We recently connected with Bob Eldon and have shared our conversation below.

Bob, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I had a well-paying job, but it was less and less satisfying to say the least, and playing and recording music became an escape. After spending a lot of time in the Washington, DC area, we needed a change and began making plans to leave the area and move to the Pacific Northwest. It was a pretty big risk financially, and we had never lived in that part of the States, so we would be making a big step. I was lucky in that I reached the point where I could leave my job and retain benefits, to include a small pension (although much less than what I was making at the time). With that, in 2019 we sold our house and moved into an apartment for a year while planning our move West. I left my job and we moved to Portland in 2020, where I started building a studio. It was daunting since we had always had a safety net, and in a way we still did, but with the move and the cost of building and equipping a project recording studio we were pretty much setting ourselves up without options if things didn’t work out. It was so very much worth it. The studio is busy enough and I am completely happy with the decision. I get to help others take their musical expressions and make them permanent in a recording. The craft of recording allows creativity with few boundaries and is so fulfilling.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

This isn’t something I just woke up and decided to do. It started like a lot of things for people in the arts, a hobby, which turned into a passion. I was in my early 40s when I developed a serious interest in music. I started learning to play bass guitar (how hard could it be lol). As I was learning to play bass, I took a few online courses with Berklee College of Music. Since it was online, a big part of it was to record bass lines and submit them for grades…and so it began lol. I really enjoyed the recording aspect and began to delve deeper into it. Gradually, while I still played bass, I became more and more invested in music recording and mixing. I now have a small project recording studio in Portland, Oregon. Although my studio is small…a project studio…it has pretty much everything you would find in a larger commercial studio. Since we opened in early 2021, we’ve had a lot of different artists and styles record here: jazz/swing, singer/songwriter acoustic, reggae funk, metal, folk rock, and classic and indie rock. One of the things that seems to bring people back is the vibe here. I think anyone can learn how to use the equipment and understand the “signal chain” used for recording and mixing music. The things that makes a studio worth someone’s time are ears and and people skills. Even if you’re not producing the music, I mean maybe working solely as the recording engineer, you have to be able to appreciate what you’re recording and make decisions appropriately. That said, the real factor that helps the studio stand out is how we engage the artists and producers here. We believe it is critical that everyone who walks through our doors deserves to know that it is about them and their music and not about us or the studio. We have learned how to understand each artist as an individual and make their experience the best it can be.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Huh…this was an interesting learning experience lol. I had never worked in the music industry, although I think I had a pretty good grasp of the live music scene around the Washington DC area. What I quickly learned after setting up a web site and a few of the typical social media sites was that, although it helps, it will not bring in enough business. While it does depend on the music culture where you live, it largely comes down to getting out and getting known. You have to go see bands, talk to them and bring them into your studio. At least in Portland, it really also helps to work live sound at venues, even the smaller ones, so you become known. There are a LOT of musicians and sound engineers where I live so the recording world is pretty saturated. Also, most artists have the ability to record at home so you need to understand how to work with that by excelling at mixing their recorded material, and/or provide what they can’t do at home for minimal cost. Many musicians simply don’t have a budget for recording, so you need to craft your brand in order to meet their needs (and your own) without chasing them away. It has helped to offer free or low cost recording to bands at times. I’ve done that to bring folks into the studio to record demos’ or something like drums, which you generally can’t do in an apartment lol.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As a recording studio owner and engineer, I think there are two related things that are, together, the most rewarding. The first is the creative process. by that I mean using the tools in the studio to take the artists’ vision to create the sound/musical landscape. Knowing the tools you have and how to use them is only one part of that process. An important part is also creating the environment wherein the artists thrive and enable you to capture not just the sound, but the energy and feeling of a performance. The second part is the result…a piece of art that is made to invoke emotion. Seeing the artists respond when they’re done, and seeing an audience respond to their work is an amazing thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.purpledoorsound.com
• Instagram: @purpledoorsound
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/PurpleDoorSound

Image Credits
Last pic (B&W of three musicians) is from: Matt Ellis photography (@ourslowtravel)