12 Bar Sound Studios's Info

12 Bar Productions, LLC
Finally, there is a music production company in the Midwest that offers all the things an Indie musician needs to achieve success.
A Record Label
We offer very personal service, a devotion to our artists, and a dedication to making sure your music gets distributed, gets radio airplay, and gets the audience attention that it deserves.
A Pro Recording Studio
Professionallly designed commercial recording studio boasting great sounding rooms and ProTools HD 8.0
A Music Publishing Company
Here to help get your music into the mainstream -- from helping secure Copyrights to registering your works with BMI, ASCAP, or your artist representation of choice, to monitoring and collecting royalties and use fees, to marketing and promoting your works to other artists and other musical outlets.
A Mobile Recording Rig
ProTools 8.0 mobile recording rig with 24 Focusrite Class "A" mic pres.
A Record Distribution Network
From radio air play to retail distribution to music stores to digital distribution through iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon.com and so many others. We can get your music in the hands of fans!

12 Bar Sound Studios's Engineer Info

Larry Cowsert - Voting Member - National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammys), Member - Audio Engineers Society
Executive Producer/Engineer
The Founder of 12 Bar Productions, LLC is Larry Cowsert. Larry has been performing music since he was five years of age and has been involved in recording music "on both sides of the glass" for many of those years, getting most of his "real world" recording education in studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
Larry, like most musicians, worked a day job and raised a family for most of his music career, holding management positions with Fortune 500s. During his corporate years, he earned his B.S.B.A. in Entrepreneurship and an MBA in Management. He is currently completing work on his Master's Certification in Music Production and Technology with Berklee College of Music, in Boston.
Putting his past business skills to use, Larry founded 12 Bar Productions, LLC in August of 2003 and opened the first studio in February 2004. Revenues have doubled each year, and in 2006, 12 Bar moved into their new, purpose-built, 1550 s.f. studio.

Travis King - Chief Engineer - Recording, Mixing, and Mastering.
Travis got his formal music education at Webster University, where he received his degree in Audio Engineering. He then served Interships at a local recording studio and two radio stations. His stint inside radio gives him a particular perspective on how music is "managed" in radio ... and especially what they look for when it comes through the door.
Travis is also an active musician, playing upright bass for The Folk'n'Blues Grass Band, playing several shows a month.
Travis' fields of expertise are acoustic instruments, Acoustic Blues, Jazz, Country and Americana. He also has a special talent with outboard effects.

Chad Killion - Recording/Mix Engineer
Chad is a graduate of the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, Arizona, and is a certified ProTools Operator. Chad served Internships in Arizona and Chicago before coming back home to St. Louis and beginning his career at 12 Bar.
Chad has been playing guitar for several years and is an accomplished (and formally trained) jazz guitarist.
Chad's special talents lie in engineering and mixing Heavy Metal, Hip-Hop, and R&B tunes with a driving beat.

Kevin O'Leary - Technician/Assistant Engineer
Kevin is a greaduate of Quincy College with a dual major in Music Production and Communications. Kevin originally came to us as an Intern and his talents in Hip-Hop and R&B became immediately evident.
Kevin is the only "amateur" musician in the group, but what he lacks in instrumental skills, he makes up for in his ability to help talent reach their best effort.

Jerry Frischer - Artists & Repertoire - 12 Bar Records
Native St. Louisans know of a fantastic "Greatful Dead" tribute band called "Jake's Leg". Jerry was the bassist for Jake's Leg for many years and is a great bass player and guitarist to this day, still playing out in his new band.
Jerry has a long history within the St. Louis music scene and especially the St. Louis Blues Society, having been instrumental in the development and growth of the "Big Muddy Blues Festival", which was rated as one of the 10 biggest blues festivals in the country.
Jerry knows talent when he sees/hears it. He also understands the music business and what it takes to make it in such a fickle and cut-throat industry. He serves as the guide and shield for all the talent signed to the 12 Bar label.
Jerry has his degree in Business from Washington University

12 Bar Sound Studios's Gear Info

Amps and Cabs
For guitarists: 12 different 1965 and 1966 Fender Blackface amps, including a Showman, a Twin Reverb, Super Reverb, 2-Deluxe Reverbs, 2-Princetons, and others. Marshall JCM800s, Vox AC30s (British-built), Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, and others including various speaker cab configurations. For Bassists: Galien Krueger 700 RBI III head and G-K 1X15 and 4X10 cabs, Ashdown 300 watt head, Hartke 3500 head.

