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Studio stresses
quality work
by Angel Stokes
Battalion staff
The growing musical en
vironment in the Bryan/College
Station area has a new addition
— Brasswind Studios.
Owner David Cooper says
Brasswind is different from
other studios in the area because
it is the first full-time profession
al studio.
Brasswind tries to reach sev
eral area markets, Cooper says,
including radio and television
commercials, audio/visual work
for Texas A&M and demonstra
tion tapes for local bands. The
studio rates are moderately
priced for the services offered,
he says.
All the audio work is pro
duced at Brasswind, he says,
but the video work is sub
contracted to studios in other
cities.
Some work currently done by
Brasswind includes the back
ground music for the Lester's
tell fashion spots for Channel 3,
radio spots tor University Na
tional Bank and Messina-Hof
Wine Cellars.
Brasswind has studio capabi
lities to do two-track, eight-track
and 24-track tapes. Cooper says
the studio doesn't have a 24-
track machine because that mar
ket isn't developed here yet.
But, he says, if a client wants to
make an album or a high-quality
demo, then a 24-track machine
can be brought in. With access to
three machines in the state, the
studio only has to borrow a
machine and plug it into the ex
isting equipment.
'"The studio is doing things
not normally done by studios
because of the markets it is
hying to reach," Cooper says.
Tne markets for radio advertise
ment and television spots al
ways have been here, he says,
but clients had to go to Dallas,
Atlanta, Austin and other cities
to have the work done.
These extras include sub
contracting video work and the
availability of a 24-track
machine. A production music
library, called a music bed, for
background music also is avail
able.
The equipment at Brasswind
is similar to that found in studios
in Nashville and New York,
Cooper says.
"I wanted quality, not quanti
ty," he says.
Most of the equipment is
"state of the art," ne says. The
mixing console is a Console Tri
dent Series 70. Made in England
and released last year, he says
the one at Brasswind is the first
in Texas.
Other studio equipment in
cludes: a Linndrum Drum Com
puter, a Fender Precision Bass, a
Polyphonic Synthesizer and a
Yamaha electric grand — the
most common road piano.
After completing a demo tape
photo by Dean Saito
David Cooper surveys his recording set up in Brasswind Studios.
for an album tape, it is sent first
to a mastering plant and then to
a pressing plant. Cooper has
three companies lined up to do
the mastering and pressing.
Which company is chosen de
pends on the quality of work
and the budget the client wants.
Cooper's first idea for a studio
in Bryan/College Station came
about in 1976, he says, when he
took a course in recording en
gineering in Dallas while also
attending Baylor.
After graduating from Baylor
with a degree in music theory,
he moved to Nashville and
worked sound at the Opryland.
While in Nashville, he says he
got some lucky breaks by meet-
See STUDIO, page 11
Hit Broadway play
at A&M Thursday
"Amadeus," the hit Broad
way play of threeyears ago,
will be presented Thursday in
Rudder Auditorium at 8 p.m.
The award winning play, pre
sented by the National Tour
ing Company, is the third of
eight programs in the Opera
and Performing Arts Society's
11th season.
"Amadeus" examines the
conflicts between the two
18th-century composers,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
and Antonio Salieri.
Although Salieri was popular
among the people of the time,
he longed for Mozart's genius
— "his gift from God."
The characterizations of the
two main roles make this play
unique. Salieri, played by
Phillip Pleasants, is the gener
ous man of court, while
Mozart is foul-mouthed and
cruel. Salieri's jealousy moves
him to destroy Mozart, played
by Edward Hodson. It is un
certain whether he was re
sponsible for Mozart's death,
as he once confessed.
"Amadeus" won five Tony
Awards, including the award
for Best Play. It also was a
huge hit in England at the Na
tional Theater.
i
photo by Dean Saito
Cooper is dwarfed by his mixing console.