Paul Ragland Of Stump City Studios On Working With Vintage King To Outfit His Dream Studio

With a scenic river view, serene atmosphere, and a state-of-the-art recording studio, Stump City Studios in Charleston, Tennessee, has everything an artist needs to relax and disappear into the music. Owner/musician Paul Ragland designed it that way, and when he retired from his banking job earlier this year, he was ready to take the next step and give back to young artists and the music community with a studio he built from the ground up on his property.

Paul sat down with us recently to talk about his vision for Stump City Studios, his favorite gear, and what it was like working with Vintage King to select the gear that brought his dream studio to life.

Tell us a bit about your journey in music.

I've been involved in music my whole life, doing a lot of writing and singing on demos in Nashville, but I quickly found out that I was not making the money that I needed to make, so I got my first banking job and then worked in banking until I retired in March of this year.

We had a chance to build a house here, and I said, “I’m 56 years old. If I'm going to do it at this stage in my life, I'm going to [also build a studio] now.” I went ahead and started looking for a designer, and that's when I found Steve Durr in Nashville, and we quickly became friends.

I was also looking for people who work in the industry, and that’s how I got introduced to James Good and Vintage King. I was very fortunate to find James, and the thing I like about him the most is how accessible he is. When it came to selecting gear for the studio, I fully trusted James. I just told him what I wanted, and he put everything together for me. He was always there to guide me through the process and help me decide on things as far as equipment goes.

Everybody at Vintage King has been great with giving me advice and helping me pick out equipment that was really going to help the studio. I can't say enough good things about Vintage King.

What is your vision for Stump City Studios?

The vision is two-part: the first is to be able to take an artist that has never recorded in a studio before and give them a chance to do so. That's going back to my early days. I didn't have the money to record in a studio. God has really blessed me and my wife, and now is the time to give back and help artists. So if there is an artist that has really put in the effort and is working hard, they can come here, and we’ll record them; we don't worry about money.

To make money from the studio, the way that we designed the space is that there's a bedroom and a bathroom on the studio side, so if an artist wants to come and record over a weekend, they have access to that. I've been wanting to pull people out of Nashville that want to do a writer's retreat, maybe rent the place out for a weekend, get away from the city, relax, and work on their craft. We’ve got the studio right there where they can come, record their stuff, and take it back with them.

You have an incredible API 1608-II Special Edition console at the heart of the studio. What drew you to that?

My understanding from James is they made 10 of the Special Edition consoles, so I’ve got one of 10! When I asked Steve Durr’s advice on a console, he said, “Man, for what you want to do, you're not gonna be able to beat the API 1608-II.”

I talked to James about it, and James was like, “Well, what if we could put the Special Edition in there?” He was able to get the price down for me, and the console is phenomenal! It's got the fully-loaded classic preamps and EQs, eight aux sends, four stereo returns, Final Touch Automation. It’s great! We recently got the automation working between the console and Pro Tools, and we're in a session today, and we're actually using that.

I can't say enough about API! You record through it, and it's like you just get a record done. The sound is phenomenal! Also, the footprint is amazing; I’ve got a good, solid console in a small format. The other thing I like about the API is that if I ever need to expand it again, I can do that.

Yeah, it’s 500 Series-compatible, and modular as well, which is convenient if you need to switch something around.

Yeah! Also, the console has so much headroom in it; sometimes you might think you’re overdriving things, but you can't with the API, and I really like that.

The sound is very punchy and warm. The reason I went with a hybrid setup for the console and then Pro Tools and the converters was to get that warm analog sound. Today, people are mixing and doing everything in the box, and it sounds good to an extent, but it's too clean. With the console and the API sound, and then the other gear that James helped me select.

We're using Lynx converters, and then we've got a two-channel BURL Audio converter that we use for mixdowns, and most recently I got the SSL BUS+ compressor and the SSL Fusion from VK, so when you add that on your final mixdown, it’s like glue.

How has the console impacted your workflow?

It's interesting because I had been out of the recording space for a number of years before I got this studio, and so I guess now, I’ve gone from a home studio to a professional home studio. It was a big jump for me, so I'm still trying to work out my workflow, but it's pretty much down now.

The very first thing I do when we're setting mics up for a session is make sure we’ve got signal, and it's going to the API. We’ve got the routing down correctly. Once things are patched in, we bring up our Pro Tools session, and I'm running all the touch controls, like record, play, or stop, from the DAW Control on the API; I can see that it’s going to save a lot of time in the workflow.

Tell us about some other gear you’ve purchased from Vintage King that you love.

Pretty much everything that I've got in the studio came from Vintage King. We have the Neumann U67 reissue mic that we’re using mainly on vocals and guitar. It’s a great mic! It's such a workhorse and has that legendary sound to it.

I also bought two of the Warm Audio 47s through Vintage King, and we're actually using one of those today on an artist who’s here working on an acoustic album.

I love the Bricasti M7 reverb as well. The people that we've had so far in the studio, when they see that thing lying there, they're like, “Man, you got it!” [Laughs] It's a great piece.

I also love the Triad Orbit stands; they're a good, heavy stand. And also, the quick connect and disconnect for each one is great. Whatever kind of mic you're using, you can just disconnect it quickly from the stand if you’ve got to move. They’re great!

I’ve got an 1176, LA-2As, and a stereo pair of Distressors. We’re actually using that in the vocal chain today, so we're going through the Warm Audio 47, into the 1176, to the LA-2A, and then on the acoustics we’re using the Distressors, and you just can't get any better than that.

The console desk looks great as well!

The special edition API console comes in a cream color with blonde wood side panels, and when I was talking to James about it, he told me he knew a guy called Lucian Linkous in Nashville who makes these desks, and they would make the desk out of the same wood as the frame of the console. Lucian did a great job; the desk is solid, beautiful, and very well constructed.

What's a typical day at the studio like for you?

I don't really have a typical day. This is the first week that I'm booked every day this week, actually, so it’s been a little bit different. I just retired at the end of March of this year from the bank, so I'm really still trying to get things down and get more of a pattern in my day and get my daily flow going.

Are you working on any exciting projects right now that you're able to talk about?

We're doing a full acoustic album for a local artist called Tyson Leamon, and that's going to be really good!

Then there’s another project at a marina half a mile from our house. They have an outdoor stage, so we’ve partnered with them for an event called Riverside Rhythms.

It’s by invitation only, and we’ve got four artists that are gonna each play a 30-minute set. After the show is over, the public will vote on who they thought did the best. That will carry on each month through September, where the winners of all those rounds will go through to the final round, and then the final winner gets free studio time here. I’m looking forward to it!

If you’re interested in purchasing a 1608-II console or have any questions about other API products, we're here to help! Contact a Vintage King Audio Consultant via email or by phone at 866.644.0160.