Compressors/Limiters/Gates
dbx 166s, LA-2A, 1176, Joe Meek

Consoles
Digidesign Control|24 with additional 8 Focusrite Pres via light pipe

Converters
2 - 96 I/Os, 1 - 192 I/O

Direct Boxes
Country Man, G-T, Radial

Equalizers
DOD 32 Band stereo, dbx 16 band dual channel

Headphones
Sony 7506s, A-T AH40Ms, Sennheiser HD280s

Instruments
Many vintage guitars and basses, including Strats (3), Fender Jazz Basses (2), Gretch Duo Jet, Gibson 335, Epiphone Casino, Gibson Les Paul (2), Epiphone Viola Bass, Fender P Bass, Alvarez 12 String, Breedlove Dreadnaught w/Fishman Electronics, and more. Roland and Korg synths, Yamaha electric piano, 1904 Wurlitzer console piano, Kawaii 8' Grand Piano, Gretch birch six piece drum kit

Microphones
Too many to mention from Neumann, AKG, Audio Technica, sE Electronics, Shure, Oktava, Studio Projects, Sennheiser, Samson, Rode and on and on.

MIDI
Digidesign MIDI interface (10 in/10 out)

Miscellaneous Gear
Percussion items: Djembe, tambourine, shakers, blocks, cowbells, rain sticks, and other stuff.

Monitoring Systems
KRK V8s w Sub, Event Studio Precision 8s, M-Audio BX-5s, Pioneer CSR-300s, Tecnics 4-way radial horn speaker system, boomboxes (3), and 3 sets of computer speakers (1 with 2.1)

Outboard Effects
Lexicon reverbs, Antares Pitch correction,

Preamps
Focusrite, Avalon, Behringer, Manley built, ART MPA Pro

Recorders and DAWs
MAC Pro Quad Core. 2X2.66 Ghz, 6Gb of RAM, 300Gb system drive, 2X300 Gb "Music" drives, 2 320Gb Firewire backup drives (infinately expandable), 21" widescreen digital monitor with 2000:1 contrast ratio and 2ms response time.

Software
ProTools HD 8.0, running on MAC OS/X 10.5.6, Reason 4.0 running on Duo Core iMac and H-P Quad-core, Ableton Live 8 running on H-P Quad Core. Hundreds of plug-ins for Pro Tools, including UA plugs with a UAD card.

Video
Video is offered through a strategic alliance. Ask for more details.

12 Bar Sound Studios's Clients Include:

Here are a few:

* Javier Mendoza - Latin flavored rock. Javier is a former Warner/Chappel writer who wrote for Enrique' Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Miami Sound Machine and many others. He is world-reknowned as a performer and songwriter and has just released his seventh album. (Signed to Gumboot Music Publishing and signed management agreement with 12 Bar Productions)
* The Bloaming - Heavy rock with some deep, hard-hitting lyrics. Their sound is "in your face", just on the edge of metal, but with some of the tunes sounding very "Floyd'ish". (Signed to 12 Bar Records and Gumboot Music Publishing)
* Ben Levin - The only thing you can say about this young man is -- if you like Steve Via, you'll LOVE Ben Levin!
* Drew Mantia - Think John Mayer meets Dave Matthews and you'll have an idea of the melodic structures, guitar acrobatics, and lyrical colors of this great singer/songwriter. (Signed to 12 Bar Records and Gumboot Music Publishing)
* The Squares - Punk/Rock, in the style of Green Day meets Coldplay (Signed to 12 Bar Records and Gumboot Music Publishing)

Some independent clients:
John Nikos - Acoustic, Jazz-Pop that is the ultimate in laid-back, easy to listen to adult contemporary music.
Andy Whitten - Contemporary Country Christian artist that has an amazing ability to create clever, sometimes funny, but always deep lyrics, as well as some very catchy hooks and chordal change-ups.
Dave Mulford - Acoustic blues and jazz guitar album
The Piping Hot Buttery Biscuits of Blues - Electric blues album
Scottie Miller - Blues and jazz pianist
Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne - Electric, piano-based, blues/rock in the style of Fats Domino
Billy Neal - Contemporary Gospel
Marquis Knox - Electric Blues - sounds like Muddy Waters and plays like John Lee Hooker
Stir Crazy - Pop/Rock - in the style of U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Thomas Freeman and Game Time Productions - Rap/Hip-Hop
Frank's Creation & The Inner City Blues Band - Electric Blues and R&B
Lucious Spiller - Acoustic Blues
Natashia Dallas - Alto jazz vocalist
Stephenie Sanders - femaie singer/songwriter similar to Jewell Nora Jones
Tri-Tone - Pop/Jazz flavored rock band

12 Bar Sound Studios's Services Include:

Recording and Mixing
Remote Recording
Live Sound Engineering
Mastering
Programming
Rentals