Rising Stars: Meet Tony Correlli

I’m a recording engineer and producer running my own full-time recording studio, Deep End Studio. Sometimes I sneak out of the studio to play live shows with Baltimore bands like The Henchmen, Carbonstone, Steep Steps, Nelly’s Echo (from NBC’s “The Voice”), Shelby Blondell, and many more. I organize the annual Charm City Sampler, I partnered to start Granelli Audio Labs which ships mics all over the world, and I also compose for film/TV/commercials, and even podcasts, lately. So I keep busy making music, and I love it!

I started on this path during my high school years. I was playing piano at church and guitar in a hardcore band. I gravitated toward the synthesizer in particular because I could create and record lots of sounds and arrange full songs on its built-in sequencer. I did that for my own music, then I started to help friends write and record songs, too. I didn’t know that was something I could eventually do as a career.

During my senior year of high school, I visited Sheffield Recording Studio for a MIDI competition and I was struck by the realization that I could do this with my life – I could work in a room full of instruments and equalizers every day! A year later, I was doing it full-time.

It’s hard to get started and earn a reputation in a creative field. No one knows who you are, and you don’t have any experience yet, so you have to push to even get a shot at being considered. I managed to get into a working recording studio by persistently offering to help out amd run errand, answer the phone, fix stuff, and duplicating cassette tapes.

I hung out there all day, doing any little thing that needed to be done while carefully studying how the producer worked. His name is John Grant, and he always focused on the music and getting the best takes out of artists. It was always a creative process for him, not a technical task, and that approach resonated with me as a musician. He let me book my own bands during his off-hours, so that allowed me to start building my portfolio. Eventually, I became in demand enough that I needed my own space to work, and I started Deep End Studio.

There were so many risks taken along the way, like investing in the equipment I needed and turning down “real jobs” as I honed my craft. I had to hold onto the belief that eventually enough people would hear my work and seek me out so that I could do this for a living. It still requires long hours, maintaining lots of relationships, and always making sure I do my very best during each recording session.

I can’t just buy a bunch of equipment or drop the name of a band I recorded in the past, I know I need to earn the trust of each artist I work with by helping carry their musical vision from their imagination onto a sharable medium in the real world so others can experience it, and that’s an exciting process!

I’m fortunate to be able to make music with an incredibly diverse range of musicians, and that keeps it interesting every day and every night in the studio. I learn from each artist I work with, so I’ve become familiar with countless genres and I’ve been challenged on so many instruments.

 I draw from that knowledge and experience every day, whether I’m creating analog synth tones for an EDM song or writing harmonies with a female vocalist in a folk band. I try to bring a lot into every project I’m working on, and that is becoming more important to artists lately as they have so many options, and even the ability to record themselves.

It’s not enough for me to simply record a song, I need to help take it to the next level. I also try to improve the local scene by helping out with events like the Maryland Music Awards and the Main Street Music Fest and organizing an annual compilation CD and playlist called the Charm City Sampler. There’s so much talent in this area, and I want to help these artists create great songs and get those songs heard on the CDs I distribute, on local radio like WTMD and WLOY, and online through the network of friendships and partnerships I’ve developed working in this field.

This industry has gone through so many huge changes in such a short period of time. I learned on analog tape in a six-month recording program at a big commercial studio, but by the time it ended everyone seemed to be using digital tape and recording at small project studios. Then came a quick transition from digital tape to hard disk and computer-based recording. It was fast!

CDs were the main medium when I began, and I was told that in the near future I would be mixing in 5.1 surround sound for audio DVDs. Then the iPod came along and people started to download stereo MP3s for headphones, which changed the whole landscape. So many changes every few years, who can tell? I’ve noticed that recording software comes with more and more packaged sounds and beats to help people dive right into songwriting, but the danger is that it stifles creativity and leads artists into the same patterns and using the same sounds as everyone else.

I’ve decided to focus on creating new sounds with analog synths and real guitars, acoustic drums, and a nice mic collection for recording violins and brass instruments. I think it will become even more important for producers to know how to capture and create original sounds and music as a response to the reality that anyone with a smartphone has access to so many preset sounds and beats. The art of writing songs and coming up with vocal harmonies and catchy melodies and parts won’t be replaced by an app anytime soon, and humans tend to recognize the heart of another human in a piece of art.