Studio Anatomy's Creative Evolution

Dec. 11, 2015

At 140 East Front Street in Traverse City’s former Arcade building, a subterranean music shop called Good News Music Center once thrived.

Local musicians would stop by to check out the guitars, touring performers would grab strings or drumsticks, and the place carried a familiar vintage vibe akin to the music shops of Chicago or Detroit.

But when Good News closed and musician/ recording engineer Brian Chamberlain took over the space in the summer of 2012, he found that the good vibes had ostensibly departed along with the business. Inside, Chamberlain was met with “a disaster” that would take a lot of work to put right again.

“The music shop was in this space for over 30 years,” he explained, “so there was just a lot of wear and tear. Dirt, dust, holes in the walls, carpeting that had seen better days. It took six months — with volunteers tearing down walls, cleaning, fixing, and painting — to get the space into shape.”

That space would soon become Studio Anatomy, Chamberlain’s concert venue-slashrecording facility with a purpose.

NORTHERN CHANGE

Chamberlain moved to Traverse City from North Carolina six years ago, a move prompted both by the landscape and a desire for change.

“When I was in my 20s, I was looking for a place to get away, something in a more northern climate,” Chamberlain explained. “A friend of mine would go up to Traverse City in the summer, and told me about it. I visited and thought it was beautiful; I wanted a place where I could go hiking and camping and be happy, and once I found it I knew that I could make my own music here.”

After making the rounds and meeting some of the local musicians, Chamberlain made a quick determination:

“I thought, well, there are a lot of good folk and blues musicians here, but something’s missing,” he said. “I didn’t hear a lot of indie music, or punk or hip-hop. I wanted to help and see what more I could do for the local scene.”

GREAT GOALS

Taking over the old Good News space was just a preliminary step (or prerequisite) toward Chamberlain’s primary goal of opening a music venue.

“I knew this town needed an all-ages music venue, so we built the stage first, and put in a sound and lighting system,” he said. “I figured that was a good business plan, as it would get people in and looking around.”

The first Studio Anatomy show took place on November 2, 2012, with five bands — four from Traverse City and one from Grand Rapids.

“They were all indie-rock, alt-pop bands, all playing originals —not cover bands,” Chamberlain said. “Plenty of other places hire cover bands, and that’s not what we wanted to do here; we felt those bands were a good representation of our intentions.”

Over the next couple of years, Chamberlain and his crew built a lineup of recording studio rooms, installing acoustic panels and equipment and refreshing the surroundings, while still trying to retain a little of the “old school” vibe of the previous tenant.

They stage several live shows each month — so far a few music performances and one comedy show — and the feedback up to now, Chamberlain said, has been “pretty great.”

MUSICAL WORKS

“It’s such a cool place to be, such a creative setting,” he said. “So we did keep the old music stickers that were plastered all over the doors and interior windows; we kept that feeling of a ‘music space’ but just made it way different, with lots of eclectic lighting and design.”

Still a work in progress (“every month I’m upgrading something or other,” Chamberlain said), the facility has pop-up vocal and instrument booths that can be moved around. Those are in addition to more than a dozen rooms all wired into the console recording equipment and mixing boards, one of which was once used at Interlochen’s old radio studio.

“We can accommodate 72 channels in all (for recording),” Chamberlain explained. “We have an analog 2-inch, 24-track tape machine, and we digitally record on Cubase (recording software). We use each as needed, depending on what each project requires.”

Studio Anatomy’s recording projects in the past two years have included a long list of solo artists as well as more than 30 bands, from the ‘90s-influenced punk rockers Stay Fast to “hipster garbage” band Sleepweaver to Chamberlain’s own band, White Dog, in which he plays drums and sings backup vocals. He’s also worked on radio jingles, commercial music, and the score for a locally-based film.

DIVERSE SPACE

The studio and the performance space exist in harmony, which is a big part of Chamberlain’s plan to help develop a full-featured “music community.”

“I want people to be able to come in here and do everything they need to do to get their music out there,” he explained.

“Co-write, rehearse, record, mix, master — all in-house. Manufacture CDs and vinyl records. Make press kits, design websites. We can even book shows for them. We really want to help develop a scene, and I, personally, want to see a diverse music scene here in Traverse City; that’s something that’s important to me.”

For many local and regional musicians, the discovery of Studio Anatomy has so far been somewhat of a slow burn, as the place has been under the radar for a while. But once people happen upon it, they inevitably return, whether for one of the big concert events, to record something of their own, or simply to play some ping-pong and jam with fellow musicians while discussing upcoming projects.

“We get a lot of good feedback from people who didn’t even know we were here,” Chamberlain said.

COMMUNITY NICHE

Booking manager Randy Myers got on board with Chamberlain last July, and said that Studio Anatomy fills an important niche in Traverse City, in part because it’s an alcohol-free venue, which helps keep the focus on the performances.

“So many of the venues for bands to play here are bars and restaurants,” he said. “There just aren’t many good places for people to enjoy a show without alcohol.”

And that’s one of the larger aims of Studio Anatomy’s existence — to be far more focused on creativity and artistic expression than it is on social cultivation.

“While we do want to establish a community here, we also want to emphasize that this is more of a traditional venue,” Chamberlain said. “It’s not a restaurant with music stuck in a corner, or music as background noise. People show up here and pay a cover change to see bands, to hear and support music.”

“When I started making music and playing in a band, I was hooked. It was inspirational to me,” he continued. “So this may sound cliché, but if someone gave me a million dollars, I’d still be here, making Studio Anatomy happen. The music is the main thing, and I want everyone to be part of it, and to know how special this place is.”

Studio Anatomy is located at 140 E. Front Street in downtown Traverse City. For more information on upcoming concerts and shows or studio/ rehearsal space, visit studioanatomy.com or contact Brian Chamberlain at brian@studioanatomy.com or (231) 409-7946.