Musik Maschine Recording Studio

One of the newest additions to the regional music scene arrives in the form of a full service recording studio titled Musik Maschine, which recently opened back in December at 10275 Thor Drive in Freeland and is designed to provide a spacious and state-of-the-art studio where professional and amateur musicians can record their music, or get any native or raw recordings they might already have completed professionally mixed and mastered.

A collaborative endeavor between owner William ‘Tom’ Mulvaney and audio engineer Spencer ‘Ashton’ Parker, according to Mulvaney a uniquely distinguishing feature is that his studio also serves as a resource for providing affordable practice rooms. “Our original concept was to provide a studio that could also double as a practice room, which should especially appeal to younger artists and bands looking to not only rehearse, but also record their work so they can hear how they sound and document their progress.”

“Additionally, if artists they have tracks they’ve already recorded but are unsatisfied with the sound of the recordings, at a much lower discounted rate we can also provide mixing and mastering services,” adds Parker. “Typically we charge $50.00 per hour and offer discounts for longer range multiple commitments and bookings. Plus, we also offer lessons teaching people how to approach sound engineering. We’re able to work within an artist’s budget and can also record live performances as well as studio work.”

In terms of their respective backgrounds, Mulvaney has been around music most of his life and formerly worked with Hyperman Sound mixing live shows. “Both Frank Lugo and Bobby Balderrama from Question Mark & the Mysterians are close friends of the family and when I was really young and just starting out Frank would come to the house and show me how to plug in and set up instruments,” he recalls. “After a while he would show me what to do and how to set things up, so I was fortunate to get a lot of hands-on experience with musicians at a young age.”

“As I got older I developed a lot of friendships with different musicians and grew up and went to high school with artists such as Jim Pagel and Todd Michael Hall, so eventually started my sound company,” he continues. “I became good friends with Larry McCray and would see him going for a 2-hour car ride to get to a recording studio, which I couldn’t understand seeing as there were so many studios around town. But when Covid hit and live music was put on hold I quit the sound industry and started installing security cameras in the area and also worked for a trailer company in Kawkawlin, only realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to work in front of people.”

As fate would have it noted R&B and Jazz singer Kalysta Syslvester contacted Mulvaney to direct his talents back into the music industry. “Out of nowhere I got a call from Kalysta offering me an attractive opportunity to run sound for her,” he explains.

“She had her sound down, but wanted me to make it larger and bring out more of the detailing and nuance. After working with her for a stretch, Larry McCray’s manager Paul Koch passed away and Larry contacted me. He was in a funk and wanted to get back out in front of audiences, but didn’t know how to. I took Larry for a ride over to Kalysta’s house telling him I’d put together a little surprise for him. They gave him the red carpet treatment, made him a delicious plate of food, and then went down into their basement studio and performed.  This helped get him out of his funk and he was talking about working on new material, but again was driving all the way down to Detroit to record. At that point I decided to build an in-house studio, but then Larry got picked up by Joe Bonamassa, so I decided to move ahead with the studio anyway.”

“I’ve been good friends with Carl Abila of Silverspork for about nine years now and we started talking and he told me about this huge warehouse space that he had available in Freeland, so we shook hands and I went to work pulling it all together.”

It was at this juncture that Mulvaney met audio engineer Spencer Parker, who had been engineering sound for seven years. “I’m from Port Huron originally and came to Saginaw Valley State University to become a computer scientist,” he explains, “but didn’t want to sit in front of a computer for 30 hours to see if I missed a decimal or a zero, so eventually started breaking into the regional scene here by doing sound at White’s Bar. I’ve worked at multiple studios in the past and also down in Detroit seeing where I fit in, and then this opportunity opened up.”.

“We met through a mutual friend at the same time I was redoing construction and building the studio,” adds Mulvaney. “I told him that I could really use his expertise so he helped me put a lot of this up, insulated all the walls, and set him up with a Tascam 24-channel mixer that could do all we wanted when it comes to recording & mixing. We’ve got two sound interfaces that connect with one cable that allows up to 16-inputs, analog compressors and sound interfaces for vocals, which makes the overall quality richer and warmer; and we currently have 11-channels on the drum set, which also afford us an extra seven spaces for keyboards, mandolin, or any other instrumentation that needs to be added.”

“We’re open to everything,” concludes Mulvaney. “We’re not limited by genre so cn handle everything from a young kid starting up in.  Rap or Hip-Hop to the most sophisticated of jazz artists. 

When it comes to sound our motto is modeled around versatility.”

Musik Maschine Recording Studio is currently offering new year’s specials to service all your recording, rehearsal, or mixing & mastering needs. Call them at 989-573-8080 to book your session, or dm them on Instagram@MusikMaschineRecordingStudio