0:27

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over. So let's get to it. This is Today in the Bay.

0:53

What's your hosts? Angelina? Two day in the Bay. We have the

1:07

incredible Carina with us today. I was like, go ahead, good,

1:12

how are you doing good? I mean, you got so many titles.

1:15

I know you're engineer artists? Are you prottycer? No songwriters? I'm not

1:21

gonna do yeah, yeah, sorry, right, You're like, that's not

1:23

what I'm not gonna get into. But let's kick it off. Because you

1:26

are a founder of a Studio X. You've created this like amazing space for

1:30

artists in the Bay Area and beyond. So tell me everything Studio X is

1:34

about. So Studio X started off as a recording studio and just over time

1:40

we've kind of pivoted into like a creative hub and an artist development center.

1:44

So we don't just press three and let you go with the master. We're

1:48

gonna we're gonna help and shape and mold artists. So we have an artist

1:53

development program. We go over different things from the basics like vocal performance to

1:57

music business, to a branding, marketing, et cetera. So these like

2:04

stuff that you guys offer outside like or because someone just coming and booked like

2:07

a studio as well, so they can just come in and book as a studio. But we offer like, yeah, we offer programs and workshops like

2:14

throughout the year. And how long have you guys been open for? We are about to celebrate our third anniversary even open since May twenty twenty one.

2:23

That's crazy, and you just, okay, tell us where the studio was at first the studios in East Oakland. It's in Jingletown, Okay, Yeah,

2:28

we're in the same building as a Green Day it used to be. Wow, that's huge. And then he just opened another location we did.

2:35

We opened a location in downtown LA. That's crazy. And what made you

2:38

like want to start this? I mean, I was an engineer. I

2:43

started out, I started out as an artist and then I started recording,

2:46

and the first studio that I worked at shutdown during COVID, and then I

2:50

worked at another studio like kind of like in the middle of COVID, and

2:53

then it got to a point where I was just like I had too many

2:55

ideas. Yeah, and I was just like, I think I've done this

3:00

long enough to be able to facilitate, you know, my own my own

3:04

company, Like I know I could do this, and I wasn't that was

3:07

the goal, but I wasn't necessarily trying to and I just kind of stumbled

3:12

that stumbled on that space by accident. I was just looking on Craigslist,

3:15

being nosy like we all do. Yeah, I got mentioned saved in my Zilla right like, oh these cabinets three million dollar home. I would never

3:23

jump exactly, but no. I was just scrolling Craigslist one day, which

3:28

is not a place where you would think to get a like you know,

3:32

little sketchy, but no, I ended, yeah, and I walked through

3:37

and I was just like I felt it, like I was like, this is my space, like I feel it, you know, and it's a

3:42

love of space. It's like two story and I didn't have any investors.

3:46

I was by myself. You know, I didn't have a team. It

3:49

wasn't even called Studio X yet. It was just I just needed a studio

3:53

to work out of. And it's like, I'm going to figure it out.

3:57

I figured it out. I took a leap, and you know, sometimes that's dangerous, but sometimes it's necessary. And it was very uncomfortable,

4:03

and I didn't have any real business experience on how to run a business.

4:08

So you know, these past three years, I've been learning in real time.

4:11

My team has witnessed me learn these lessons in real time. But it's

4:15

worked out and we're expanding and we just open another location. So it's been

4:19

cool. Do you think being an artist first like helps you more with your

4:24

vision on what you want in a studio and like what you want for other

4:27

artists on one hundred percent, because I think sometimes you know, you can

4:31

get in the mindset of I'm going to open a studio and I'm just gonna

4:34

make passive income. It's gonna run itself, which is ideal, Right,

4:36

that's cool, but like what else can you offer? Right, Like,

4:41

there's all your competition does the same thing, and you know, you might

4:45

be a studio that doesn't have the as much equipment as another studio or like

4:50

our studio for example, doesn't have a live room, so that's like,

4:53

ah, we're competing with people who do have a live room. There's all

4:56

these like audio components that you know to you in different lanes and leads than

5:00

everybody else, but it's like what else can you offer? And that's kind

5:03

of when the artist side of me is like, well, I wish,

5:08

you know, when I went to a recording studio, I wish that we

5:11

did this, or I wish I had this, or I wish my studio

5:15

taught me how to do this, you know, instead of without having to

5:17

go to school, because I went to school to learn most of the music

5:21

business ye stuff, okay, But to be able to offer it and get

5:27

your song makes the master and shoot a music video, like have kind of

5:30

a hub and a one stop shop and a place to collaborate. That was

5:33

kind of my goal, right because anybody could have a recording studio, but

5:38

it's like who can have like a center. It's like for artists by artists

5:42

exactly. And it's like I'm not just trying to make some money off you

5:44

or like my lowest time, I just little side business like it's actually failling

5:47

for you. Yeah, And it's like, you know, there's a lot

5:50

of dialogue about the state of Bay Area music and the music business and how

5:56

we do business and whatever, and a lot of times it's super negative,

6:00

and a lot of times nobody is doing anything about it. We're just sitting

6:02

here complaining. And I got tired of that, and I said, all

6:05

right, I'm gonna let y'all talk. While y'all talk, We're gonna build

6:09

this thing. And you know, we're slowly we're educating artists. We're showing

6:13

them, like, here's how you do business after you make a song,

6:16

you know, Here's how you work with a producer. Here's the agreements you

6:18

need to have, here's contracts, and break it down simply. It's not

6:21

a big daunting thing. I think a lot of people paperwork. It's not

6:26

that it doesn't have to be this big scary thing. You know. I

6:29

need someone to tell them that and show them that it's not exactly or just a proper like being a part of a show that's ran properly, Like,

