New state-of-the-art recording studio puts faith in local market
Music has always been a passion for Jackie McGreevey and Kelsey Smith. Now it is their business.
McGreevey and Smith, both life-long Clark County residents, have teamed up to create Downbeat Sounds, a modern recording studio in the heart of downtown Vancouver. McGreevey brings business sense and local connections as well as her vocal talents to the table as CEO of the studio. She served on the board of directors with the Vancouver Symphony from 2003 to 2005, and gives voice lessons from her home. She is also an independent accountant and former CFO for the YWCA Clark County.
Smith, 22, brings his extensive road experience as a sound engineer for touring bands.
Smith spent two years on the road with the band Shine Down after he graduated high school and later worked with Camas-based Hyper Static Union. When he returned last year, McGreevey, a long-time family friend, tapped his talents as a sound engineer to help create the studio.
Hidden below a building on the 600 block of Main Street, it is designed to accommodate the creative musical process. It has a lounge area and multiple recording rooms, and a studio proper complete with, among other high-tech amenities, a 44-channel Trident recording console as well as a specially selected Otari two-inch tape machine, which Smith says is a must have for the modern music market in the Vancouver/Portland metro area.
The entire facility cost McGreevey and her husband Jamie McGreevey $70,000, and the staff did the remodeling work on the empty space, now leased by Downbeat for three years.
"I swung a hammer for the first time," said Smith. "In one day we carried 12-and-a-half thousand pounds of concrete up the stairs."
The end result is a high-end recording facility which will be used to record artists for Jamie McGreevey’s independent record label, Verbatim Records, but the bulk of the business will focus on the local market. To do this, they plan to diversify.
"Our goal is to use the studio in the community for different types of artists," said Smith. "We wanted to be a little more flexible when we designed the studio. There are just so many avenues for recording. Not just bands, but local events and choirs."
McGreevey said her goal is to generate $200,000 per year in gross revenue.
"We did some market research and have created a fee structure a little lower than Portland studios," she said.
Clients at Downbeat Sounds will pay $200 per day for Smith’s services, as well as a daily room rate, depending on which of the two recording suites will be used. The "A Room," or the suite containing the 44-channel mixer and other goodies, runs $300 per day, while the "B Room," which offers identical quality but fewer effects and mixing options, runs $150 per day. Additionally, Smith said he will charge fees for remote sound work on a contractual basis. An assistant engineer is available for $15 per hour.
"I don’t think we will hit our (financial) goals in the first year," said McGreevey. "Our goal is really to join the community as much as we can and build our name."
City of Vancouver Program and Events Coordinator Cara Cantonwine said she is excited to work with the new studio.
"The biggest partnership we’re going to have with (Downbeat) is going to be during our ‘Couv Fest event this summer," Cantonwine said. The to-be-announced event is part of the city’s planned 150th anniversary celebration.
Cantonwine said Downbeat will run the sound system and probably record the teen and college student-targeted event.
Smith said that since opening Dec. 1, he has received calls from businesses throughout the area in need of sound work. One such business is the indoor Lacrosse team, the Portland LumberJax.
"The team has asked us about doing live broadcast work from the studio," said Smith.
"There’s no reason why we couldn’t do that. We could record a band in here and have a live broadcast going on (in the next room)."
Now that it is up and running, McGreevey said the reality of the venture has taken hold.
"We were sitting in here the night before we opened," she said, "and we thought wow, this is real. There’s something to be said about being able to live your passion."
