Geomana Recording Studio, Portland, OR By Robin Steeley
The staff at Geomana Studios are determined to give you more then what you pay for, proving their theory that you can get a top quality sounding recording without breaking the bank.
With an impressive list of pro gear and the proven experience behind them, they have been recording some of Portland's leading bands lately like heavy weights Mindcell, Stabitha, and Inflikt. The studio is a comfortable character filled Victorian home on 42nd in Portland. Its three-story layout allows for a variation of sound opportunities. In the dungeon is an isolation booth a 4' x 4' quad pane window facing the control room and other smaller rooms to get a range of sounds.
The studio’s engineer is Chris Finster who is also part of the bands Garuda’s Mission, Amongst Us, Opticollide, and I think there may even be another one I am forgetting. Needless to say he is a busy guy and self proclaimed workaholic. Working behind the scenes and keeping the business running smoothly is Erik Scholibo, Geomana’s business manager.
Both Chris and Erik are an essential part of Portland’s local music scene and Geomana is building the foundations of their new business one band at a time.
Crave: So tell me how the studio got started?
Geomana: We used to run a place that was like a practice space, and we got together with that and it didn’t really work out so I said lets start a recording studio. It’s something that Erik had always wanted to do, so we went out, got a big stinky loan, and opened this place up. We struggled a lot at first but in the last six months we have really hit the stride and it hasn’t stopped
Crave: When did you open?
Geomana: It’s been about a year and a half. We opened last year and we were open in November for Berserk. Then it started building up after that. It was a little bit longer transition from the old traditional studios and club scene, but once we got in here it got built up real quick.
Crave: What’s behind the name Geomana?
Geomana: I used to play a video game when we were living at the warehouse rehearsal space called Legend of Mana, and the final destination in that game is a town called Geo. So when everybody was farting around with names I just said what about Geomana. Oddly enough, somebody contacted me about two weeks ago, and she’s this sixteen year old Swedish girl named Geomana. If you look it up, it’s also some kind of magic; there is this spell called Geomana that’s an earth elemental spell or something like that. Basically it just came out of that, it was real random but it worked.
Crave: Who has been your favorite artists to work here?
Geomana: Probably inflikt. I love recording metal bands, that’s always fun, hehe like Garuda’s Mission and Amongst Us, Stabitha, I’m having a good time recording that, any kind of hip hop, and also Acoustic Minds.
Crave: If you could record any artist who would it be?
Geomana: I would probably want to record Red Hot Chili Peppers, or something with Dave Grohl, or Queens of the Stone Age. I would love to record Mr. Bungle, that would be fun.
Crave: What got you started in music engineering?
Geomana: When I first started recording in 1996 I was recording on a four track, then I had an 8 track for about a year and I was like YEAH! Four more tracks that’s amazing. I did that for awhile and then it was time for Garuda’s Mission to record something and we went and got a simple pro tools set up I messed around with it for awhile till I got the sound that I liked, and eventually it hit me that it was something I could do to make money. At that point I was super green at it, I had no idea what I was doing, I would spend like fourteen hours a day every day just learning. A year and a half later I’m pretty much at a pro level. I’m hooked on it I love it, it’s just a passion. If I didn’t love it there is no way I would do it.
Crave: How do you handle being in four bands and the studio duties at the same time?
Chris: Barely. Honestly. There are few hours in the day that I do what I want to do, which is just collapse or do nothing. Every day is something, either practicing or playing a show or working or just trying to keep up with my relationship. Some days I wish I could do nothing for a whole day.
Crave: So Erik, tell me about what you do here?
Erik: In a nutshell I do absolutely everything that you don’t see. I’m the guy underneath it. I try to make his job easier, he tells me “Hey dude, we need this” and I figure out how to make it happen. Bookkeeper, accountant, media, organizing, you name it.
Chris: So basically he is the brains and I am the talent (laughing) or I guess you could just say I’m the engineer and he is the business manager.
Erik: Chris has definitely made Geomana what it is. (Chris) and Erik keeps it going. What’s funny is we are both the same astrological signs, we’re both Gemini’s so its like there’s four of us.
Crave: Anything else you want to add?
Geomana: We just want to say that we are very very lucky to live in a town that has such a flourishing music scene, we look at the situation in Portland, and there’s like 600 bands in this town and its just growing. It’s a huge scene in such a small area. This place is the town to have a studio. A lot of the time, bands cant necessarily always afford the top-notch sound of a very expensive studio so we spent a lot of money to try to get that sound without making people have to pay so much for it. That’s our niche in this town, that and it’s a good recording environment. We’re not getting rich over here, we get by. I enjoy being part of the scene, and trying to help out. We just love what we do.
For more information go to www.geomana.com , call 503-280-2372 or email geomana@msn.com
Their full range of services includes:
Multi track recording
Mixing
Mastering
Voice overs
Remixing
Producing
Hip Hop production
Movie scores
Radio marketing audio (music & voice)
