The O-town Scene

Sounding off A studio with an aim to be so much more Story by Cassandra Miller Photos by Genevieve Pedulla (unless otherwise noted) What is Crown Above: Garrett Cadwallader works in Crown Studios, as Scott Hunter watches. Studios? Garrett Cadwallader, 24, is one of those young people who is known around town. He’s a master self-promoter, and a charmer to boot. Cad- wallader, who is a member of the band Lets Tokyo, got his stage name out by postering flyers asking, “Who is Garrett James?” around town. “If you put something in print in a ques- tion, people are going to want to answer it, and if they don’t know the answer, people are going to want to know,” he said. Cadwallader Above: Hunter, Cadwallader and Stephen Baker sit around the sound board. 16 O-Town Scene Jan. 20, 2011 is ready to let people know about his new project, Crown Studios. So, what is Crown Studios? “It’s not just about record- ing. It’s a one-stop shop for musicians,” he said. “We can do flyers, websites, photography, graphic design ... it’s all net- working and making connec- tions and being a bridge for a lot of people.” He and his bandmates, Ste- phen Baker and Scott Hunter, recently finished renovating the basement of the Victorian house they live in and rent, cheaply, from Baker’s father. A professional basement Renovations included more than moving boxes out of the basement. Walls were added and sound-proofed. Carpets were ripped up to expose tile floors. Existing walls were scrubbed and painted. Molding was added. Crown Studios includes five rooms — a lounge, a recording studio, a control room with a soundboard and keyboard, a vo- cal booth and a bathroom. The recording studio and con- trol room are off the lounge. On the coffee table in the lounge area, a local writer’s book of poetry and yellow daisies in a glass vase were on display recently. The lounge also has a new, streamlined couch, and a computer for clients to use. On the walls are framed concert posters from the mus- cians’ projects and a white- board calendar with color- coded appointments to help the three stay organized. Musicians who come in to record can use the house drum set in the “live” studio, and look at framed M.C. Escher works and posters of Mari- yln Monroe on the walls. The live recording studio also has a back area with a modern couch next to the door to the vocal booth. The control room is next to the live room. There are more couches for people to hang out. Everything is clean and neat. “Stephen is the most orga- nized person I know,” Hunter said of his 21-year-old house- and bandmate who the studio is named for. (The name Stephen is derived from Greek and means crown.)

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