TMP History

A Little Bit 'O History... and 'State of the Studio' from the Glenn-meister himself!

A Little Bit 'O History... and 'State of the Studio' from the Glenn-meister himself!
Taylor-Made Productions started out as a small, 4-track TEAC demo room in the basement of a house nestled in the bosom of idyllic suburbia… That is; Passaic, New Jersey. Back in those days we were known as “If Walls Could Talk” Studios… The year was 1977… and even though we were short on tracks then, we were always long on keyboards and FX. The clients started to roll in to take advantage of instruments that they normally wouldn't have access to in their respective "live" situations. Although it's 'standard practice' for studios to offer-up veritable 'batteries' of keyboard and MIDI gear these days… there were very few independent studios then, whose promos boasted "Free use of Hammond / Leslie, Rhodes, ARP, Moog, String ensemble… Echoplex", etc..

We continued our growth at an amazing rate; A 2-inch format 16-track in 1979 (AutoTech)… then, a 2-inch 24-track (3M M79) by 1980. Moving from songwriter & cover-band demos, we started to do small independent label work (Lots of R & B, dance re-mixes, & early metal bands).

As a composer/producer myself, I felt that I was getting 'stale' applying all of my energies to other artists' work exclusively. About 1985, I started to 'widen the palette' of the type of clientele we were seeking… and began to work with corporate and ad-agency departments, offering original-music-scoring, jingles, audio-for-video 'sweetening' and sound design (did they call it by THAT name in '85 ??).

By mid-1987, we'd moved to our present location, here in Caldwell, New Jersey... and taken on our “Taylor-Made Productions” moniker to indicate the more diverse array of project-types that could now be accomodated. We totally "re-tooled" in this spacious, new facility and designed it 'from the ground up' to accommodate sync-to-picture, audio-layback to 3/4" U-matic, then 1-inch; and later… Beta SP video… (Our current video 'main-squeeze' is the new DoReMi Labs 'V-1' non-linear edit system, along with a Canopus 'Quicktime-to-NTSC converter). Back then, we were growing at an amazing rate! In came digital audio; Pro-Tools recording & editing, Performer MIDI-workstation-composing & sequencing… and of course, the traditional 'multi-track analog' artist & ensemble music "project" recording we had done all along.

The first piece of gear I saw (and purchased) with a disk drive was in 1982....a 'good old reliable' EMU Emulator-One (MIDI'd and still in use !!). It turned the tide forever. The current state of Taylor-Made is a far cry from the Emu-1 days, but it still respects its technologically "clunky" ancestry… or as the 'chic-elite' say these days.. errr, uh... 'vintage'.... Today, the device with the most over-riding influence on what we do and how we do it... is, in fact... the computer! (duh!)...... We're strictly Mac-oids here! I initially liked the Mac concept so much... I bought two; No kidding. A BIG step then... Now we're up to six of them!

Having crossed into the "21st-century", we've recently installed a new, gleamin', screamin'-fast dual-2-Ghz processor Mac G-5 in the studio for our 'Pro Tools-HD w/ surround' (plus a ton o' plug-ins to boot!), along w/ our recently beefed-up (and aforementioned) DoReMi Labs V-1 'non-linear' video capture system for audio-post. For our MIDI-rig, we've hot-rodded our existing Mac G4 and are doing our original scoring and composing now w/ MOTU's (latest edition of) Digital Performer. With the brand spankin' new iMac G-5 in the office, handling the internet, word-processing, billing, finance and database chores… and ALL the Macs updated to system X (.current version)… TMP is most definitely 'cutting-edge'... well... perhaps for at least a few weeks, anyway!

A special thanks here to our 'in-house-but-freelance' 'Digital-I.T.-guy' Joel Krantz for his patience, guidance, expertise and general 'cool-guy'-ness, in overseeing and implementing the MASSIVE install we recently 'survived'; I mean... he DID come 3000 miles from sunny California to do it! As for the other various Macs..... well, they're rumored to be networked and / or strewn about the premisies… in the tech-shop, lounge, latrine... and parts otherwise unknown ...

Back in 1991, Macs were a HUGE step for us. We'd previously used a Roland MC-500 dedicated hardware-sequencer with an SBX-80-box to chase SMPTE. Initially tentative about Performer & the Mac (i.e. learning how to use a new system, down time etc.), I discovered that within a week of setting it up, I wouldn't have been able to take on a project without it!... (Special thanx to Herb Pabst of Next Earth our 'web-meister' for cheering me on to 'Mac-dom')! Digital Performer (simply called 'Performer' back then) was (and still is) easy, fast as heck and really flexible; We found it to be a 'breeze' for setting up cues-to-pix when compared to our previous system. With the addition of Pro Tools digital audio (which came along a little later)... we discovered that between these two programs, you could configure your audio-path in a host of different ways to perform ALL of the different audio-tasks at hand... in a manner suitable to both you… AND the project! You get to wondering just how we EVER worked, utilizing the dinosaurs that preceded the 'current-state' ("when mylar-backed oxide ruled… and roamed the studios of the 'Messozoic' audio-era"!)... And this is from ME, the 'Reluctant Technician'!

With Taylor-Made's vast collection of library music and SFX on CD and CD ROM, the Gefen Systems "Music and Effects Organizer System" is a life-saver for searching FX and library music categorically (once again on the Mac!). It operates essentially like a word-finder style program; Type in the cue and you're presented with a list of possibilities, including description / variation, CD #, location, index and length. Our input session with Gefen Systems was a challenge (for them...Thanks Hagai!), as we only wanted our database to include the libraries and segments thereof that WE owned (so someone couldn't look up a cue we didn't have, although there are (ahem), few that we don't!). When we were done they told us that they had never customized an M & E package to the extent they had to for us.... We're such P.I.T.A.'s!

Today, the centerpieces of the studio are our recently-installed 88-input AMEK "Media 51" console and our Pro Tools "high-definition" or 'HD' tapeless audio workstation; The new AMEK features Rupert Neve-designed equalizers and mic-preamps. As it's name implies, the board is "surround-mix-ready" for both the 5.1 and 7.1 formats. The "desk" utilizies the "Supertrue" mix-automation system via a dedicated PC (OK, OK, so we let ONE IBM box get in here!). This system is SMPTE driven and sports complete cut, paste and mix-merging capability, as well as clean graphics and simple operation. Combined with the flexibility of the plug-ins and automation available in Pro Tools, "Supertrue" is the perfect 'finishing touch' mix-companion to the Digidesign program. It's such a pleasure to be able to consistently answer clients with the phrase, "no problem", when they want several variations of a mix, to recall an old mix, or to change a move at the last minute.

In this new millennium, Taylor-Made hopes to continue as a 'mainstay' for ALL types of artistic / creative and technical audio needs in the performance, advertising and corporate communities... There are constantly 'new toys', most promising to 'make our busy lives a little bit easier'... and we are commited to ALWAYS having what is hot, new or cool in our 'studio-stable'... Whatever will give OUR clients the 'advantage'... (Although it sometimes gives the accountant conniptions!.... sorry Jim M!). We are truly dedicated to the maintenance of the 'cutting edge' of technology here, but we never forget what has brought us this far “down the 'pike”, after all these years... Good, solid business-relationships... and the way in which we respond to our clients' needs. Its the cornerstone of ANY ongoing affiliation… (not to mention a successful organization); And… it's also the predication upon which we're building our future here at Taylor-Made Productions!