Today we’d like to introduce you to Raheem Amlani.
Hi Raheem, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey through music began in 1995 when I started playing guitar in punk and grindcore bands in high school. Around 2001, I started playing with some musicians who were interested in recording. We had a 16-channel mixer and a 2-channel interface. I found that I had an inclination for recording music and started investing in equipment. I soon had a setup to record a full drum kit, and I was able to multitrack instruments. A few friends of mine had gone to Fullsail for their recording program and, when they came back, started interning at recording studios. I realized that I needed to be in this environment if I was going to take recording seriously. In 2005, I interned at Ledbelly Studios for a few months and then later at Doppler Studios for three months. At Ledbelly Studios, I worked with several bands, helping Matt Washburn, the owner and engineer, set up microphones and patch equipment. Later, I was tracking bands for him on my own. He was surprised at how much knowledge I had since I had not had any formal education in recording.
After that, my buddy Josh Coleman was working at Doppler Studios and was able to get me an interview for an internship. This was much more of a traditional internship role where one would be responsible for keeping all the studios clean, janitorial duties, dishes, lunch/food runs, and several other miscellaneous tasks. When the shift was over, I was able to use any of the seven studios as long as there was not a session booked. I learned a lot about all of the other things that are not related to recording that it takes to run a proper studio. I also met several amazing engineers who are now my good friends. After interning at Doppler Studios, I decided to try and open up my own small commercial studio location. Through friends, I found an amazing live room with brick walls and high ceilings located in the middle of Little 5 Points. At the same time, I started working at Atlanta Pro Audio, the only store in Atlanta that was dedicated to selling recording equipment. I worked with several local punk, rock, and metal bands as well as local rappers. Several engineers would also book the studio to record their own projects. I stayed in that location for about three years. I then moved the studio to another historic building located in Candler Park. It also had brick walls and high ceilings.
At this time, I started working with the producer LRoc. I did tracking and mixing for him, and one day, he wanted to have some drums tracked for a song he was working on. His studio was not set up to record a full drum kit, so we did the session at my studio. That was when I met the drummer John Roberts, aka Lil John Roberts. He was excited about my studio and said he wanted to track and mix his album with me. While working on his album, I got to meet and work with some of the most talented musicians I had ever experienced such as Otiel Burbridge, Chris Dave, Pino Palladino, and several amazing local musicians. While working on John’s album, my friend Corey Atoms asked to me to join his project called Arcadea that he started with drummer and singer Brann Dailor. We were both playing synths, and there were no other instruments involved except for drums. I also began working on a new album for my longtime friends in Withered around this same time. These three projects really catapulted my career to the next level. John Roberts began to have me run audio for his local live shows, and I found that I really enjoyed that side of audio production as well.
After four years of being in Candler Park, my studio partner Sam Thomas was moving to Knoxville, and I needed to find another location for the studio. This is when I decided to take a risk of putting the studio outside of Atlanta. I built a complete addition to my house in Kennesaw/Marietta that included a large live room, a nice control room, a lounge, a kitchen and full bathroom. My goal was to provide an amazing-sounding space that was very comfortable that could also allow bands to stay at the studio overnight if needed. While transitioning to the new studio, I went on tour with Withered, filling on guitar and vocals for about a year and a half as they did not have one at that time. This reignited my need to be a part of live shows, and so I started working at Center Stage in September of 2021 as Front of House and Monitors. From there, I have been doing FOH for small tours and festival shows for several artists. Now I am going back and forth from the studio to doing live sound, and it brings me a variety of satisfying experiences.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a particularly rough road, but I will say that it wasn’t very lucrative for a good while. I was barely breaking even for probably the first third of my recording/sound career. Leasing the studio spaces in downtown Atlanta were very expensive, and I had to have a studio partner to make things more financially feasible.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I created the current Orange Peel Recordings space to be a versatile and comfortable space that sounds fantastic. I employed the help of Tony Terrebone to design the main acoustic properties of the live room, ensuring that drums and acoustics instruments would sound as good as possible. All of the walls are 16 inches thick, making tracking possible at any time of day. I included two skylights in the vaulted ceiling to provide natural light and views of the sky. As far as the aesthetics, many of my clients say it gives them spa vibes, while others like the industrial-styled floors and concrete-looking sound panels. I am continuing to work with all of my previous clients while adding several new ones to the fold. The professional construction of the studio and pleasing aesthetics has led to many video shoots for music video performances to equipment demos. It has led me to invest in a modest video setup that provides professional-looking videos. I have been fortunate enough to work on many different genres of music, from metal and rock to jazz and gospel.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Hard work.
Pricing:
- My hourly rate for the studio is $100
- My day rate for 8 hours is $650
Contact Info:
- Website: www.orangepeelrecordings.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orangepeelrecordings/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrangePeelRecordings/