6:34

you know, here's what a running show is, right, what's a running

6:38

show? It's literally just a list of what time and schedule, that everything,

6:42

just simple things to kind of just enhance our professionalism. And I think

6:46

with doing that, it kind of raises the bars. So then everybody who

6:48

works with us' is like, oh, that's the standard, right, because

6:53

the standard that we're used to is low right, low organization skills, low

6:59

were raising it, you know what I'm saying, And we're and they go somewhere else, I'm gonna be like, uh, they're like, you know,

7:04

like when you book at studio as you get a notification, you get

7:08

an email, you get a text, you're part of a text, like

7:10

you know, we just we've developed this smooth process just to make it more

7:15

professional and just feel feel real and like a business. We're running a business,

7:21

but it's also still a place that people could come and feel free and

7:27

create and it's a safe space. I love that you're just like, let's

7:31

just do this because like you said about the narrative of like being our music

7:34

being in some kind of place and whoop to whoop. Like I've had conversations

7:38

with friends too, cause we're like, it's not really like that, like

7:40

when people keep saying like it's hello, artists working with each other, Like

7:43

the whole you know, Oh, we're not We're not here for each other.

7:46

It's just like it's literally just you guys talking. So I like how

7:48

you're just like, well, I'm gonna just be so in the community to

7:51

the point where it's not even a conversation, like why are we debating this,

7:54

Like clearly we're here and we're doing it cause it's not accurate. And

7:57

I think exactly that we get so fated on maybe like the top three big

8:05

outlets that we don't it blinds us to what's actually really going on. Like

8:09

have you been outside of the lanes that you're talking about? A lot of

8:15

people know they haven't. So it's like once you start kind of really getting

8:18

outside and in the community and going to different showcases and seeing different types of

8:24

artists, like we're really dope and a lot of people do have our stuff

8:28

together, you know, and so it's just kind of merging communities. I

8:31

think too, I have you know, when I first started, I worked

8:35

at a studio car tuned off Hagenberger, and I had a lot of like

8:39

more clients that made street music, right, Like my clients weren't really in

8:43

the streets, right, And then a lot of clients that I have at

8:46

Studio X are a little bit more artsy and young and like, you know,

8:50

cool, like Diby. You know. So what we've been doing is

8:54

like we merged. I merged the people that I've known forever plus these new

8:58

clients, and like we're merging those worlds. So it's not we're not that

9:03

different. We all want to make music, really good music. Like you

9:07

said, the foundation is the same, like even I mean just even looking

9:09

at rap music, like people like to be like, oh it's conscious rap,

9:13

where it's gangster rapper's backpack. It's like rap is rap exactly what.

9:18

The foundation is all the same, you know. So why can't we like

9:20

collaborate and work together, you know, why can't I have this alternative artist

9:28

be in the same room with my artists that you know makes like you know

9:35

whatever, like you know, just like why we can't merge them? And

9:39

they we do merge them. And in our camps, like we have,

9:43

we have artists from all different genres, you know, and we'll have them

9:48

collaborate, which is cool because they probably wouldn't collaborate or cross paths. And

9:52

even if it's not just like oh, let's merge our two sounds you're rocking

9:56

alternative Like it's like, oh, you know it's on the drums, like

9:58

I'm a rapper, but can you do this? You know, like it

10:01

could be anything. So I love that you're creating that community, and I know you also have like a bunch of events throughout studio acts. Let's talk

10:07

about running back. Running Back, Yes, our sistersation Big Vaughan shout out

10:13

to the homie because he discovered the artists. I forgot her name, three

10:16

Leaks. Yes, is that what the songs called fire? Like he played

10:20

for me. I was like, this is so dope you have. I

10:24

was going to say, how man need to just on that so to my music director because it's fire, but absolutely, yeah, So tell us about

10:28

running back. So running Back is something that we started. So when we

10:31

first started, it was on Twitch and a shout out in so you've been

10:35

doing it? Yeah, we've been doing it like probably within our like first

10:41

year, within our second year, I think we started it. And I

10:43

have a lot of DJ friends And when I was an artist, I learned

10:48

the importance of relationships with DJs right like when I was making music, it

10:54

was I was like in the transition era from like flyers and like gorilla marketing

11:00

to like social media. So I had like a hybrid of experience. But

11:03

I remember being in faces of DJs was like one of the most important things

11:09

that you could do because they outside, like the masses do like your song

11:13

because I played it outside and for all these people. Yeah, and more

11:16

times than not, DJs do want to play your record, like you know,

11:20

they do want to break local talent s somem capacity. But there's like

11:24

I feel like there's a gap and it really just could be filled by communicating.

