from their dedication to using the right equipment. “With our instruments, we try to have what people tend not to own. For example, we have a Les Paul Standard [guitar].
Most people will have a Fender Strat, but they won’t keep a Les Paul around because it’s heavy. But there are times when that’s the sound you want.” A huge fan of vintage sounds, Chris loves old guitar amps and anything built with tubes. “I like the warm analogsounding stuff. Vintage keyboards, the Wurlitzer, the Rhodes. A real organ. “ Creating the quintessential vintage sound requires more than just the proper array of instruments, though. “You want everything to sound great. If you use a $10,000 mic with a $2 cable, it’s
not going to sound great. We have pretty much every tool we can dream of.” He continues, “In a studio, music is forever. The mic can’t buzz. You’ll hear
MARCH 2014 THEWCPRESS.COM
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