Recording studio leaves its downtown setting
By KEVIN COLLISON
The Kansas City Star
Tech N9ne is leaving the city for the suburbs, not to abandon his urban roots, but to follow Chuck Chapman and the studio that’s recorded his Billboard-topping albums.
Chapman is pulling up stakes and relocating his operation and six employees to Lenexa after 16 years in the historic Vitagraph Film Exchange Building in the Crossroads Arts District. In that period, he has recorded national artists ranging from rappers such as Tech N9ne to rockers such as Bryan Adams, with a poetic interlude by Jewel.
“We did a big project for Harper & Row publishing of Jewel and her poetry,” Chapman said in an interview last week. “It was really successful, and she was very pleasant to work with. She also played a little guitar.”
He was seated in his relaxed office at the Vitagraph at 17th and Wyandotte streets. The wall behind him was decorated with Billboard charts, the scorecard of the music industry, and outside workers were dismantling the custom-built recording studios where so many commercials, songs, films and album tracks had been recorded.
It was easy to understand why it was time to go.
Orange construction fencing ringed the four-story building, and work was well under way to renovate it, among other things, to become the new home of the Kansas City Symphony offices. Philanthropist Shirley Helzberg is doing the $18 million redevelopment.
The neighborhood has changed dramatically since Chapman found the old building, which was built in 1930 to store Warner Bros. movies. The structure had been empty for eight years and was under foreclosure when he bought it in 1993. Chapman started his recording business in the River Market in 1972.
The Crossroads was a quiet treasure trove of underused and cheap urban real estate.
“We were an enclave of quiet, cool, old buildings,” he said. “I liked the artsy element.”
Now, with the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts going up just a block away, and Helzberg’s earlier renovation project, the Webster House, across the street, the activity level and construction noise has increased substantially. That’s not good when you need a quiet environment for recording.
Chapman sold the building to Dan Wilding in 2003, but obtained a long-term lease as part of the deal.
“This neighborhood was getting a new life with the Kauffman Center, Webster House and other activity, and I was getting hit on by developers,” Chapman said. “My agent suggested I set a ridiculous price and terms to ward off the wannabes.
“Dan came by a few months later. All I wanted to do was stay here another 15 or 20 years, retire and be done.”
But when Helzberg bought the structure for her symphony plan, it was clear a recording studio was not part of the plan. In addition to renovating the Vitagraph, the project includes attaching a two-level parking garage and building a two-story penthouse on top.
“We probably weren’t a good fit,” Chapman said.
Helzberg bought out the lease (financial terms were not disclosed) and Chapman went shopping. After experiencing the challenge of building studios — there are two at the Vitagraph with multilayered soundproof walls up to 18 inches thick — Chapman decided he preferred to buy an existing studio.
He wound up buying the former Airborne Audio Production facility at 8805 Monrovia St. in Lenexa in a deal concluded Dec. 31. Chapman’s last day in the Crossroads is this Friday.
Shaul Jolles, a past president of the Crossroads Community Association, said Chapman will be missed.
“He had a big operation with really known artists, very few people knew about it,” Jolles said. “It’s sad he’s moving, but he needed that move.”
It would have been nice to stay downtown, but Chapman said he was unable to find suitable space.
“We looked at a lot of properties, but they were either in a bad neighborhood or cost too much,” he said. “We have women clients and talent, and I don’t want them to be afraid to come to my door.”
On the flip side, one of Chapman’s main clients, Tech N9ne, is a bit nervous about going to Lenexa, according to his business partner, Travis O’Guin, co-owner of Strange Music.
“I absolutely love where he was at 17th and Wyandotte, the environment was just really comfortable,” O’Guin said. “We’re all a little apprehensive about the new move. The space is great, but artists are accustomed to certain things.
“All our releases have hit the Billboard chart, you have a formula and it feels like home. We’re excited, but a little apprehensive.”