11:30

That's it. So you know, I was no stranger to going outside

11:35

finding what DJ's are going to be where, having a USB with my DJ

11:39

pack like and building these relationships over the years. So I was like,

11:45

how can we how can we link artists that we work with and DJs that

11:50

I know? So we started doing this thing where it was on a Twitch

11:54

and we would have a DJ come in spend for an hour, and then the second hour we would just do music reviews, like what is a DJ

12:00

think about this record? Because I could say what I think about it as

12:03

an artist as a but the person that's going to play it is the most

12:05

important person, right, So we started doing these running backstreams. We did

12:11

one move on back in the day. We've done with all types of DJs,

12:15

Shell Heart, Tussy, and they were fun and people were tuned in

12:20

and it was on Twitch and it was cool, and I was just like, how can we how can we make this more interactive? And I was

12:28

like, let's make it like a music review showcase. And so it's kind

12:33

of the same format, but now it's in person, so you know,

12:35

the DJ will come spin for like an hour so they can you know,

12:39

get their shine on in their craft. And then we have round one where

12:43

the artists will play their song, and then Round two where the top like

12:48

five people from Round one get to perform their song, and so they'll get critiqued on different things. And it's a cool way to build community. It's

12:54

a cool way to support your friends. It's a cool way to see what

12:58

the DJ things about your record in a safe space that you know. Sometimes

13:03

it's not ideal to give your record to a DJ in the middle of their

13:07

set. They're not going to play it and give you their feedback, right,

13:09

It's a horrible way to do it. It's cool to hand them a USB and say, hey, later when you get a chance, let me

13:13

know what you think of your record. But this is a place where that's

13:16

all they're here to do, right, So that'll feel like you're bugging them.

13:20

It's not left in their spam fold or somewhere on exactly like this is.

13:24

This is live in person. So that's how it's my vie for both

13:28

sides. It's like you get to hear live music, little club slash American

13:31

idol situation and build community right and build these relationships with these DJs that you

13:37

might have been too scary to approach. You know, you never know,

13:41

so it's now a safe space. You can go up to Big Vaughan you

13:45

might not go up to in real life and be like, yeah, like

13:50

this is all it's constructive and if you know, if you take the feedback

13:54

seriously, you can really start crafting some really dope records if you keep their

13:58

feedback in mind and you don't who you're gonna meet there. Also, the

14:01

DJs are bringing their DJ friends, their radio friends, you know, other

14:03

artists that are there. Like last when when Vonn was there, Adrian Marcel

14:09

pulled up and you know, he was playing his record and he guest judged

14:13

for us, you know, and that's somebody who has sold quite a few

14:16

records, so you know, you're getting his feedback as an artist, you're

14:20

getting Von's feedback as a legend in radio, you know. And then we

14:26

had I had my homegirl at Benet. She's like a marketing whiz genius,

14:31

and so she was kind of giving her marketing feedback. So you had these three really cool perspectives to really gauge where you're at. And I think that's

14:39

what we do. I love that he's like not just in radio like he

14:43

DJ. And then you also have jam sessions. Yeah that's another event outside

14:52

of running back, but connected to Studio X as well. So tek us about the jam sessions. So the jam session started at the studio too,

14:58

and it's just like they got those got so big that we couldn't fit all

15:03

those people in downstairs. So y'all are going to the studio. Yeah.

15:07

So our studio is like a lot of space, right and you're more than

15:11

welcome to pull up whenever you want. But downstairs is like kind of an open floor plan and we have like couches and it's more you know, where

15:16

we do our camps and writing sessions and stuff like that. Upstairs is our

15:20

studio. It's a smaller studio, so it might comfortably fit like ten people

15:24

absolute max. That's even pushing it, say eight. But yeah, So

15:28

we would do our jam sessions like downstairs in the open area and we would

15:33

just we just called our musician homies and Tyler from the studio. She's an

15:39

amazing singer. I think I think you interviewed her back in the day. Oh I don't know, maybe Tyler Reese Okay, but well she's an amazed

15:50

she's an amazing vocalist, songwriter. She's also an engineer and a vocal producer.

15:54

But she has like a big network of musicians and stuff. So I

15:56

said, let's, uh, let's set up like some type of jams situation.

