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Cleveland recording company Ante Up makes a name for itself with major acts during a time of upheaval in the industry.

By DAN SHINGLER
Crains Cleveland October 26, 2009
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Some big names in the music business come to play in Cleveland, and almost no one ever knows they're here or gets to see them perform.

These aren't artists appearing at exclusive, high-paying parties. Instead, it's the musicians who pay to play, and to be recorded by Michael Seifert or some of the other engineers at Ante Up Studios, which Mr. Seifert founded in 2003.

The list of artists who use Ante Up's recording studios on East 36th Street is impressive and covers a broad swath of today's musical spectrum. Dave Matthews, Tori Amos and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails all recorded with Ante Up engineers running their sound boards. So have hip-hop and rap artists such as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and heavy metal godfather Ozzy Osbourne.

Gold and platinum records from the artists line the walls of Ante Up.

"We're growing, when a lot of studios are closing", said Mr. Seifert, who along with his nine employees and a cadre of freelance engineers keep Ante Up's two recording studios humming nearly around the clock.

In Mr. Seifert's business, around the clock is a literal term, as musicians aren't usually known as early birds. They might be recording at 3 a.m., but not because they just got out of bed, Mr. Seifert said.

"It's not at all uncommon that at 3 or 4 in the morning there are two sessions going on", Mr. Seifert said.

That might also be the reason Mr. Seifert, 32, often is mistaken for a much younger man.

"I tell people I never see sunlight, that's the key," he said in one of many windowless rooms inside Ante Up.

All the activity is why Ante Up is able to thrive in an era where personal computers and inexpensive but sophisticated home recording equipment have pushed others out of business. Rather than shrinking or shutting down, Mr. Seifert said he's operating at capacity and soon will expand Ante Up to six recording studios. He also has added a small sound stage where musicians can play to small, private audiences when they have new-release parties or other events.

Mr. Seifert said he provides artists with the same quality facilities and engineering services that they could get in Los Angeles, New York or Nashville, but at about a third of the price. His base rate is $55 an hour, he said, while studio time in other "major music cities" can cost $150 or even $200 an hour.

The savings means more than just money to the artists, as it frees them up to be more creative, Mr. Seifert said. For example, if a band's guitar player comes up with a new riff that could change a song "or result in an entirely new hit" the low price means the band can work on that music without worrying as much about running up their studio costs.

Sound investment
Mr. Seifert knows what it's like to work and record on a budget.

He learned how to be a recording engineer from his father, who devoted three rooms of the family's home in Cleveland to the endeavor. By the time he was 20, the younger Mr. Seifert had served as engineer on his first gold record "for Bone Thugs" and was offered a contract by a hip-hop label to write and record material for new artists. He turned it down, he said, because he did not want to do hip hop full time and because he knew even then that he ultimately wanted to open his own studio.

"My goal was to kind of lead the charge here, so people would recognize all of the talent here," he said. "So many people get told 'you just can't do that sort of thing here,' but I never believed it."

Neither, apparently, did the artists who record at Ante Up. Bone Thugs has remained loyal to Mr. Seifert for 15 years, he said. Other artists, such as Dave Matthews, used his studio because they needed one while touring in town, but since have returned to do more recording.

Good vibrations
Brandon Zano, lead singer for the Cleveland-based band "This is a Shakedown," said he has recorded in New York, Nashville, Memphis and Los Angeles. He's paid more for studio time, but not received better service or a better final product than at Ante Up, he said.

"Both studio A and B are designed and engineered perfectly. They both sound so clear," Mr. Zano said. "You're getting the same quality, if not better, than you would get in New York or L.A."

And Mr. Seifert's studio might be helping Cleveland's music scene generally, not only by affording local artists a quality recording venue, but also by putting Cleveland on the musical map for national acts.

Many of the acts that play at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom record at Ante Up, said Katherine Isenhart, Beachland's manager of promotions and special events.

"It's a really good studio. They're very aggressive, very discriminating and very focused," she said.