Montrose, has been my most inconvenient recording studio yet. Not only do I bug my neighbors, but the walls are so thin, they bug me.

If my next home had a basement....

JANUARY 2010:
I'm finishing the LEVEL 5 = KUNG FU COWBOY album PART 1. I can only record during the late mornings and early afternoons, on weekdays, when most people are at work.

For the past 20 years, I've done most of my recording after 9PM when the kids were asleep in bed. I'd record anything except the drums, which I recorded during the daytime ...

I really miss those late night sessions. Even during the 1980s when I was renting Capitol Records Recording Studios, Cherokee Studios, The Village Recorder, Soundlabs...and many other studios, I'd get "down-time rates" so I could afford to be in these best-studios-in-the-world for recording my albums. When we were recording my TEMPTATION album in 1983, I'd have to move Paul McCartney's road cases out of my way to get into the studio...and Tina Turner was recording her album, with, "What's Love Got To Do With It," also.

These bands would pay $200 plus to be in these studios. Then I'd come in when they were gone and use the same studio for $50 per hour (sometimes as low as $20 per hour).

So, I'm a frustrated record producer stuck in a bee hive trying to record when the bees aren't buzzing.

p.s. The top studio photo is my Tujunga home, 2001 - 2007. The lower photo is my band, THE RICH, in the Village Recorder Studio. From Left to Right: Gary Star recording engineer, Richard Connor/Coyote bass and lead vocals, Scott Kohler drums, and Dann Linck electric guitar. The Village Recorder Sessions, 1980, included, "Backseat Love," "Show Girls," and "Trust Me." The song "Trust Me" was used on the LEVEL 1 = PEACE OF MIND album.

The lowest photo is after recording the songs above. Seated is the twin brother of Dann Linck, Dave Linck.

Richard Del Connor
Record Producer, Shaolin Records