16:00

It's a build community. And that's how it started. And we would

16:03

do the like bi monthly and they got bigger and bigger and more people wanted

16:07

to go, like, hey, can I go to that jam? And I was like okay. So last year we did our first one with an

16:12

audience, and so we kind of make it interactive, so Tyler will host

16:18

and ask people like, you know, how are you feeling? Give us

16:21

a word or you know whatever, and you know, people in the audience

16:23

will give a word and then the band will just jam off that and just

16:27

feel like, let's say you want to say like magical, Yeah, Tyler

16:32

would just start humming something about magical and then you know, drums of kicking

16:37

and the baso kick in and the cave and it'll just be and it's like

16:40

two or three hours of just like live improv music. We have. We

16:45

have a really really good time doing those. And that we just did Wet

16:48

with Kept Choice last week, and so that's another one of our events that

16:52

we do and it has nothing to do with the running backs. So the

16:55

running backs are more like DJ artists relationships. This is now musician artist community

17:02

that's so dope and healing. It's like it gets real sometimes it gets churchy,

17:07

and then it gets real ratchet sometimes you know. Yeah, it's all

17:10

about balance, it is. And so yeah, that's what we do. And that one is more for like our musician and vocalist community, and I'm

17:17

sure like people make a bunch of connections there as well. Absolutely absolutely,

17:21

like you might if you're an artist and you're looking to put together a band,

17:23

like definitely come to a jam session because you might find your next drummer

17:27

there, or you might find a background singer. This I want to go.

17:30

I don't want to contigue, I'll have no musical abilities. No,

17:33

I just want to be there. Yeah. Absolutely, we're absolutely going to

17:36

invite you to the next one. That's fire. So far, are you guys at the point where you're like going to different locations for the jam sessions?

17:41

Yeah? Okay, So last summer we were doing them on a rooftop

17:45

in Oakland. We just didn't want at ground floor in Oakland, which is

17:49

like a shared like workspace community club thing, but is really really pretty in

17:53

there. And I feel like, yeah, well, like so many new

17:56

restaurants and stuff opened up. It's like a good networking for you too,

18:00

Like let's host this. Yeah. I think a lot of I think as

18:03

we grow it and you know, get our marketing together, I think a

18:07

lot of like I want to do one in like a nursery or with something

18:11

with really plan and you know, like I think we can just keep changing

18:15

a coffee shops. Coffee shop, Yeah, just anywhere anywhere that's a vibe,

18:21

right, because it's it's definitely like a vibe experience. That's crazy.

18:25

Yeah, you got to come to one. It's so fun. No, I really let me know the next one. I'll definitely be there. Man,

18:30

it's just like so much from the studio that you got going on with

18:33

that, and then you're an artist yourself. I am, Are you still

18:37

making music? I haven't made music in a really long time, so I'm

18:41

not going to say I'm not making music. Like there's one hundred at least

18:44

one hundred songs in my in my card yards. And I was stocking your

18:48

Instagram and I saw one pust You're like came out of retirement. I was

18:51

like, records too, Yeah, I just dropped the I dropped the project

18:55

last like the end of last summer. It was called Single for the Summer,

18:59

and that has some cool songs on it. But yeah, I think

19:03

I like making music. It's just like it's so taxing sometimes too, just

19:08

because I'm facilitating so many, so many other things. But I do know,

19:12

just for myself, for my mental health, for my sanity, I

19:15

do need to balance it a little better and make records because I know I

19:18

still have more things to say. But I think just pivoting too, Like

19:23

I'm like a business lady. Now, like I don't know what to say

19:29

in the songs because I'm like, this ain't even accurate. I'm not even living like that right now. I don't it's gonna this is not responsible of

19:37

me for to say like. So it's kind of difficult to find that balance

19:41

and that duality because it's like I've grown so much New Years, it's all

19:47

Karina X. I was in Karina and I just my name too, and

19:53

then I got all business sees. So I don't know, but I do

19:57

still make music. To answer your question, I do a lot of like

20:00

songwriting, gigs and stuff. I just wrote a song, wrote a couple

20:03

of songs for this artist, nam Dreed Dominique based in San Diego. So

20:06

yeah, we're still writing. And you were nominated for Grammy. Yeah, some like talk about that. Oh yeah, I'm talking about my sof that

20:15

happened too. I mixed the project for Apprentice Palell and Sean William and it

20:22

was the spoken Word album, so it's pretty cool. And they got nominated

20:27

and it's a new it's a new category, so I think it was the

20:30

second year of the category. And yeah, we got nominated, and I

20:33

was like, they told me that too. They were like, when I

20:36

mixed it, they're like, yeah, we're gonna try to get nominated. And I was like, I didn't think they couldn't, but I was just

20:41

like, that's a it just sounds like, yeah, can I just mix

20:44

it first, like we don't write, you know, no pressure, trying

20:48

to get some grammar And they were like no, we're so many instagrammas.

20:52

I'm like, okay, like all right, and it ended up getting nominated

20:55

and I was like, yo, okay, I'm feeling like like just being

20:57

being a part of that. It was crazy because like the Grammys, the

21:02

Grammys seems like this big mystical organization and they're really not like a huge mystery.

21:08

Like you can be a part of the Academy. It's not that hard

21:12

if you're a music professional. And they want more people to be a part

21:15

of it, any more people. Yeah, they need more people. And

21:18

I think I think this coming year is going to be a really good year

21:23

just for how they're expanding. And uh I started. I started working with

21:29

the Grammys when I was in college. You ever heard of Grammy You? So Grammy You is a college extension of the Grammys, right, So it's

21:34

their program that they they do for college kids. And you pay like a

21:40

really small fee. It's like a hundred bucks. I don't even remember. And you're a part of Grammy. You for your entire entire college career,

21:47

and then two years or something after you graduate. So with that, any

21:52

college, not any college, but any college that they're in. Wow,

21:56

they'll send a rep. Usually if you're in like a music class. So

21:59

I was in I was taking a music I was having doing a music degree.

