Popside Recording is tucked away up in Troy, Ohio, but it’s a hidden gem that could be your perfect sound solution!
I met Micah Carli of Popside Recording earlier this year when my band, Far From Eden, spent some time at the studio and had a fantastic experience. Our time there was such a valuable experience that I wanted to go more in-depth with him and find out all about Popside Recording so I could share it with anyone who will listen! Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Micah for the first in a four part, in-depth series on this cool, local studio that should be your next recording stop!
How It All Started
Popside Recording began in April 2010, primarily out of a need to house all the gear that Micah Carli had stored up over the years. His very musical family had fostered a musician who’d ended up with a lot of equipment, and they were storing a lot of it for him before Popside began. He ended up looking at just two or three buildings before lighting on the site the studio has been at since its inception.
Micah had been recording and playing all kinds of instruments for almost 20 years and working out of multiple locations for each of his recording sessions.
Recent History & Who’s On the Roster
Things started off well, but for the first few years, Micah was really only able to do recording on breaks from his time as guitarist for the band Hawthorne Heights, who practiced at Popside Recording and recorded a couple of their early EP’s there as well. The studio proudly sports both a platinum and gold record on the wall of the control room, and Micah attributes a tremendous amount of his experience and abilities to his time with Hawthorne Heights. Since Micah left the band in 2014, his schedule with Popside Recording has picked up drastically, sometimes into a 60 or even 70 hour work week, but he loves it. The studio has recorded more than 60 bands since 2010, mostly in the last year and a half, and lists 37 on their website that you can search as reference. Local bands of note include Close The Hatch, The 1984 Draft, Neon Warship, NightBeast, The New Old-Fashioned, The Raging Nathans, The Story Changes, and many more!
Finding the Right Space
The space at Popside Recording has that “just right” quality about it.
Tucked away in a nondescript, grey and red brick building in Troy, it’s not hard to get to, but it’s removed enough from other businesses and residential areas that the noise has never been a factor. Bands and artists arriving at the studio can back right up and easily load in gear to a concrete bay garage that goes right into the studio itself. If you’re so inclined, Micah will even do recording out in the various, “primo” acoustic spaces.
Compared to the cold, grey concrete walls outside the studio, the inside immediately makes you feel warm and comfortable and relaxed. Entering the studio, you come into a space that is part control booth, part instrument and gear offerings, and part lounge. A stunning wall of guitars and amps greets you and the fun never stops from there! The control space itself is “just right”. The live room is “just right” and has loads more gear you can
make use of and plenty of space for drums, bass, guitar and of course, there’s a private vocal booth on the side for clear, clean tracking. It doesn’t just all look right though. It sounds “just right” too!
Engineering Vs. Producing Vs. Teacher: A Fluid Balancing Act That Keeps The Artist In Mind
Need an engineer and a producer? Just an engineer? Not sure what you need? No matter what, Popside Recording can be there for you and offers a full range of services and input levels.
While Micah feels a greater investment in projects that he’s more involved in, he just loves to record and try and help bands get the best sound possible. A few suggestions now and then can go a long way, and while he can’t teach someone how to play their instrument or anything, he says he’s found a few techniques over the years that help him make his sessions as valuable as possible.
A Value Packed Experience From Beginning To End
Popside Recording is a value-packed experience from beginning to end thanks to a combination of factors. I’ve already mentioned the walls of gear, beautiful sound space, and decades of pro experience, but there’s more! At around just $200 or so a day and $25-$50 to mix and master , you can save a boatload of cash on your recording! I know! I know! You’re saying to yourself, “But I bet we’ll have to come back a bunch of times and fix a bunch of stuff, or ask him to fix a bunch of the mix, or it’ll take forever for the mix down part and that low cost goes out the door!” It only has to be that way if you want it to (or you didn’t know your own music – but that wouldn’t happen right?).
Music Connection Dayton 