Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Qualls.
Hi Matt, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story starts in Memphis, born and raised in the city. Music became a dominating factor of my life around the age of 13 when I got my first guitar. Playing in bands in high school turned into touring full time for 3 years before getting burnt out. All of a sudden, I had a different relationship with music. I was no longer dreaming of being a huge rock star, but instead of working in a recording studio. Around 2010, I bought my first Mac computer with a logic pro, a handful of microphones, and an interface.
I was recording my friend’s bands wherever I could, for $100 a day, happy to just have someone want me to record them, all while building my skillset. Because I didn’t yet own a studio, I was doing DIY recording sessions in random locations in the beginning. Working in this fashion only yields a useable quality of the recording, I knew that if I wanted to make impressions on listeners and artists, I had to start working in a real studio facility, not a doctor’s office break room, or a band’s rehearsal room. In 2013, I was brought on to assist Dirty Streets in the making of their record at Ardent Studios, this began my relationship with Ardent Studios.
Shout out Dan Russo for giving me chance to bring work to that amazing place. For years, I worked as a freelancer at Ardent and absolutely loved it. I was able to really grow and learn as an engineer at Ardent. Using some of the best equipment in some of the best sounding rooms in the world. Fast-forward to 2018, I was asked to help my friend Calvin Lauber run a newly renovated studio in Memphis called Young Avenue Sound. This experience was truly about the community of Memphis. Working with a large variety of artists in the area and fully serving the unique Memphis music community.
Recently the studio was sold, and in this process, I was forced to look for a new studio. That leads me to where I am today. I have partnered up with an amazing crew of folks at Easley McCain Recording / New School Media. Sean Faust, Doug Easley, and Davis McCain have been nothing but extremely supportive of me being in the studio running sessions. I feel like we are offering the city a fresh, outside of the typical industry, recording studio experience.
This place is about creating music and artistry, it’s about lifting up every single person that walks through the door.
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?
The road has not always been smooth, but this industry leans so heavily on relationships and character, that at the very least, you know you are dealing with honest and vulnerable individuals. Sure there are hurdles here and there but you have to move past that.
Building on your experiences to make yourself better for yourself and others.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I feel like where I shine is in my ability to see where the artist is coming from and apply that to the production. Allowing the unique raw human element to shine through the music.
Kind of the opposite of what the standard music industry experts. Instead of using the computer and Pro Tools to dictate what is “perfect’ I’d rather focus on what’s authentic to the artist and enhance that. I put people in a room and let them play music.
I don’t manufacture songs in a program. Not that there is anything wrong with using these tools, I certainly know how to tune vocals and quantize drums, but that doesn’t mean I am doing to do that.
I also feel an inherent quality in my recordings is blending the hi/fi beauty with the lo/fi ugly. I want the records I make to sound like they had no expense spared, but also some sense of reckless abandon to them. I don’t make safe-sounding albums.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t believe in luck. I feel like everything is earned through hard work and being a good person to others.
Contact Info:
- Email: brasstacksaudio@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsjumpin/?hl=en
Image Credits
Mike Gallagher and Nicholas Scott Hall