22:04

So they had a Grammy rep. Grammy U rep come in and that's

22:07

how I learned about it and I signed up instantly because you got I get

22:11

invited to all of the events that they were throwing. This was pre COVID,

22:15

so they had a lot of stuff going on, So you get to

22:17

do all that for free. And then they would let you do sound checks. You get to go to certain people's sound checks. So I went to

22:22

Janelle montet sound check, I went to how You Saying the Khalid I went

22:26

to his sound check. They did a songwriting thing Melissa Thridge. I played

22:32

a song for her, like for some songwriting. She was like, I

22:34

got goosebumps. I said, I know, that's right, Yeah, I

22:38

just got crazy and then they'll give you if you're really saucy, they offer

22:44

a mentorship and you apply to a mentorship. So I got paired up with

22:48

the guy who remember Foster and the People, but he worked on the the

22:52

Foster and the People album, so he had like this, I don't remember

22:56

if it's diamond or platinum, but it was one of them platus like crazy

22:59

and is that the Pumped Up Kicks? Pumped Up Kicks? Yeah? He

23:03

produced on that album, so he had his accolades, and they paired me

23:06

up with him on some like production stuff and I'm like, I am not a producer, like I don't like making beats. I don't like producing,

23:12

I don't like. I was so against it. I was like, I'm

23:15

an engineer like I don't or I'm I'm an artist, like I don't make

23:18

the beats. But he insisted, right, and uh, he had me

23:25

like on an old school lendrum from the eighties and it was like a drum

23:29

machine thing. And I ended up producing a really dope song that I actually

23:33

that's the one I played for Melissa Ether. She's like, oh, that gave a use once. So I was just like yo full stuck a moment.

23:37

But I say all that to say, like, he's my mentor,

23:41

is the reason like I've had sync placements and stuff like Grownish and et cetera,

23:45

et cetera, because I worked with him and he showed me kind of

23:48

how to do it and who to talk to. So anyways, I say

23:52

all that to say the Recording Academy is like a lot more accessible than people

23:56

think, and they offer a lot of resources for professionals. I'm glad you

24:00

tried producing, though, Oh I know you're like I hate it. Because

24:04

you're trying everything, might as well try it. Yeah, no, not

24:07

for me. Have you ever tried to make it be before? No, it is not. I feel like I wouldn't be able to do it like

24:11

I do, Like I'll like set up like little jingles on my podcast,

24:15

but like it'll be like a two second one. I was like that took forever, ages ages and then I don't know music theory, Like I took

24:22

music theory in school, but I had like a really mean teacher, and

24:25

I just I was aving into it. I was I passed by the grace.

24:30

I don't know. Yeah, I passed, though I think my teacher

24:33

actually got fired, like he got like escorted by the police, like mid

24:37

mid by the police, yeah, like mid semesters. Then they switched.

24:41

It was too much. So all that to say, I don't know music

24:45

theory, so when I even the teacher just messed it up for you because

24:47

he obviously had. Yeah, he screwed it up for me big time because he just like turned me off. I was just like, I don't like

24:52

this class, like let me get to my pro tools class. And he

24:55

got arrestless. It wasn't just you like he had problems. Yeah, I

24:57

think he got fired and then they automatic like make somebody walk you out because

25:02

like the school sheriffs or whatever like walked in up. Oh okay, okay,

25:06

I don't know none of my business. I do want to know what he did, right. He used to smell like me'll do real bad,

25:10

So I don't know the google him after this, Yeah see where he's that now. He was so mean. But anyways, I don't like making beats

25:17

because I feel like I can't play what I hear and it takes too long

25:21

for me to figure it out. I don't have patience. I'm just like this isn't for me. And then By the time I finished making a beat,

25:26

I was like, I would never wrap on this trash. I wish somebody would send this to me. So I just let you make it better.

25:32

That's your job. Yeah, I can get on it. I don't

25:34

want to do it. I leave it to the big dogs. These both

25:37

these people group people here next to me both produced so they can have that.

25:41

That's so, how did you get into engineering? Like what made you

25:45

like really fall in love with that? So I was an artist first and

25:48

then I lived with my auntie and I had just moved in with her,

25:52

and she was like, I was graduated from high school and she said,

25:57

you could live here for free, but you need to go to school.

26:00

And I was like school and nobody. I didn't really like grow up with

26:03

thinking I was ever going to go to college or anything. Like I already

26:07

knew what I wanted to do from a really young age. I was like, I'm gonna be a rap star, like and that's it. I was

26:11

good at it, and so I didn't think there was a point for me

26:14

to go to school. But she was like, you need to go do something, and I was like, all right, So I went to community

26:19

college. Then I found out you get financial aid. I said, well

26:22

sign now you know, stay all four years? How much a lot?

