So how did CoLabs get started?
The company is pretty unique and I probably wouldn't have started it if it weren't for all of the crazy experiences that brought me to this point.
Here it is...
I always saw Calgary as a great location to start something new in the music industry since it had such a hot economy, large population and relatively young music scene. I initially moved to Calgary, Alberta to help establish a small studio and record label with a company that was relocating to Calgary from BC. I essentially took over the studio end and wore a lot of hats as I wrote, produced, engineered, and mixed albums of a pretty wide variety of genres. At this point I had been producing albums with bands and solo artists for just over a year and a half and I was just starting to get the hang of this stuff as a serious profession. I was on the other hand, getting tired of the craziness that came along with trying to make albums without any real studio to work out of or any decent gear to do it with. I owned a small recording rig and would rent space or work after hours in rehearsal halls or churches to get the work done. Fun at first but the idea of working out of a real studio sounded much better.
Over the next year I worked like crazy and really began to work at learning the craft of record production. I loved producing albums, I loved engineering a tracking session, and I especially began to sink my teeth into mixing albums. For the first time I experienced how the learning process in the music industry was truly a lifelong endeavor.
As fun and exiting as it was, the studio was really poorly managed and after about a year, the stress effects of the long hours, unpredictably pay and crazy management style began to take it's toll. Also, I began to see things in the way artists were treated and often taken advantage of that really bothered me. It was around this time that I started dreaming about new ways that the whole recording and production process could take place.
But, I was committed to the artists I was working with and I loved being in the studio so, against my and my wife's better judgment, I stuck around. At the time I was working on what would be one of the biggest album I had ever produced. It was getting a tonne of buzz and everything was in place for the album to get some serious recognition.
Unfortunately, right before I was about to mix the album, the stress and frustration with the studio and label owners finally bottomed out. Everyday was a battle to keep the artist and the music first and not let all the stress kill the creative process. It was one of the hardest decisions I had ever made, but I had to quit the studio. In a lame turn of events, the album was quickly released after being rushed through a mix that left the album sounding dull, lifeless, and totally unprofessional. The buzz around the album carried it a long way in spite of it's lackluster presentation, but at the end of the day, a "breakthrough album" it was not.
The lessons I learned from this stage of life have been invaluable. namely...
- The Artist and the Music must come first.
- Integrity is a must, both for yourself and those you work with.
- You are only as good as the last project you touch - every day needs to be better then the last, every project needs to be the best you have ever done.
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