Another new studio has opened, this time in Buechel. The facility is being operated by three partners, Barry Lambert, Bradley Forbis and Kerry Tolley. The three are dividing up the titles as well as the work, with Forbis taking on the task of studio manager and engineer, Lambert handling the publishing and Tolley working as the producer.
The studio occupies a small storefront in a building at 3825 Bardstown Road. On the day of an interview, Tolley was sitting in a red T-shirt and shorts copying cassettes for shipment to Houston. On the wall by the door hang several awards, in the form of gold-plated records, although none of the recordings in fact achieved "gold" status.
Tolley says that he has been in the music business since 1986, when he moved from his native South Carolina to Nashville. His efforts in Music City resulted in the awards on his wall, most of which list him as the producer and/or writer. While in Nashville, he says that he worked as a producer for Al Jolson Enterprises, Inc. His experiences with Jolson were very important, he says and he learned a lot working there.
Tolley admits that he did not endear himself to music industry figures in Nashville, alluding to one "important figure" who he offended.
"I didn't like what I had become, I didn't like the way I was acting," he stated, "so I decided to get away from that scene."
Of the records on the wall, Tolley says he is proudest of a single cut by singer Bobbi Lace on Six One Five Records, which reached no seventy-two on Billboard. It reached fifty-one on Cashbox.
He came to Louisville from Nashville because he had met Lambert and Forbis and they ended up getting together on the studio.
The studio has been open since early February of this year, with special introductory rates of fifteen dollars an hour, plus tape hub. Tolley indicated that the rates would likely rise to twenty an hour. He emphasizes that he is not trying to compete with the larger, established studios. Instead, he is looking for songwriters and musicians who want to make less complicated, less-costly demos before going ahead with more involved productions.
Studio hours are noon until they quit. The studio number is (502) 473-1312.
Main Board
Tascam M-320B 2018
Main Recorder
Tascam TSR-8
Half-Track Master
Tascam 22-2
Power amplifier
Peavey CS-800
Outboard Effects
Peavey EQ-215
Alexis reverb
MidiVerb1I reverb
Symetix
Korg Samling Digital Delay
Studio Monitors
Bose Sa 200
Control Room Monitors
Tannoy monitors
Microphones
Shun, AKG
Studio instruments
Korg MI keyboard
Assorted guitars