Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve White.
Hi Steve, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I got started as an artist in the early 2000s. Back then recording equipment was hard to come by for the average person so I figured out a way to rig a set of turntables to a Tascam four-track cassette tape recorder and would make a beat on a track and record thru the DJ mixer to the other three to cut a record and then burn that tape to a disc.
That was the beginning of my learning to engineer even though at the time I was just trying to record.
That led me to find ways to get the sound to improve and 8 years later by the time I finally had an industry-level sound well, I was no longer an artist and had become an engineer by default. So I decided to use what I had learned to help other young artists get to where I was trying to go quicker.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s never a smooth road when you do this music thing alone or outside of a big studio. I and partner (Wade) always wanted to make our own way so we would put all our money together and build vocal booths and buy equipment and then upgrade to a better booth or a better control room or a different studio space until we finally found the 1700 SF. a facility that we run out of today.
So it was a lot of years of taking everything we made and re-investing it back into the business and not making much of any profit. Now we’re almost a million into equipment studio builds rent insurance so that’s a lot of work and time for someone to spend building a brand or a location that is essentially just to help other people lol.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
So I specialize in mixing records but I have industry credits for rec mixing mastering writing and producing. I’ve done it all and love to do it all. Lately, I’ve been pushing myself to be more involved with the production side of things.
As an engineer, I work for the Grammy award-winning multi-platinum producer Corbett. He’s helped me work on my production skills and given me opportunities to work with him on productions for major artists. That opportunity showed me a side of the industry that I really enjoyed being a part of and so I started to focus more of my energy on being better at it. When I’m in a session my goal is to service the artist the best way possible to help create something amazing they can be proud of. Having my chops up in all areas of the recording process really helps me become an asset to the room. Not just the engineer.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
When I was a young studio owner a guy name SunZoo (writer for Anderson Paak and many others) took me in and showed me the ropes of engineering beyond what I had ever known. He mentored me into being able to become what I am today and helped me along the way by introducing me to all his contacts in the industry.
Corbett also gave me extreme growth by putting me in rooms with people like hit boy DDG king combs the game Foreverolling go Grizz turn me up yc kaydence (writer for Ariana grande Beyoncé) the list goes on.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dojorecordingstudio.com
- Instagram: @paging_dr.white
