History
How an elite recording studio landed in the heart of North Carolina's Piedmont Triad
At the ripe old age of 13, Rick Masters was hired by Buddy Buie, producer and owner of the popular Studio One in Doraville, Ga, to ship band merchandise and to be a gopher at the recording studio, where he was able to see bands such as Lynard Skynard, The Atlanta Rhythm Section, 38 Special and Stillwater recording songs that were produced and engineered by Buie and Rodney Mills.
In the two years working for Studio One, Masters attended several concerts that Buie was instrumental in bringing to Atlanta, and was able to meet many bands, such as: Aerosmith, Heart, The Cars, Bob Seger, Foreigner, The Doobie Brothers, Cheap Trick, and Eddie Money. These experiences proved to be the genesis of a life journey in music and production.
Studio History
1982
Masters and his band Chezwick record for the first time in Studio One - the process of being in a pro studio and recording a song fascinates the group.
1984
Athens, Ga - Drummer and bassist Masters sees his friend and bandmate Mark Maxwell buy his own recording equipment.
Later that year, Masters purchases a Tascam Portastudio (4tk cassette), a Roland JX-8P keyboard, and, with the help of his new band’s bass player Ken Buck, who borrowed his brother Peter’s (R.E.M.) Rickenbacker guitar, Masters was able to begin recording his original music in his Athens apartment without the time and financial constraints of renting a commercial studio.
1987
while teaching English at an Atlanta area high school,
Masters purchased a Tascam 38 8-track reel to reel recorder and a Ramsa 8 channel-2 buss analog console, and set up the second version of his recording venture in the basement of a rented house, calling it The Sound Cellar.
1989
The Sound Cellar moved to a new facility in St. Mountain, Ga,
where it became the overnight project studio for Masters’ bandmate and professional engineer, Rick Sheppard, and his producer Dallas Austin (Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Duran Duran, Pink, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, BoyzII Men).
1991
Two years later,
while doing label work, programming, and engineering for Dexter King’s Visionary Productions in downtown Atlanta, Masters upgraded his studio to a 3 room, 16-track facility and moved it to Lilburn, Ga.
Mid-1990's
Finally, the studio purchased an Otari MTR 90 II 24-track tape machine and a 32 input TAC console
and the business was re-branded MasterSound. There, Masters worked with members of Third Day, Jennifer Paige (nee Scoggins), LROC Elbert Phillips (Jermaine Dupree), Keith Sweat’s MD Allan “Grip” Smith, Madison (nee Phil) Jones, Phillips and Summerville, Todd Fields, and London’s Jaqui Bennett (George Michael). By the end of the 1990s, Masters had produced, engineered, or programmed on over 40 albums.
2001
Masters and his wife CJ decided on a change in lifestyle,
and moved to Greensboro, NC, and eventually purchased and modified a property off of I-40 to create the current (and best) iteration of MasterSound Studio to date.
Today
MasterSound Studio is a state-of-the-art facility
that offers the best of both the analog and digital recording worlds. The same level of equipment and expertise that one would expect to find in Nashville, New York or Los Angeles can be found in North Carolina’s Triad region, located in between and easily accessible to Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem.
1982
Masters and his band Chezwick record for the first time in Studio One - the process of being in a pro studio and recording a song fascinates the group.
1984
Athens, Ga - MASTERS PURCHASES HIS FIRST RECORDER, a Tascam Portastudio
Later that year, Masters purchases a Tascam Portastudio (4tk cassette), a Roland JX-8P keyboard, and, with the help of his new band’s bass player Ken Buck, who borrowed his brother Peter’s (R.E.M.) Rickenbacker guitar, Masters was able to begin recording his original music in his Athens apartment without the time and financial constraints of renting a commercial studio.
1987
while teaching English at an Atlanta area high school,
Masters purchased a Tascam 38 8-track reel to reel recorder and a Ramsa 8 channel-2 buss analog console, and set up the second version of his recording venture in the basement of a rented house, calling it The Sound Cellar.
1989
The Sound Cellar moved to a new facility in St. Mountain, Ga,
where it became the overnight project studio for Masters’ bandmate and professional engineer, Rick Sheppard, and his producer Dallas Austin (Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Duran Duran, Pink, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, BoyzII Men).
1991
Two years later,
while doing label work, programming, and engineering for Dexter King’s Visionary Productions in downtown Atlanta, Masters upgraded his studio to a 3 room, 16-track facility and moved it to Lilburn, Ga.
Mid-1990's
Finally, the studio purchased an Otari MTR 90 II 24-track tape machine and a 32 input TAC console
and the business was re-branded MasterSound. There, Masters worked with members of Third Day, Jennifer Paige (nee Scoggins), LROC Elbert Phillips (Jermaine Dupree), Keith Sweat’s MD Allan “Grip” Smith, Madison (nee Phil) Jones, Phillips and Summerville, Todd Fields, and London’s Jaqui Bennett (George Michael). By the end of the 1990s, Masters had produced, engineered, or programmed on over 40 albums.
2001
Masters and his wife CJ decided on a change in lifestyle,
and moved to Greensboro, NC, and eventually purchased and modified a property off of I-40 to create the current (and best) iteration of MasterSound Studio to date.
Today
MasterSound Studio is a state-of-the-art facility
that offers the best of both the analog and digital recording worlds. The same level of equipment and expertise that one would expect to find in Nashville, New York or Los Angeles can be found in North Carolina’s Triad region, located in between and easily accessible to Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem.