// LEONIDAS CHANTZARAS //
BLACK ROCK STUDIOS You’ll be hard pushed to find a more idyllic location for making a record than the beautiful Greek Island of Santorini, which is home to Black Rock Studios, a stunning recording facility owned by recording engineer and producer, Kostas Kalimeris. We catch up with studio co-founder, Leonidas Chantzaras, about the inspiring songwriting camps that he and Kalimeris have put together, to create opportunity for budding writers from across the globe. Leonidas Chantzaras started out as a musician, and signed to two labels in the ‘90s. He released some singles, went on tour, but in his own words, ‘didn’t blow up’, so by the end of the ‘90s, he’d turned his hand to writing and production, and signed his first publishing deal. He then created a production company, and was responsible for plenty of major international releases, before signing another publishing deal, this time with Chrysalis, which saw him cut deals in several new territories,
notably Japan and the Asian market, an area where so many Europeans are finding success today. This period ultimately raised the A&R and manager in Chantzaras, who now manages a variety of eclectic writers, but still keeps his hand in on the production side of things. Then he met Kostas Kalimeris... “Kostas showed me Black Rock Studios in 2008, and my second thought was that we had to do a songwriting camp there,” Chantzaras explains. “I had been to a lot of these things, so I could pick out the good and bad points, to avoid the same mistakes I’d seen made before, and we started in 2011 with Black Rock. Honestly, no other studio in the world has this type of location, so with that, and with all my contacts, it was a successful camp right away.” Songwriting camps don’t always come in the guise of the Black Rock camps. It seems to be all about the writers here, and real opportunity. More impressive still, the duo aren’t interested in taking any cut of the productive pie.
“WHEN THE SONG IS DONE, AND DELIVERED TO US, WE WILL PITCH IT FOR FREE, TO GIVE THE W R I T E R S O P P O R T U N I T Y. ”
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// LEONIDAS CHANTZARAS //
“The camps had to be seen as a service that we provide, whereas the majority of camps you see today consist of a publisher inviting his own writers, and pushing them forwards, but the Black Rock camp is not guided by any publisher or interest,” insists Chantzaras. “Kostas and I teamed up to create a great camp with all our knowledge and know-how, so we provide the fantastic studio, and all the infrastructure; and when you are invited as a writer, you arrive on the island and we take care of everything, so you don’t have to think about anything else. We take care of the hotels, spots to eat and drink on the island, the lot; and we get nothing of the copyright written there. We are the service provider of a perfectly run camp, that’s it.” Sounds a great idea to me... What’s the catch? “[laughs] I just invite writers from all over the world, no matter what publisher they’re with, and through my network, we get the right people along, and put the right people in the right sessions together, which is another thing that typically goes wrong at many camps,” smiles Chantzaras, explaining that he has seen many people get frustrated when they’re made to work with writers that are perhaps not on their level. “You have to keep the writers satisfied, and leave them with a good feeling. We plan it so well, and we invite selective people - people that match - so we’re always confident they’ll get a great result, based on our knowledge.” But it doesn’t end there... Chantzaras also offers his A&R experience as part of the 13 HEADLINER
package, and almost acts as a label on behalf of the camp attendees. “When the song is done and delivered to us, we will pitch it for free, to give the writers opportunity,” he says, adamantly. “So the writer gets a full service: our expertise and briefings, plus the perfect pitch opportunities.” Black Rock Studios’ main room, which has been graced by international stars such as Joe Bonamassa, Justin Bieber, and Iron Maiden, is kitted out with a set of Genelec 1035B studio monitors, and ‘because they work so well’, it was Genelec that the studio chose to talk to about getting behind the Black Rock initiative, which would mean kitting out eight more songwriting rooms. “When we started the camp, we looked for supporters, but we didn’t want to go fishing; Black Rock already had the big Genelecs in the main room, so Kostas reached out to Genelec once more, and they were very happy to get involved,” Chantzaras explains. “All eight writing rooms had to be equipped with speakers, and more importantly, the right speakers, so we’ve now got a total of 10 sets of Genelec’s 8000 series; it’s a mix of 8040s and 8050s, and they are perfect for the camp. Furthermore, we have MIDI keyboards, microphones, and preamps, so the producers that come in to work with the writers only have to bring their laptops and sound cards.” According to Chantzaras, Genelec speakers are the most neutral to work with, and the whole combination of price, quality, and range, is what has always attracted him to them.
“The quality you get out of Genelec is super, and the whole overall sound is great; when you see what you get for your money, it’s even more exceptional,” he insists. “If you are looking for affordability and sound quality, they are the brand to go to, no question. We wanted to try a few sets out as we’ve got many different sized rooms, all of which are writing rooms, not pre-designed recording studios, so to have that flexibility on the studio monitor side was a fantastic help.” The next Black Rock camp takes place in October, and Chantzaras is confident it’ll run as smoothly as ever. “We have had some very successful writers and producers make connections in our camps, and that in turn has led to some big and successful things,” he says, proudly. “This year’s Eurovision winner, for example, one of the co-writers is a guy that came to a camp with us; and on another Eurovision, when Denmark won, again it was a girl that came to our writing camp that wrote the song. Also, a girl called Layla Samuels, who also attended the Black Rock camp, is now one of the top writers in the German market. I could go on, but you get the idea. People get a lot out of these events.” It certainly seems so. Thumbs up to the Black Rock team for their refreshing attitude, too. They currently run two songwriter camps each year, and to find out more, go to www.blackrock-studios.com. www.genelec.com