PAT MCMAKIN Ocean Way Nashville Studio: Ocean Way Nashville Clientele: 3 Doors Down, Beck, Dolly Parton Web: oceanwaynashville.com Nashville native, Pat McMakin got his start in studio management as an undergraduate at Belmont University in the late ‘70s. While there, he oversaw the student studio and in 1982 moved on to Tree Publishing. Ocean Way Nashville––now owned by Belmont University––was opened by Allen Sides and Gary Belz in 1996 as something of an extension of Los Angeles’ storied Ocean Way. As an engineer, McMakin worked on Vern Gosdin’s Chiseled in Stone as well as with Ray Charles, Tammy Wynette, and Steve Martin on his 2009 bluegrass record The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo. What sets Ocean Way Nashville apart from other studios? Our amazing staff and our service-oriented attitude. We make it familiar and friendly. I give as much care and attention to a newbie who’s never recorded as I do to Bob Seger. The biggest differentiation for us is the room. Our A room is in a beautiful, 120-year-old church sanctuary with 30-foot ceilings. We do orchestras there and can seat 80 people. We also do a lot of scoring for film and video games there including Call of Duty and Fortnite. The video game industry is so
rich right now and they can easily add $200,000 [for music] to a project. What are some of the biggest challenges that face studios today? Home studios. The technology has gotten so good that you can record pretty credibly anywhere now. That’s been tough to compete with. There was a time when the cost of entry was quite high. Now it’s not. A lot of people mix in private studios. That’s why about 10 years ago I started to look at orchestras––something we could do better than everybody else. Incidentally, Waves Audio contacted us recently about doing a plug-in. So now, there’s an Nx Ocean Way Nashville plugin that’s a model of our control room. When you mix at home, it gives you all the spatial information that you’d have if you were sitting in our room. It even has a head-tracker. As you turn your heard, the perspective of the speaker changes, just as if you were sitting in front of a pair of speakers. People who mix on headphones love it. There’s an Abbey Road equivalent and I believe we’re outselling it. What’s an ideal client for you? Our A room books farther out. Studio B is a little
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