SOURCE: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/music/story/977703.html
By KEVIN COLLISON
The Kansas City Star
Tech N9ne is leaving the city for the suburbs, not to abandon his urban roots, but to follow Chuck Chapman and the studio that’s recorded his Billboard-topping albums.
Chapman is pulling up stakes and relocating his operation and six employees to Lenexa after 16 years in the historic Vitagraph Film Exchange Building in the Crossroads Arts District. In that period, he has recorded national artists ranging from rappers such as Tech N9ne to rockers such as Bryan Adams, with a poetic interlude by Jewel.
“We did a big project for Harper & Row publishing of Jewel and her poetry,” Chapman said in an interview last week. “It was really successful, and she was very pleasant to work with. She also played a little guitar.”
He was seated in his relaxed office at the Vitagraph at 17th and Wyandotte streets. The wall behind him was decorated with Billboard charts, the scorecard of the music industry, and outside workers were dismantling the custom-built recording studios where so many commercials, songs, films and album tracks had been recorded.
It was easy to understand why it was time to go.
Orange construction fencing ringed the four-story building, and work was well under way to renovate it, among other things, to become the new home of the Kansas City Symphony offices. Philanthropist Shirley Helzberg is doing the $18 million redevelopment.
The neighborhood has changed dramatically since Chapman found the old building, which was built in 1930 to store Warner Bros. movies. The structure had been empty for eight years and was under foreclosure when he bought it in 1993. Chapman started his recording business in the River Market in 1972.
The Crossroads was a quiet treasure trove of underused and cheap urban real estate.
“We were an enclave of quiet, cool, old buildings,” he said. “I liked the artsy element.”
Now, with the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts going up just a block away, and Helzberg’s earlier renovation project, the Webster House, across the street, the activity level and construction noise has increased substantially. That’s not good when you need a quiet environment for recording.
Chapman sold the building to Dan Wilding in 2003, but obtained a long-term lease as part of the deal.
“This neighborhood was getting a new life with the Kauffman Center, Webster House and other activity, and I was getting hit on by developers,” Chapman said. “My agent suggested I set a ridiculous price and terms to ward off the wannabes.
“Dan came by a few months later. All I wanted to do was stay here another 15 or 20 years, retire and be done.”
But when Helzberg bought the structure for her symphony plan, it was clear a recording studio was not part of the plan. In addition to renovating the Vitagraph, the project includes attaching a two-level parking garage and building a two-story penthouse on top.
“We probably weren’t a good fit,” Chapman said.
Helzberg bought out the lease (financial terms were not disclosed) and Chapman went shopping. After experiencing the challenge of building studios — there are two at the Vitagraph with multilayered soundproof walls up to 18 inches thick — Chapman decided he preferred to buy an existing studio.
He wound up buying the former Airborne Audio Production facility at 8805 Monrovia St. in Lenexa in a deal concluded Dec. 31. Chapman’s last day in the Crossroads is this Friday.
Shaul Jolles, a past president of the Crossroads Community Association, said Chapman will be missed.
“He had a big operation with really known artists, very few people knew about it,” Jolles said. “It’s sad he’s moving, but he needed that move.”
It would have been nice to stay downtown, but Chapman said he was unable to find suitable space.
“We looked at a lot of properties, but they were either in a bad neighborhood or cost too much,” he said. “We have women clients and talent, and I don’t want them to be afraid to come to my door.”
On the flip side, one of Chapman’s main clients, Tech N9ne, is a bit nervous about going to Lenexa, according to his business partner, Travis O’Guin, co-owner of Strange Music.
“I absolutely love where he was at 17th and Wyandotte, the environment was just really comfortable,” O’Guin said. “We’re all a little apprehensive about the new move. The space is great, but artists are accustomed to certain things.
“All our releases have hit the Billboard chart, you have a formula and it feels like home. We’re excited, but a little apprehensive.”
SOURCE: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/music/story/977703.html
