Studio Manager Spotlight: Rolff Zwiep — Blackbird Studio, Nashville

Many things define a studio. While a facility’s engineering talent, gear and reverb times often get the spotlight, the studio manager is an important part of the picture.

Blackbird Studio, one of Nashville’s flagship facilities, has recognized that with the recent appointment of Rolff Zwiep as Studio Manager. The post is a high point for Zwiep following 30 years working in the Nashville music business, a span when he’s gone from cartage to large and in charge.

There’s a lot on the line with Blackbird founder John McBride’s choice. Since its launch in 2002, Blackbird Studio has grown to incorporate nine studios, a full-service rental business, and Little Champion Music Publishing. Blackbird Academy is also in-house to train the next generation of producers, engineers and live sound pros.

Rolff Zwiep is the newly anointed Studio Manager for Blackbird Studio. (Photo credit: CJ Hicks)

The client list represents recorded music’s elite including Adele, Green Day, Pearl Jam, fun, Mariah Carey, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Megadeth, The Beastie Boys, Train, Bon Jovi, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Johnny Mathis, John Fogerty, Keith Richards, Neil Young, R.E.M., Rush, Steven Tyler and Stevie Nicks.

And that’s just who’s from outside of Nashville. Townies that come by include icons Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Garth Brooks, George Strait and Kenny Rogers to current country stars Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Little Big Town, Kenny Chesney and Martina McBride. On the pop side are Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, Jack White, Sheryl Crow, Keb Mo, Kelly Clarkson, Paramore, Taylor Swift, Better Than Ezra, and Kelly Clarkson.

That’s a massive machine to keep moving. But Zwiep’s job is about a lot more than keeping the rooms booked and their portfolio of Neve, SSL and API consoles humming – the role of studio manager is a high-wire juggling act. Social and leadership skills, organizational mastery, and a radically simple philosophy for managing staff are all essential tools Zwiep has on hand – traits that pay off whether you’re managing a facility in Nashville, New York, LA or Louisiana.

You called managing Blackbird Studio your “dream job.” What makes this such a unique position in the industry?

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end: The short version of my story is, that I am a first-generation Dutch American; raised on a small farm rural Ohio in the sixties and seventies. So starting with that and ending up where I am now is definite proof that the American dream is still alive.

There is no secret formula. It’s pretty simple when it all comes down to it. Believe in yourself and your dreams; choose to do what you love; work your ass off; maintain honesty and integrity with everyone. I think it’s infectious when you enjoy work and life. Others that get it, always want more.

I was fortunate to meet and hang out with Cowboy Jack Clement on a number of occasions and he said it the best, “If we’re not having fun, we’re not doing our job.” What a spirit!

You’ve worked in the Nashville music business for over 30 years. It may sound obvious, but why does local knowledge become more and more valuable for professionals over the years?

A Neve 8078 is the centerpiece of Blackbird’s Studio A.

You have to know your territory and also realize it’s in constant flux. New people, situations, info…oh yeah and new gear!

I tell so many people that relationships are everything and your contact list is golden. I still call and refer to people I met when I first came to Nashville in the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s. My “address book” has about 5000 names and numbers (and now emails) in it, and I started it before the Internet was a thing.

It is, now, my not-so-secret weapon. Even with the Internet and information overloads of everything, I still have people calling me for referrals and contact info. I love putting people together to make great things happen.

Connecting people is as easy an email, we agree! How did you first come to work at Blackbird Studio?

Over the years I worked independently as well as with an assortment of companies, services and organizations that were music or entertainment industry-related in some way. What I was doing was paving the road to where I am now and will be in the future.

I moved to town as a session and live drummer, voiceover artist, had my own musician’s custom accessory business (TKO Products), did musicians cartage, band rehearsal room tech, backline gear rentals, Nashville Symphony and Nashville Chamber Orchestra production manager, freelance stage tech, studio drum tech, cartage and rental equipment manager.

Eventually John McBride called me to ask if I was interested in wrangling the extensive and ever expanding inventory that is now Blackbird Studio and Blackbird Audio Rentals. At the time (April 1, 2004), we started Blackbird Audio Rentals, which was within the original Blackbird Studio building in Berry Hill, Tennessee.

After 11+ years of developing and managing the rental division, the situation presented itself when Blackbird’s studio manager that had been here for 10 years left and as John said, “I was racking my brain thinking about who I’d want to manage the studio and you were right there the whole time.” We’ve had a great relationship all these years and so it felt pretty natural to make the move.

Nine Studios and More

What are the primary job functions that you attend to as Studio Manager?

Daily studio scheduling that includes nine studios (seven currently open to the public) and operations that are delegated to the incredible studio staff we have here. I knew from the start that I could not do it without them. Other duties include client and public relations and some marketing.

Studio B features a 48-channel API Legacy Plus.

We also have The Blackbird Academy that is our in house school of audio education. As studio manger, I work with the admin and faculty personnel to coordinate the school studio and lab schedule that is incorporated into our daily studio calendar. They are, quite frankly, treated as a client so it’s a fairly seamless fit for the most part and takes just as much calendar tweaking as any other clients that book our rooms.

There’s also The Blackbird Academy Live that’s another division of our educational arm, located on the north side of Nashville, near Madison, TN. They’re just as active but focus on the live production side of the industry. Both entities are sending some pretty impressive young people out into the audio world.

Drilling down, is there such a thing as a “typical day” for you? How might a busy day unfold for the manager at Blackbird Studio?

I’m an early riser and occasionally get shamed for it because I’m usually the first one in the office daily! (laughs)

I arrive in my office; quickly check messages and emails in case there’s anything critical I need to address or that I haven’t already seen on my phone overnight. Then I make my studio rounds and check out the rooms that the ops manager and staff engineers have already set up the night before or that morning.

