| Recording studios come in all shapes and
flavors....from the Sound Kitchen in Nashville with its 27,000 feet of space to something
somewhat more modest like the Disc in Eastpointe [Multiple studios in 8000 square feet
- ed.], to a facility in someone’s basement or even another molded out of a
garage. There’s a studio to fit just about anyone’s budget for what ever
the project. After all. dreams come in all configurations. |
| When musician Tony Whipple attended The
Recording Institute of Detroit back in the late 80’s, he had no idea he’d end up
in semi rural Pinkne, Michigan doing what he loves to do.... operating his own studio
called White Rose. Tony is the kind of soft spoken guy who if you didn’t know
him, might never think of him as the producer, recording engineer and talented songwriter
that he is. His reserved demeanor quietly camouflages the hidden dynamics of a
performer who loves to play and show off his considerable guitar playing capabilities.
I’d first heard of Tony several years ago when a musician friend of mine named
Paul Epstien told me he was in a band with him. That group was called the Strand, but now
they have a different band called Spider the Cat who are in the process of recording their
second CD. |
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Jon (L) Paul and Tony |
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| Tony’s White Rose Studio has recorded
many dozens of local bands over the past 13 years or so. The studio used to be in
Dexter, but in the early 90’s Tony moved it to it’s present location near
beautiful downtown Pinkney about 15 miles NW of Ann Arbor. The drive out there is
absolutely lovely with the winding Dexter-Pinkney road taking you through the abundant
wooded scenery along the way. It’s just near Hell Michigan. There’s a road
called Darwin that takes you to Hell along the way. In other words follow Darwin and
you’ll go straight to Hell. I just had to say that joke which I’ve been told is
old. But Pinkney is a fitting setting for the kind of musical Karma that comes from
being surrounded by the swaying trees and quietude one finds in the country. Tony,
37, was born in Union City Indiana, but his family moved around a lot until they settled
in Stevensville Michigan where he went to High School. After attending Purdue and
earning a degree in electrical engineering, Tony decided to attend RID to learn the
recording techniques he used to start White Rose. Later he moved to Pinkney where he
lives with his wife Patty and their toddler daughter Shayla Rose. Tony works at the
University of Michigan as a systems analyst but still finds the time to record different
groups and cut CD’s with his art house band Spider the Cat. Even though he has
recorded Spider and their earlier version the Strand, Tony along with fellow song writers
Jon and Paul Epstien have landed a recording contract with Southfield studio SVR records
where they work on their current projects. |
|
So This Is A Studio? |
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| Tony also has an acoustic group called
Passenger to Nowhere that he gigs once in a while. So he’s a busy guy. The
first thing you notice about White Rose is that it seems to be a converted garage or
workshop in a wooded area that you wouldn’t know was a studio until you step inside.
It’s made up of a smallish control room, a reasonably sized recording suite,
and 3 isolation booths. A listing of his equipment follows at the end of this
article. Tony is a really nice guy. He was happy to give me a tour and play
back some of his current projects with Spider. When I interviewed Tony, he was
comfortably seated at his recording console and very cooperative on my account. He
had some interesting things to say, so here they are...... |
| PT Quinn: What was the
first musical instrument you picked up? Tony Whipple: I
wanted to play guitar and took 5 of my brother’s Hot Wheels and traded them to some
kid on the block for a guitar. |
| PT: How old were you?
Tony: Probably about 7 or 8. In school music programs
I went into woodwinds like the saxophones of various sizes I learned to play. Just
after High School I toured Europe with a wind band. We played all over there for a
couple of months. |
|
Tony In His Control Room |
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| PT: When did you start
writing music? Tony: I always toyed with it from putting
together little melodies when I was very young to writing my first song in high school.
In my early bands we did a lot of covers like Lynard Skynard and stuff like that.
It didn’t last too long doing that. (ha-ha) |
| PT: When did you first
become involved with the RID? Tony: I signed up for classes
about in ‘87. I had recorded an album with a guy named Bill Toby who had a
little 8 track studio. He had gone there. I got interested in the recording
process and he told me about it and I signed up. |
| PT: What do you
remember of RID founder Bob Dennis? Tony: Bob is the kind of
person who likes to get up in front of people and talk..which is a good quality for a
teacher. I enjoyed classes with Bob. |
| PT: Tell us about
Spider the Cat. Tony: We have been signed to SVR records and
are working on our second CD with them. We want to get it out with them promoting
it. That’s our main focus. I’d love for Spider to start getting some
airplay and tour around a little bit. We think this version of Spider with drummer
Paul Krywy, the man who needs to buy a vowel..ha-ha...and bassist Jason Quartuccio along
with Jon and Paul Epstien on guitar and keyboards is a good lineup. I feel we’re
better than the group we had on the first CD. |
| PT: If you could
change something about yourself, what would it be? Tony: I
don’t know. Maybe to make myself richer and more famous. (ha-ha) |
White Rose
Equipment List |
Tascam MS 16 track Recorder
with a complete meter bridge |
Tascam M2516 mixing Board
with auto locator |
Panasonic SV3700 DAT |
Fostex E2 Half Track |
A full Patch Bay |
Lexicon Multi Effects
processors LXP1 and LXP5 |
Ideologic Quad Gate |
BBE Sonic Maximizer |
Alesis Quadra effects
processor (2) |
Alesis Micro Verb II |
Alesis Stereo Compressor |
Furman Stereo Compressor |
Yamaha XBX90 |
A Pair of Headphone amps
for 2 mixes |
A large supply of
ElectroVoice N-DYM mics |
Some AKG condenser mics |
Neumann U67 tube condenser
mic |
Some Shure mics |
1200 feet of recording
studio |
|
Spider
The Cat Releases |
5 Songs Cass-EP |
Litterbox Cass-EP |
Underground Meeting of the
Secret Cat Society Cass |
Meow Micks Cass |
Inspidered Cass |
Spider the Cat (SVR) CD |
|
|
Contact Information: |
You can reach Tony at his White Rose Studio
at:
734-878-2242
or E-mail him at: whipt@umich.edu |
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