New Room: Emerald City Productions – Franklin, TN

June 13th, 2016 by David Weiss

Nail a niche, and you can make it happen.

That’s true anywhere in the audio world, but especially when you’re talking about Nashville. Recording runs rampant here, of course, but established studios are facing their fair share of challenges. That, of course, is where the opportunity also lies.

Producer/engineer/editor/mixer Danny Ozment decided to shoot the gap with the newly minted home of Emerald City Productions, just outside of Nashville in Franklin, TN. Seeing larger facilities closing around the area was one part of the inspiration, but his inspiring new studio is about more than that.

A drummer who’s in possession of a bachelor’s degree in voice and a masters in choral conducting, Ozment has established himself as an expert in a cappella audio production. His deep understanding of how to handle just voices in the studio has made him indispensable in this world with a rabid – and rapidly growing – following.

Working out of his Carl Tatz-designed studio, a beautifully creative space that he’s build around an ITB workflow, Ozment is well-equipped to take his craft even further. What makes engineering for a cappella a unique set of challenges that he’s conquered? How has he managed to take the monotony out of editing? Just importantly, what social media channels has he mastered to build his client base?

Read on to get the answers directly from Danny Ozment – you’ll get why it’s very good to hear voices.

Emerald City is the new jewel in Nashville.

Facility Name: Emerald City Productions

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Location Location Location: Emerald City was designed for the way Nashville records.

With so many big rooms closing down, I wanted to have a live room that was big enough for drums, horns, strings, etc… We have a 700 square foot live room with 18 foot ceilings, a 120 square foot vocal booth that’s also big enough for drums, and the hallway has a mic panel for the random musician or amp.

The Editor Director: I edit anything that comes to me. Mostly drums and vocals. I’m well versed in Melodyne, Auto Tune, and Pro Tools editing, and pride myself on the ability to make a track sound natural and musical without it ever sounding like it was edited.

Editing is fun for me because I’m thinking about it as a musician and not as if it’s a necessary evil that is a boring task. I was a drummer first so I also spend a lot of time working on drums and vocal percussion/beatboxing.

Ideal Designer: I chose Carl Tatz because of a direct recommendation and demonstration from Derek West of Fly By West studio in Nashville.

Carl had done two rooms for Derek and I could hear the difference when I sat in Derek’s mix room. Having been in a bedroom prior to moving to Nashville, it was clear to me that Carl knew what he was doing and I really liked that he was in town and took ownership of the project until it was finished.

(l-r) Emerald City’s designer Carl Tatz with Danny Ozment.

The studio has a great flow and separation about it. Excellent sight lines from mix room to live room and booth. Huge windows and windows to the outside world. An open, bright, and airy feel was really important to me in the design.

Lounge, kitchen, and full bath round off a space that is attached to my home, but has a separate entrance and the ability for people to stay for multiple days and be comfortable.

A cappella Ace: While getting my music degree, I was in a few different a cappella groups. This was back in the days when it was a very small community of groups worldwide.

When the genre started to get more mainstream attention in the mid-2000’s I turned my recording hobby into something more serious. I asked lots of questions, contacting guys who had more experience like Grammy winner Bill Hare, Pentatonix mixing engineer Ed Boyer and a cappella recording industry veteran with multiple platinum albums under his belt, and Dave Sperandio. I went from a doing it for free for a few groups to within two years quitting my day job and doing this full time.

A cappella is a fascinating genre for many reasons but the unique engineering requirements fall into two areas.

You’re dealing with a lot of cover songs, so you’re trying to get many genres to translate to an all-vocal group with varying degrees of creativity in the arranging. So… you really need to understand all types and styles of music and any harmonic and rhythmic “language” that might get thrown at you.

You are also dealing with 20, 30, 40 or more tracks of vocals (and nothing else) on every track you do. That presents many challenges in tracking, editing, mixing, and mastering to get something that isn’t just a muddy mass of sound.

I Engineer, Therefore I Am: I love music and working with creative people, and I like being my own boss.

Key Personnel: My wife, Erin, is the only other staff member. She keeps me centered and focused.

a 700 sq. ft. live room gives a band room to maneuver.

The Equipment List:

Interface: UAD Apollo with 24 analog i/o

Preamps: UAD, Millennia, Focusrite

Mics: Besides anything I can rent in Nashville, my go-to vocal mics are the Telefunken AK-477 mod, Peluso P12, Neumann U87, Neumann TLM 103, and Rode NT1a. I probably use the NT1a on the road more than anything because I don’t care if it gets broken and it sounds great on many different voice types and abilities.

Cue system: Behringer PowerPlay

Wiring: Mogami and Neutrik connectors done by SkinnyFish Audio (Nashville)

Plugins: UAD, Waves, WaveArts, McDSP, Slate, and many more.

DAW: Pro Tools 10 – 12 (also have Logic and Reaper for transfers)

Amenities aplenty.

We’re Different Because: I take a new school approach to things. I’m very active in the YouTube community, and besides operating a studio where people can track, edit, mix, and master in the box, I’m also set up to film videos and advise people on new media options, digital distribution, etc. Additionally, we run a crowdfunding site and can help artists optimize their funding plans.

If I weren’t in audio, I’d be doing… Something involving travel: I love to travel and I could definitely see myself working in an industry that has me traveling a lot or would allow me to be a digital nomad.

Sonic Inspiration: Strawberry Fields Forever… Really I could name any Beatles song but this one really hooked me. Having the Beatles Anthology and all the documentaries around those albums released in my formative music years helped satisfy my curiosity.

Blatant Shout-out – working artists I’d love to host at Emerald City: Rajaton because of their exquisite creativity and Sturgill Simpson because of his artistic integrity.

— Danny Ozment, Emerald City Productions

A very clear perspective from the mix position.

An open and airy design were high priorities at Emerald City.

Innovation meets inspiration.

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