I got started in the music
business in the late seventies when my brother asked me to mix sound for
him live at the Depot in town here. It has burned down since but, it was
a nice restaurant and he was playing guitar and singing. Later he bought
a bunch of Teac Tascam recording gear. The same setup Boston used on
their first Album. A model 5 board with a model 5a expansion board,
an 80-8 eight track reel to reel and a 40-4 reel to reel. He was a
pretty successful Insurance agent at only 23 years of age. He had played
in bands and taught guitar for years. Well he decided to join a band
called Jacobs Kelly who toured the Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Canadian
club circuit for about 10 years. You see he said he would give it ten
years and if it didn't work out by then he would go back the insurance
business. Well he needed an engineer for his
studio and he recruited me.I learned how to mic, record, edit, and
mix music and really enjoyed doing so. I didn't understand why then but
experienced first hand the difficulties of taking a mix out of the room.
Yes mix transferability. It always sounded great in the control room
but, take it out to the car and hmmm, what happened? Well with time I
got better but never understood what was happening until much later. In
the mean time I recorded several bands in that studio. One of which was
Quarter Moon. Their music turned out really well and they asked me to
run sound live for them. I thought that would be exciting so I did and I
went on the road with them doing shows all over Michigan, Ohio and
Indiana. It was quite a challenge mixing in all those different
environments and I learned a lot. But I soon found that I didn't like
life on the road like that so, after about a year I quit and soon after
moved to Texas.
In Texas I got a job at Custom Hi-Fi and in just three months I was a
Store Manager. After about a year I wanted to get back into recording
and my brother wanted to sell his studio so I bought it and drove up to
Michigan and rented a U-haul and brought it down to Houston Texas.
I bought Topaz Recording Studios and his record label Broken Records. I
set up in my house and by then I had heard the phrase "You can take the
mix out of the room but you cannot take the room out of you mix." So, I
was a little more aware about the science of acoustics and monitoring. I invested in a
pair of JBL's top of the line monitors the 4430's and got a pair direct
from the factory at an employee discount because I worked at an
authorized retailer of JBL products.
I recorded and produced several artists out of my studio but, I also
started freelancing at other studios. like Cook Sound Productions and
ACA Recording Studios. And there I learned a lot about acoustics
tracking mixing and mastering.
While at Cooksound I worked as the mastering engineer for a project
which was a talent contest. It was sponsored by Miller High Life,
Yamaha, and many other big name companies. It was called "The Miller
High Life Rock to Riches Talent Contest" Entries came in from all over
the USA. The finals where going to be held at the Palladium in New York.
I had to go through each submission in the form of cassette or reel to
reel and splice them into a master to be used to make cassettes for the
judges to listen to. (Cassettes had to be bounced to a reel to reel) I
will never forget how one song kind of blended into the next and nothing
was all that outstanding until I popped on a reel and it just jumped out
at me. Wow! what a sound. Nice lyrics, lots of energy. I thought now I
bet this is the winner here. I even made a copy of that song for me.
Well sure enough this song and this artist when on to the finals at the
Palladium and won. What was the song you ask? I bet you have heard it
and are familiar with the artist. It was Jon Bon Jovi and the song...
"(She's a Little) - Run Away" and he won a record contract with RCA records
(if I remember correct) and the song was released using the original
master and went into the top ten. enough to put Jon Bon Jovi on the map
of Rock N Rollers.
Well in early 1984 I fell on hard times and went through a divorce forcing
me to sell my studio. I ended up moving back to my hometown where I met
a woman and started a family. Now life demanded that I have a more
steady income. So for years I worked outside of the music business. I
always figured I would get back into it someday. I planned on doing so
in my retirement years.
Them my son Kris wanted a guitar for Christmas. I got him one and in
just six months was playing quite well. In just a year he had a band.
Well that summer I decided to get back into the business. Thus in 2002 Topaz
Recording Studios and Broken Records was re-established (and in the town
it originated in). Later wanting a name
for the label that fit more with the times my son suggested Matchbox
Records and I liked it so another label was formed.
I have recorded many bands in my studio here in Flushing since then.
and I hope to record many more. If you are reading this, I hope to be
working with you too.
Norm Coleman
Topaz Recording Studios
That's my story and I am sticking to it!
