MANSFIELD, Ohio–When the pastor of Mosaic in Mansfield, Tony Pingitore, walked through the cathedral-like church and saw the old, unused choir room and the closet next to it, he thought, “This is going to be the recording studio.” That was before Mosaic existed.
Fast forward a few years and the old, unused choir room is now back to life – this time with a different purpose: to record original music.
Founded in April 2013, Broken Records Recording Studio is a fully serviced recording studio. Since its construction, Broken Records Recording has produced two full-length albums and other demos for local artists. And now they are looking for original artists from the area to stitch together a compilation album that features local talent.
Recording for the community compilation album will start in January, when Producer and Engineer Jake Becker will offer six hours of free studio time. The idea is to capture the diverse talent in Mansfield and represent it in one album that will be sold in local stores like Metronome. They then plan to continue to record artists in a series of compilation albums.
According to Becker, the recording studio is beyond anything he could have imagined.
“It was just so beyond anything that I could have imagined when Matt (Howe) and I talked first about recording,” explained Becker. “Things happened in a way that really couldn’t have been orchestrated if God hadn’t just said, ‘Alright, it’s time and there is a reason for this,’” he said.
Becker met Mosaic’s Music and Arts Director Matt Howe at a bonfire one night in 2011. Becker said it was at this bonfire where they first started talking about recording. Since Becker had experience with recording music from being in the band 10th Runner Up, the prospect of having a recording studio within the church became more of a tangible reality.
Through a string of events, the studio was constructed and funded by the members of the church. Becker described Broken Records Recording Studio as one that was built by God.
“It was awesome. It just happened so fast. It’s neat to see how everything is kind of intersected and God built a studio in six weeks. It wasn’t something we necessarily pushed to get done, it just happened. It was like all of a sudden $100,000 worth of construction just dropped in our lap,” said Becker.
The studio keeps Becker busy – busy enough to provide a part-time job that he hopes to expand into full-time work. Between recording albums and demos for other musicians from the area, he works on producing a recording of each Sunday’s sermon, which he posts on Youtube. He also puts together Christmas recordings.
“I have a couple of clients lined up now that are coming in to do recordings for family for Christmas, which will be fun,” he said. The idea is to send the family a recording instead of, or in addition to, family Christmas cards.
The Broken Records Recording Studio also allows him to mix live recordings of Mosaic’s worship services on Sunday mornings. On Dec. 12, the church family plans on recording “unplugged” versions of original songs and compiling the session into a DVD.
In the future, Becker said he dreams of Broken Records Recording Studio becoming a label that offers recording services to local artists and others from around the nation. He also hopes to draw interns in to “learn the ropes,” as he put it, on recording.
Becker is still seeking original and local artists interested in taking part in the community compilation album. Starting in January 2015, the session will last six hours and is free to those involved. If interested, individuals are encouraged to send an email to jake@brokenrecordsrecording.com. For more information, visit their Facebook page.
