1st Movement
I started Walter Midi Recording in 1986 out of a small custom designed space in Portland Oregon. It was tiny! The control room was about 6’x6′, the vocal booth not much bigger, and main room was about 20’x14′. Starting with a PC running Texture locked to a Fostex 1/4″ reel-to-reel 8-track, the studio rode the explosive shock wave of growth in both keyboards/computer-based recording and the Portland music scene such that I was able to design and build a new facility in 1997.
2nd movement
The new building was and still is one of the largest dedicated recording spaces in Portland, with a total space of 3300 sq ft divided into a main room of roughly 25’x33’x23′, a vocal booth, two iso rooms measuring about 15’x12’x20′, a control room of 23’x15’x12′ designed for near field monitoring, and a 1100 sq ft green room upstairs above the control room.
The studio continued to grow, with early Digidesign Pro Tools Session 8 locked to the Fostex becoming 32 channels of ADAT, and quickly stepping up to a full-on Pro Tools rig.
The studio recorded hundreds of Portland artists, including members of the Oregon Symphony, popular rap and hip hop groups and producers,, noted jazz players, featured session vocalists and instrumentalist, hobbyists and professional gigging musicians, as well as spoken word and podcasters.
3rd Movement
In 2007, I quit my dream job and got a day job as an Electrical Engineer in the Power sector, selling the studio facility to Black Diamond Recording, which continues to operate it with minimal architectural changes. I kept one foot in the music scene, continuing to play with Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts until 2020.
de capo
I retired from my day job in 2023 and rediscovered the fun of recording music. I still have an extensive collection of physical keyboards – check out the Gear page – and some of the preamps and mics. I’m currently working on a new studio design and acquiring gear. Keep checking back for updates.