Music to the ears
<p>Chuck Seward points to CDs of artists he has recorded in his professional audio recording studio just outside Superior.</p>
SUPERIOR – Tucked away in an unassuming building in Mineral County on the property of Superior resident Chuck Seward is a facility that has helped to bring the talents of local musicians and singers to the attention of the masses.
Seward brought his professional audio recording facility, named Custer’s Last Studio after Custer, WA where he founded it, to Superior nearly a decade ago and has been working with local artists ever since. And although he retired from his day job, Seward said he has no plans to retire from bringing music to the ears of the public.
Starting out as an audio engineer in the state of Washington, Seward has been recording artists for over four decades and now that he is retired, he wants to continue to put his skills to use for local talent. He said he especially wants musicians and singers from Mineral County schools and local churches to take advantage of his facility.
As he sat in his recording booth last weekend underneath nearly a dozen displayed CDs of local artists he has recorded, it was obvious that without his own talent as a recording engineer, these artists’ work may never have been realized.
And according to Seward, all it took to inspire him to become an audio engineer was hearing a recording of his own band at the time that, in his words, just didn’t sound right.
“I was in a band in Washington and we decided to record our music,” Seward said. “It was a disaster from the beginning. Half of the equipment broke down and when we got the tape back, it just didn’t sound right. It didn’t sound right at all. It’s not that we were the greatest band in the world but the way they mixed it was really bad. And so, I got to thinking that I could do a better job than that. That’s how I got into the business.”
As he sat in front of his 32-channel mixing board surrounded by microphones, instruments and banks of assorted equipment with dozens of blinking lights, buttons and knobs, Seward said when he started out in the recording business in the early 1970s, the technology was slightly different than it is today.
“I started out with just a small mixing board and an eight track reel-to-reel,” Seward said. “Now it’s all digital. Everything is all on digital audio tape (DAT) and it makes storage a lot easier.”
While Seward said he likes to record all kinds of music, his favorite genre to listen to was good old-fashioned country and western. He said the reason he likes older country and western best of all is because of the substance of the music.
“It’s all about life,” Seward said. “It’s about the high and the lows of life. The ups and the downs. Country music really is about life.”
Seward said, when he and his wife decided to leave Washington and relocate to Superior in 2005, he thought about selling his equipment and retiring from the music business. But when he realized there was local talent in Mineral County, he decided to keep working. Seward said, for him, the appeal of recording was bringing an artists’ vision to an audience.
“I try to get the best out of a person that I can,” Seward said. “I love bringing someone’s idea to life. The enjoyment I get out of it is making a good product for the artist. I enjoy producing a product that they can be proud of.”