26:26

I not only used mine once, and I like, for some reason couldn't

26:30

ease it again. I was like, damn, when you're young and never

26:33

touched a thousand dollars before that financial you feel like you feel like a billionaire.

26:38

I was like, waste somebody and then you could get a little two

26:42

books and then like the rest was on me and get the used books and

26:45

get the e books and then get the you did the ball favorite. Actually

26:48

I was a TA and my TA let me use like half her books.

26:52

She was like, don't buy that, Like he's mine. You had to joke. You figured it. My five K went to who knows what she

26:56

shoes? I'll go to all the Warriors games, was my youngster. I

27:00

was just I was blowing it, but like it was. It was good

27:03

to just be able to little money. No. I had like every victorious

27:10

secret, perfree passion. I was doing something. Yes, every type of

27:17

blossom. That's all funny. Go to school, Oh yeah, go to

27:22

school. Uh. And then I took general ed and I was like I

27:26

just didn't know what I wanted to do, Like I didn't have a profession

27:29

other than what I was already doing. And then they had a music program.

27:32

It's called Music Industry Studies. Yeah, music Industry Studies, and it

27:36

was at Diablo Valley College DVC, and uh, I just enrolled and I

27:41

was like, I could do this, and you know, so I would love to learn pro tools to be able to like communicate with my engineers that

27:47

I was working with. So I'm like, this probably be like useful or something. Definitely flunked my first year of pro Tools big as I never went

27:55

to class like I was just like. But then I was like, okay,

28:00

Craney, you gotta get serious because somebody told me if you fail,

28:03

you got to pay the financial aid back. I think that was a lie.

28:07

It's a lie. Well somebody scared me straight. I said, oh

28:11

I get it again, regardless, regardless, I was about to mess up

28:15

that check for me. So I said no, no, no, no,

28:18

no, all right, we're gonna take it seriously time. So then I ended up taking it again and I got serious and I actually really liked

28:25

it. And then Jeff that owned Tone Studios, the first studio that I

28:29

used to record at, he was like, I mean, you want to

28:32

like make some extra money and start taking on clients. And I was like, hm, hmm, maybe, and so I just wanted to out.

28:38

Yeah. I was like, I mean I should probably get like another started

28:41

gig or something, right. I think I was working at home Goods at

28:44

the time. I was so yeah, I started taking I think one of

28:48

my first clients was like hood Stars, like yeah, like and I started

28:53

just taking on clients and I was so slow. I worked with a fantastic

28:56

Agrito like that he got a Grammy on I did like a little more sol

29:02

of recording on that album project. I didn't do enough to qualify, but

29:07

I was like, yeah, so, but I was really slow and just

29:11

young. But I liked it though, like I felt like I can do

29:15

this. And then I was recording myself and that made me better because I

29:19

was just like, I know how I want to be recorded. And then

29:22

I remember there's a guy named Ku Carrel and he's like a vocal producer for

29:27

like Rihanna and Justin Bieber, like all the big people. I think he

29:32

just worked on Beyonce's album that she just did, but he's worked with like

29:34

all the stars, right, and he was doing I don't remember if this

29:38

was a demonstration with the recording Academy or with my school, but whatever it

29:42

was, he was doing a demonstration at the old school. What's the school

29:45

in Emoryville that shut down expressions? Expressions? And he was doing like a

29:51

demo, recording demo, and I've never seen anybody work so fast, and

29:55

I was like, oh, I want to work like that. Yeah, and I was like okay, like and he just does a bunch of short

30:00

cuts and like when he comps vocals, Like comping vocals is when you just

30:03

do several takes of you know, a phrase or something and you put it

30:07

together like and make like you know, some people call the Frankensteining, Like

30:10

you're just taking a bunch of pieces and putting it together. And uh,

30:15

I was just like I love I love this, Like I just felt something.

30:18

I was like, I want to do that. Like recording is cool, but I want to do that. And he was vocal producing at the

30:22

same time. So hit it again, do it like this, no, no, get this rand You know, he wasn't a great singer, but

30:27

well no, I think he can't sing actually, but like he wasn't like

30:30

out of this, out of the but he was still getting his point of

30:33

cross yeah, to where the artists understood and you know, made their sound

30:38

better. So I started incorporating that in my sessions and when I will work

30:41

with singers especially, I was like, like I cannot sing for real,

30:45

Like like she is not blessed with that. He knew, he knew if

30:51

I could sing, it would be so I can hear it though I have

30:56

a good ear. So like I was kind of getting that reputation. And

31:00

then I started kind of just building a reputation and building my clientele and you

31:03

know, getting when you're an engineer, you have to compete, you know

31:07

with people who have been going to their engineer for the last five ten years,

31:11

and so you just have to offer incentives and different experiences. So I

31:14

was going out my way to just make sure that these people I was working

31:17

with were getting like super speed and like I might make a free promo video

31:22

for them or just like finding different ways to keep them around. And I did, and I just loved it. And then it got to the point

31:27

where engineering my regular jobs, like my day jobs I think it worked at

31:33

like a printing company or something like that was getting in the way of my

31:37

clients, and I was making more engineering than I was at that twelve fifteen

31:41

dollars an hour, so I was like I'm out this whole time. Yeah,

31:45

and so yeah, So that's kind of how I pivoted, and then

31:48

I was able to fund my music with engineering, and then I was able

31:53

to meet more people as an engineer than I was as an artist, because

31:56

when you're an artist, it's all about me, right, everything's me,

31:59

me, me, me me. When you're an engineer, it's like people want to talk to you because you do something for me. Yeah yeah,

32:04

and it's like oh and then like that's how I met Vaughn initially, like

32:08

he hit me asking about he wanted to put like a song together, like

32:14

a like a song with female rappers, and he was like he didn't know I made music. He was like, well, what can who can I

32:19

put on this? And you know, I was giving him ideas and stuff,

32:21

and then I just shot my shot on the phone. I said, Hey, while you're here, can I send you a song that I'm working

32:27

on. He's like, oh, you make music? And I was like yeah, He's like yeah, send it. Literally, like within the hour

32:31

he played it on the radio, like during primetime like traffic time, and

32:36

then it was on for a couple months like on the radio like nons and

32:38

I'm like no, but it'd be That's how you know, those relationships kind

32:43

of it's got to happen organically first, but then you can't be afraid to

32:46

like put yourself out there too. Yeah, once it's there, and it

32:50

helps when you do other things, Like I tell artists, like, you

32:52

know, if you only make music, sometimes that's tough to get to where

32:57

you need to go. Because for somebody who like a DJ or a label

33:02

rep or whatever, like you gotta think hundreds of people are getting at them

33:07

every year, you know, sometimes every week or month. What can you

33:12

do for them to even make them like drop their shoulders and really have a

33:16

conversation with you and really like level And a lot of times it's you being

33:21

able to be multifaceted, faceted and offer something else. So I tell people,

33:24

go pick up a camera, go learn how to engineer, or go

33:27

everything, do something, Just figure out something else to do. That way,

33:30

you'll never know who you meet like that, right, and you never

33:34

know what you're like actually like in love with right, Like you know,

33:37

you were like I'm all about my music, and I was like, wait,

33:39

I love engineering. I never thought I was ever gonna be an engineer.

33:43

It sounded like nerd stuff to me, Like I don't want to do I'm an entrepreneur. I never thought I was gonna open a student That wasn't

33:50

part of the plan. Yeah it wasn't, but you know, you never

33:52

know, just doing everything. So I need people understand though, like this

33:55

studio was not just yeah, exactly one, I'm just making money off you

33:59

guys or or you know, it's dope. You got all these events going

34:01

on, and you're creating the space for artists. But like you have the

34:04

resume, like you went to school, you worked with the academy, you

34:07

were an artist yourself. So I just want people to understand when you go to the studio, like you're working with the best listen. They are getting

34:14

they are getting experienced. He does this, Yeah, they're getting love.

34:16

And the engineers that we have at the studio, like these are my people.

34:22

Like I'm training them, you know what I'm saying, And I'm trying to put them in positions and situations so similar things could happen to them as

34:28

well. So when you come to the studio. Even if you don't work with me, you're gonna work with somebody else who got it, you know

34:34

what I'm saying, Like everybody is super talented and in their own lane and

34:37

got something special. So from the whole staff, pos staff to the equipment

34:42

fire, so what it's about everything Studio X. And then you open the

34:46

location in La too, So yeah, from people in the Bay, could

34:49

they use that one too, Like yeah, we actually I don't know when

34:52

this is gonna air, but we got a mean special going on right now. Be to LA. If you're from the Bay and you want to go

34:57

work in LA, fifty percent off only because we want to encourage people to

35:00

get outside their comfort zones and don't make that LA trip. La trips are

35:04

very important. I will say, that's the different type of work and a

35:07

different type of network and market. So fifty percent off. They only pay

35:12

half of what they pay us up here if they go to LA. But

35:15

yeah, they can book in LA. And Rossie's down there running the LA

35:21

location killing it doing great and yeah and it's woman owned like crazy in Oakland,

35:29

Like that's so far, You're amazing. Let's talk about this lab with

35:32

fab that you got coming up, you got another event? So what's going

35:37

on the lab with Fab? One of my longest clients I've had is Missed

35:43

the Fab. We've been working together seven years maybe something like that, and

35:50

our work we have developed this insane workflow that like you have to experience to

35:55

understand what I'm saying because nobody believes it. And then when they come in,

36:00

they're like, I've never seen anything like that. Like the amount of people that I think everybody that comes into one of our sessions for the first

36:07

time, like they'll be quiet, they're just quiet, they're watching, and

36:09

then during a break they're like, I have never seen anything like that in

36:13

my life. Like we work speed like quick like and I could keep each

36:17

other. Yeah, he could keep up with me, because when we first

36:20

started working together, I was I was subbing in for his regular engineer and

36:24

uh jeff him. He was like, oh, can you do a session

36:28

with Fab? And I was like, you know, this was I don't

36:34

know, I don't remember. I was probably like twenty two twenty three,

36:37

maybe, like I was young, like I was, I was still fresh,

36:40

I was still knew. I don't even know if I had gone to

36:45

that cou Correlle thing yet, but maybe I don't know. I was like

36:47

it was before New Oakland, after No Heavens. No, I'm not that.

