Today we’d like to introduce you to Wain Snyder.
Wain, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have always had a love for music, and from an early age spinning my Dad’s 45rpm’s, I marveled at how the music was made. That launched me on a life-long journey to understand how the music that was played translated to the physical formats that you could purchase and enjoy at your leisure. When I was old enough to read, all the labels had “Produced By” printed on them. That is when it dawned on me, this was the person responsible for making the artist sound the way they did, and I wanted to do that!
I later realized that there was much more behind the “sound” than just a producer. You need a great engineer in the fold also. So in the late summer of 1990, I attended The Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH. There I learned the basics of engineering. Back then, there was no YOUTUBE to go to for information. But, that medium doesn’t afford you the “hands-on” approach, which going to a school like that provides.
Kids starting out don’t have access to a microphone locker with several two, to four-thousand-dollar microphones to learn the ropes. Not that you need even a five-hundred-dollar microphone to sound good, but it teaches you a level of respect for fine equipment. I have to back-peddle a second. I started playing piano in fourth grade. I played clarinet in the 7th-grade band and moved to the saxophone in 8th grade.
For Christmas, when I was in 10th grade, my parents finally got me a drum set, and I started playing tri-toms in the marching band in 11th grade. Soon after graduation, my break came when I auditioned for the newly forming band “RELLIK”. I was eighteen years old and going on tour the following summer!
That band lasted about seven years, but it was recording the 1989 album “Soap Opera City” that really made me realize that I didn’t want to be on a stage as much as I wanted to be in a studio! That is when I went to The Recording Workshop. I moved back to Memphis soon after, and with a Fostex 8-track reel-to-reel, started recording artist.
One of the first demos that I ever did on that, was a “Skinny Pimp” demo! That was back in 1997 or ’98. After buying a house, I converted a two-car, detached garage in the backyard into a studio in 2002. That is when Ghostnote Studio officially opened. By then, the digital age had really taken off as an affordable recording medium. I purchased an Alesis HD24 and never looked back!
I have since produced four albums for Buck Hutcheson (Jerry Lee Lewis’ guitarist), two albums for Marc Lavell, three albums for The Country Surfer, a posthumous album for Memphis guitarist Butch Baker (another Jerry Lee Lewis band alumni), along with many other Memphis based artist albums and singles, such as Corey Osborn, Pete Mendillo, Jake Howerton, Chris Moore, Joey Hopper… the list goes on.
Currently, thanks to the director of operations at the studio, Keith Baker, I am mixing an unreleased 14-song album from 1986, which his brother Butch Baker recorded at his home studio with a special guest on a Casio keyboard and singing. Butch, of course, is playing guitar, and the keyboard and vocalist is none other than Jerry Lee Lewis. It is an amazing snapshot in time.
We were fortunate enough to get guys that played with Jerry Lee, to cut additional tracks, bringing this gem to life! It’s as authentic as Memphis music gets. I mean, WOW! My jaw drops just hearing this, but to be the person whose name is going to be printed on THAT label as the producer? I think that kid in the red wagon listening to his dad’s 45 rpm would be amazed at how far he’d go.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been fairly smooth. Of course, there will always be individuals and obstacles in any path a person takes. I’ve had personal setbacks, but at the end of the day, they were my fault. I can’t be angry with anyone but myself. I’ve grown to realize you have to be the change you want to see. No one is going to do it for you.
With that in mind, a wise man once told me, “Everybody wants to see you get ahead, just not ahead of them”! As far as all the naysayers and haters are concerned, I’m going to need some new ones. The old ones are starting to like me! Really, staying focused on what you want to accomplish, and never taking your eye off the goals you wish to achieve is the key.
I often have to remind myself to let the small stuff go, and I thank God every day he gives me the power to do so. Surrounding yourself with positive people that believe you, and you in them, is the most important ingredient. Staying positive in a negative situation is draining, but you come out with a better result.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
One aspect that I bring to the table when I do a project, I try to make a personal connection. I try to have the artist understand that I do have a personal stake in it, along with them. I discuss everything from themes, album covers, and videos to promotion.
The artist is free to use whatever outside source they wish for these, of course, but I try to keep a project all in-house from demo to radio ready, streaming to off-the-shelf consumption. Our label, Ashlyn Records, and publishing company, Buckster Publishing sums up the one-stop, all-in-one that is Ghostnote Studio.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I was put up for adoption at birth. I was adopted seven weeks later. In 2000, I found my birth mother Linda, and half/sister, with the support of my parents. Weeks later found my father and other siblings! I was working for WPTY-TV at the time, and they ran a story on it. It can be found on YouTube here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YaQqb9q80M
Contact Info:
- Website: ghostnotestudio.com