I greet employees and clients as they arrive and do intros if we have not yet met in person or just catch up with friends/clients/engineers/musicians, etc… as well as the cartage companies delivering and setting up gear for the musicians that are arriving. The musician and engineer cartage companies are as hard working as anyone in our industry and rarely get the credit they deserve!

Once everything settles in for the morning sessions I return to my office, or head out to meet a potential client for coffee, or a drop by someone’s office or a neighborhood studio on the way back. It’s always been very friendly competition here in Nashville, as it should be.

I then get on with my day of answering calls and email inquiries about quoting room rates for projects, booking rooms, scheduling sessions and discussing business details with staff, making calls to drum up business and generally spreading the good news about Blackbird.

Then it’s lunch with a client or friend — I live so close that many days I run home for lunch. In all my years in Nashville I don’t think I have lived more than a 10-15 minute drive from home.

After lunch — sometimes I skip it on busy days — I return to Blackbird to make another set of rounds to the studios and staff, and get back to my office for more fun…I mean work. Some days admittedly do turn into evenings and nights (sometimes weekends) but it’s all pretty manageable. It does not mean I love it less, at all!

Circling back to Blackbird Academy, what are the opportunities available to the studio as a result of the Academy’s presence there?

Studio I is a hub for Blackbird Academy activity.

We have the opportunity first and foremost to teach the students about the recording process: There is so much more to it than people think, and the students learn that very quickly.

We have the chance to teach our students the right way to do things, which makes the transition from student to intern and hopefully eventually engineer and/or producer a beautiful thing. The faculty does a pretty impressive amount of work in a very efficient system/curriculum they developed and it is constantly getting tweaked and improved.

There are currently about 20 employees at Blackbird, plus The Blackbird Academy that employs 6-8, which is sizable for a studio. What’s the key to managing a large staff that specializes in audio?

I think of it as any another business overall, and the staff are employees like anywhere else. Each have their individual tasks and responsibilities. You first have to make sure that those people are the best you can find and that they are fairly compensated. So a critical key to managing is making sure the employees are happy doing their jobs.

That about explains it, since if there’s someone that’s not good at what they are doing, then it’s a sign that they probably aren’t happy either. I have good friend who is a very successful audio engineer and he keeps a fresh supply of fast food restaurant applications nearby — if there’s someone slacking on the job he hands one to them and says, “Here you go, you might what to make use of this pretty soon.”

New in Nashville

You began your Nashville career in 1984 with Pickers Pickup, Nashville’s first cartage service. In what ways is the city’s music business scene the same as it was then, and what are the key ways in which it has changed?

Vibe out in Studio C, home to an SSL 9080XL K series with ATC 300s mains and ATC 150s surround.

Amazing as it sounds, a lot of the same people are still involved. Many of us came up together, as they say.

It’s pretty cool to see the people that were the studio interns, assistant engineers, and other cartage guys back when I was doing musicians cartage, that are now successful cartage business owners, engineers, producers, session musicians, music business owners, studio managers, label executives and so on. So this is actually a “same and change” thing all in one!

It has changed in many ways. Major and secondary studios closing. Record deals and budgets shrinking. Labels merging/consolidating and also closing doors. Home and smaller indie studios becoming even more prevalent and active in name projects. Skyline changing. It affects all of us in the business in one way or another.

That’s a lot of trends to keep track of. How do the changes you see apply specifically to recording, mixing and mastering facilities in Nashville?

We owe so much to technology but we also see that technology can ruin us.

Some people in our business say that digital technology was the downfall — yet they continue to use it!!! But I tend to disagree with that. I think that so many of the users got lazy and forgot what the goal was in the first place.

For instance, Pro Tools is an audio recording and editing system. a.k.a. a digital “tape machine”, first and foremost. The editing capabilities are very user friendly and so the ruination began. I don’t think I need to explain further.

As I mentioned, before, the various businesses are affected and many are shrinking or closing, yet there are still people and companies making massive amounts of money from music. It’s a strange set of problems and successes.

What do you see as the challenges and opportunities for Blackbird Studio within that paradoxical environment?

Besides the other studios in Nashville and surrounding communities, a lot of our (friendly) competition in the business are the home and indie studios that are popping up.

With 96 channels, Studio D’s board stands as the largest API Legacy Plus ever built.

It’s undeniable, yet we still get so many clients in the studio that want a big room to track in because there’s nothing like that sound, and the environment where a group of musicians can play together in one space and create beautiful music. It completely defines the word “band” and what is so great about capturing a performance.

This is an opportunity that the people who know what it is and means, get it and always want to record with us. Just this week I spoke with three clients with very successful track records, that said, “I love this place!” “I want to just live here and wake up every day and make music in this space!” “This studio is my favorite place to record. I want to track everything I do, here. Always!” THAT makes it all worthwhile

Last question: How do you see the studio manager’s job evolving overall? Not just at Blackbird, but for your colleagues in the industry, nationwide and internationally – why will this continue to be a tough, but desirable, position?

It’s definitely a challenge and can beat you down if you let it — and I am speaking as a newcomer. Still getting my feet wet!

I do see new way of marketing ourselves and other ways to be a recording studio. We’ve done live events, performances, streaming broadcasts, etc… and we’re always exploring how we can do new and interesting things in this very unique business environment. Simply, if we stop evolving, we die. And we’re choosing the former.

From having connected with so many studio owners, managers, employees and the whole culture that surrounds our world through the years, I feel like I am one of them now. Completely.

It’s no secret that the industry has changed and will continue to do so. Much of it is developing and growing on its own in new ways and there are still so many things that will be discovered from new technology to hopefully inspire a new generation and breed of true musicians. True artists.

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