People from all over our city go out and do good elsewhere, and Cameron Henry is one of those. A Sylvania native, he's is currently one of the only vinyl mastering engineers in the country.
His job sounds simple: He records aspiring artists and bands live, directly onto vinyl—a medium that has quickly gained popularity over the last few years. But this is a unique recording method, and his studio, Welcome to Nashville 1979, is the only studio in the country to utilize this method.
Henry's interest in sound technology was sparked at a young age. “I played in some bands [in Toledo] and wasn't ever really that good, but I was really into it. I bought cheap recording equipment in my rental house, and my friends and I would record music,” he recalled. “I was working at Family Video, and recording in the evenings, and I thought to myself, 'How can I flip this so that I'm spending more time doing what I love?'”
When he started looking for schooling options, he came across SAE Institute, a Nashville school that offered specialization in sound recording. After moving to Music City, Henry said he “lived in the school,” completing six records in just nine months, and described it as a “crash course” in his field.
Following his education, Henry started hanging around the studio where he now works as a vinyl mastering engineer. “[Vinyl's] obviously nothing new, but there aren't a lot of people in the country who still know how to work on recording with it,” he explained. “[Our studio] happened to get on top of the industry right before the recent vinyl trend hit, and it's a big deal.
“I can count on two hands, guys who do what I do, in the country,” he said. “It's the only place in the country that can record directly to vinyl.” According to Henry, bands who want to cut records play live, their music is mixed live, and the record is cut live—“there's no going back and fixing things.”
During our talk, Henry praised Toledo School for the Arts for its innovative curriculum, and mentioned that during a recent visit to the city, had the opportunity to see recording studios and meet staff at the school. “I was blown away by that school—the amount of knowledge and understanding of music, of recording, they're so far ahead,” he said. Henry said that he plans to do a possible recording session with students at TSA the next time he's in town. “It's an incredible resource for the city of Toledo,” he said.
Visit the studio for more info here.
