Recording studio is music to their ears:Evan Gross goes into business with Sam and Linda Young
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At 24, he didn’t expect he would return to the area after graduating from Warren County High School in 1996. But after a few years working in computers locally and then knowing family friends had an interest in music and learning they wanted to partner with him, he decided to stay for awhile.
And when a Chattanooga-based recording studio he was working for closed its doors, he and Drs. Sam and Linda Young decided to go for it, purchasing extensive recording equipment, spending months revamping a house to make it appropriate for professional recording and working the bugs out of their first recording efforts.
“There are several goals we wanted to accomplish. They’ve been really involved with music and the arts in the community for a long time,” Gross said of the Youngs. “We weren’t really sure if there was going to be a market for it or not, but we wanted to try.”
Because Sam Young coordinates musical groups at his church, Gross said after initial testing, one group was willing to be patient with any bugs for the first recording. The group – a youth group from First United Methodist Church – ended up with a youth-inspired original Christian music CD that is ready for the market.
Since then, the rural recording studio has attracted attention from a local musician who is also a Nashville studio musician, an adult church group, a vocal soloist and others interested in pursuing their dreams.
“It’s definitely something that if you’ve always dreamed you would like to do it, you can go for it,” said Vivian Layman, a part-time nurse who is recording a CD there and who said she would never have taken the time to drive to a big-city studio.
“There are a lot of talented people in this community, but if they don’t have an avenue to vent it, it just kind of sits there,” Young said of their pursuits. “We’re really trying to tap into that talent base.”
Gross, officially known as the recording engineer and general manager for Rivendell Recording Projects, takes stock of all this and knows he’s fortunate. As a musician in his mid-20s, becoming a “rock star” doesn’t seem as realistic as it once did. After becoming involved in promotions and production, he got involved in recording.
“I think there’s something really special about recording music and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody not have a good time. It’s a lot of people’s dreams to say, ‘Hey, I recorded a song in a recording studio.'”
It’s a focus he’s happy with.
“For as young as I am, I’m getting to live my dream. A lot of people don’t get to do that,” he said. “They’ve really given me a good opportunity here,” he added of the Youngs.