36:52

I'm not that. No Shade, Fab love You, No, no,

36:54

no, no, this was probably this was probably after a Son of

37:01

a Pimp too. I think this was a little bit after that, yeah,

37:05

because I didn't have anything to do with that album. I wasn't recording

37:07

him yet. Yeah, so this is after that, and we just started

37:10

working together and he was really he's fast, and his attention span is like,

37:15

you know, he has to do something, he has to keep going. And I was like, you're not about to outwork me. So that

37:22

it made me keep up and then I got to a point where what's up, I'm faster, you know, and then oh like and it was like

37:29

a we just created this chemistry, like to wear it down. I don't

37:32

have to I don't He doesn't have to say a word. And I know

37:35

what he's thinking, just because we've worked together for so long so often,

37:38

like we work weekly. So basically people can learn that, right and and

37:45

Fab is his own like mind and brain and yes, like but as an

37:51

artist and an engineer, you can still create that kind of synergy and that

37:54

that chemistry with your artists. You just have to have the right tools and

37:58

you have to like have changed your mindset a little bit into how can I

38:02

make this faster. I used to work on a ranch when I was a

38:05

kid, my grandpa or Nanchetto, and I'm like my uncle was too,

38:09

and I remember like when I would go work there in the summer, a

38:13

lot of the task I had to do are mad tedious to like, and

38:17

I was like, how can I figure out like a faster way to do

38:20

this but still get like the same result, right? And so I kind

38:23

of developed that mindset. So I applied that to engineering, right, how

38:28

can I do what I need to do but like quicker to keep up with

38:31

him, Like there are certain things while he's recording or figuring out a line,

38:35

I could be editing or cleaning up my workspace and start mixing and suff

38:39

capacity. So it's kind of just we're doing that. So that's what we're

38:43

doing. He's going over kind of his songwriting techniques and how he writes super

38:46

fast, and I'm going over engineering techniques and how I tracked vocals really fast.

38:52

Knowing it's like a class. Yeah, it's gonna be a session, but it's like an interactive Yeah, it's gonna be an interactive workshow op sessions.

39:00

So that's what labia this bro that's so tight. So when is this

39:04

going down? So that's on the thirteenth, very limited like under ten.

39:07

I'm talking like under ten people, wow, just because we want everybody to

39:10

have like a fairly hands on experience and be able to answer ay everybody's questions

39:15

and stuff. So I don't know when we're gonna do it again. But

39:19

if you're an engineer or an artist than want to learn how to track faster?

39:22

Definitely definitely make that make that move well. I think you're amazing.

39:27

Love ky a genius. I love what you're doing for the community. Studio

39:30

X fire. I need to go to a jam session, so yeah, you'd invite me to that, and you need to send me a low Oh

39:36

absolutely, I'll send that right now. So yeah, you don't know creedom, I get your song played on the radio station. Okay, Hey,

39:40

you gonna help you with everything. Whatever you want to learn, you go

39:45

to Studio X and learn it. Yeah, and if we can't teach you, we know somebody who can there you go, So how could they follow

39:50

you guys, get more in touch so Studio X Recording dot com if you

39:54

want to book time with us or socials are all Studio X five. I

40:00

have won zero on Instagram. Studio X two one three is our Los Angeles

40:04

location. My personal Instagram is Karina Music, Karina with an x X a

40:09

ri in a music and yeah, book some time, come work with us,

40:15

come to a jam, follow us on all our socials, keep up with our events and programs, and we're gonna take it up. We're gonna

40:21

take it up one up a not excuse me this summer so it's spring still,

40:24

but we're resting right now because it's about to get. It's about to

40:28

get. I mean, yeah exactly. You I have hell events, but I have to ask what's next, like big picture events, both oh events.

40:37

We have our next running back with DJ Chloe Money on the seventeenth at

40:40

Dahlia, so that'll be super dope. Our next gym is probably going to

40:46

be in May, and then another one in June, and our artist development

40:51

program is gonna kick off in June. In big picture, Yeah, where

40:54

do you see Studio X in like five years or where do you want it

40:58

to like really be you know, one more location and a very big city

41:01

not on this coast, a Grammy downstairs and a Grammy and a Grammy case.

41:09

You know what I'm saying. I want that might happen before five years,

41:15

and just a bigger location that we're able to really build out from,

41:19

you know, the ground up. You know this location was it fitting the

41:22

budget and it could make sense, you know where I was. But I

41:25

think in five years we're definitely gonna be a like a space that's like our

41:30

space, like that we really built out well. I can't wait to see

41:32

you take over Karina. Everyone studio legs pull up. Thanks so much for

41:37

coming by. Thank you, appreciate you. Angel just alko wacked question,

42:09

just a sack it just allgo wack it on the record. Record of w