For today’s #TilYouMakeIt, we are back in Nashville at Blackbird Studio to speak with sound engineer and studio owner John McBride (Garth Brooks, Martina McBride, Stevie Nicks) as shares why he built his beloved studio.
Known for its state-of-the-art music production facilities and vast collection of vintage and modern recording equipment, Blackbird gives artists the ability to paint with every color in the palette and has created a space in which iconic acts like Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton and countless others have created the records they want to make.
#TilYouMakeIt is a collection of films with audio professionals chronicling those stand-out moments from their careers and capturing wisdom from the game’s most esteemed producers, mixers and engineers.
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TRANSCRIPT
We have a t-shirt on the back that says “Either you rock or you suck” and all it really means is if you’re gonna do anything, don’t half-ass it. Do it. Right.
Part of the reason I built Blackbird Studio was that LA and New York treated Nashville like a redheaded stepchild, I thought. My goal was I wanna build a studio that’ll kick the shit out of anything in LA or New York.
I look at the artist, producer, and engineer as painters and one of the reasons we have so much gear is because I really wanted to give them every color on the palette with which to paint their picture.
Being a road person, I can’t buy one of something ’cause you have to have a spare. And then the fact that we have nine rooms here at at Blackbird and we have a rental company, well I need to buy at least ten to feel like, okay, we’re gonna be okay.
Plus, Every time I do it, I think they don’t do this in LA or New York. This is good, you know.
If my only contribution to music is building a place in which someone can make the record that they want to make, I’m fucking happy as could be.
