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SAN FRANCISCO: Before the iPhone, iTunes, ‘Personal Recording Studio Generation,’ there was Chris Stone and the New York Record Plant. In 1968, Stone and his partner Gary Kellgren invented a new kind of studio based on a super cool, non-traditional environment designed to nurture and inspire creativity.  They believed artists needed creature comforts as well as sophisticated technology and impeccable acoustics to bring their musical visions to life.

 

“Today, forty years after opening the doors of his pioneering Record Plant (and coincidently sixty years after the formation of the AES) Chris Stone has been named Keynote Speaker for the 125^th AES Convention,”  reports Convention Co-Chair John Strawn.  “As co-founder, past president and chairman of the Society of Professional Audio Recording Studios (SPARS) and co-founder of the Music Producers Guild of the Americas (now The Producers and Engineers Wing of NARAS), Stone has maintained a high profile as a recording industry ombudsman throughout his colorful career,” Strawn adds. Currently active as an educator and a consultant for online music entrepreneurship at Berkleemusic.com, Stone is based in Los Angeles, and travels widely in his role as CEO of the World Studio Group. 

 

Entitled “The Artist Owns The Industry,” Stones’ Keynote address will highlight the AES 125^th Convention Opening Ceremonies which will be held on Thursday, Oct. 2^nd in the Moscone Center Special Events Hall.  Stone will explore what it takes to succeed in today’s environment in which artists with limited capital create their music in home (sometimes bedroom) studios, far removed from million $ showplace facilities and the guidance of veteran producer / engineers.   

 

 An AES member for over thirty years, Chris Stone has witnessed the transition from a  “Mega Industry” in which major labels controlled the musicians’ output, distribution and publishing, to a “Cottage Industry” where talent is the master of its own destiny.  Speaking from his strengths as a business/marketing entrepreneur, Stone will focus on the artist’s need to develop a sophisticated approach to operating their own business. And, on services available to help reduce the risks of failure. He will also explore how traditional engineers can remain relevant and play a meaningful role in this ongoing evolution.