“The crazy thing about Mississippi is that everyone is insanely talented.” Casey Combest of Blue Sky Studios
Blue Sky Studios is changing the face (and sound) of Mississippi’s music industry. Based in Jackson, the recording studio was founded by talented musician, Casey Combest. He says, “I wanted Blue Sky Studios to make an excellent product, but do it in a way that was straightforward and full of integrity on the business side.”
Casey’s interest in music was sparked at a young age. He smiles, “As a child in Vancleave, Mississippi, I vividly remember my dad playing guitar to Aint Nothing But A Hound Dog. At eight-years-old, that was my jam.” He dabbled a little with guitar in middle school, and gained the confidence to play for others in the 9th grade. Suddenly, things began to change. His hobby turned into a passion and eventually led to the beginning of Blue Sky Studios. Today, we are thrilled to share more about this incredible recording studio with you!
What inspired you to start Blue Sky Studios?
“Throughout high school and college I wrote a lot of original music and wanted to record it. Over the course of five years, I worked with four or five different studios. I vividly remember one experience at a studio. After weeks of work and a lot of money, I sat behind the mixing console and the speakers (typical studio picture you see) and I thought, “This is Amazing! I’m about to get signed by Sony!” I took a disc out to my car. After putting in the disc and turning my radio up, I was completely deflated. It didn’t sound that great after all, and Sony wasn’t calling. On the other side of that, I’ve had friends go to Nashville, New York or LA and spend 10k+ on a project that is excellent, but lacked integrity because there were so many unfulfilled promises. I wanted Blue Sky Studios to make an excellent product, but do it in a way that was straightforward and full of integrity on the business side.”
What is a typical day like at Blue Sky Studios?
“I usually start working on the business from 7:30am-10am each day. I really want the experience of someone recording at Blue Sky to be crazy awesome, so I work on that, our content creation, and ways to provide resources for our customers to grow their skills and move their careers forward.
Monday through Wednesday, I have meetings from 10am-1pm, and usually spend the afternoon on a recording session or mixing current projects.
Monday through Wednesday from 1pm-6:30pm and all day Thursday through Saturday are usually recording sessions. We really spend a lot of time helping people craft something that’s unique to them, but also familiar to the marketplace. That takes time.
Last year we started a podcasting service for businesses. We currently work with C Spire, Morgan White Group, Do Good Mississippi, and are launching several more this month. Justin Patterson is one our engineers and he’s usually doing that during the week and editing on those and he takes recording sessions too. We also have an editor named Bobby Hansford who comes in a few hours a week to help add an extra layer of polish to the tracks. Bobby and Justin are amazingly gifted!”
Who comes to record at Blue Sky? Do you have people who have always wanted to record something they wrote, or do you have people hoping to get their music out to the masses? Or a mix?
“Great Question! It’s definitely a mix. I would say 80% of the projects we do are either full-time or part-time (moving forward full-time) musicians. The other 20% are folks doing projects for fun, for a family member, or as a hobby. The crazy thing about Mississippi is that everyone is insanely talented. I’ve had people come in before who are just doing a project for fun. They have a full-time job they love, and just want to do something special to give to their kids one day. Then they stand behind they microphone and blow you away! They could literally do this for a living! This is a talented state!”
Tell me about your job as a music producer! How do you help artists take ideas and turn them into songs?
“Having been on the other side of this, there’s nothing more frustrating than having a vision, but not having someone to help walk you through how to make it a reality. I’ve been there and know that feeling. We want to show people the path to making something that they’ve dreamed about. Additionally, we try to educate artists on how to make it in this crazy crowded industry. As entertaining as American Idol or the Voice may be, that’s not real life. Being a professional musician is hard and it requires years of grueling work. We want to help encourage and provide resources for artist to build long-term success - not viral candy that fades.”
I read on your blog that you believe in the journey of reaching goals. Tell me why enjoying the journey is so important for musicians/artists
“Absolutely! I’ve only been writing down goals for about five years. What I’ve found when I reach a goal is that it’s sort of anticlimactic. As I’ve learned more about myself and what drives me I’ve started making goals that will be fun to reach. Goals that have a fun journey in reaching them. For musicians, if their goal is to play a 50,000 person arena, that’s cool. And don’t get me wrong, reaching that goal would be crazy fun, but its playing that awful gig where your mom and two cousins were the only people who showed up that’s the journey. You can’t appreciate the arena without the coffee shop. When we enjoy the journey it makes us grateful for every moment and every struggle.”
Thank you so much, Casey! If you are interested in making your musical dreams a reality, call or email Casey! You can reach Blue Sky Studios at [email protected] or 601.460.0448. For more information on Blue Sky Studios, please visit their website here!
Casey’s interest in music was sparked at a young age. He smiles, “As a child in Vancleave, Mississippi, I vividly remember my dad playing guitar to Aint Nothing But A Hound Dog. At eight-years-old, that was my jam.” He dabbled a little with guitar in middle school, and gained the confidence to play for others in the 9th grade. Suddenly, things began to change. His hobby turned into a passion and eventually led to the beginning of Blue Sky Studios. Today, we are thrilled to share more about this incredible recording studio with you!
What inspired you to start Blue Sky Studios?
“Throughout high school and college I wrote a lot of original music and wanted to record it. Over the course of five years, I worked with four or five different studios. I vividly remember one experience at a studio. After weeks of work and a lot of money, I sat behind the mixing console and the speakers (typical studio picture you see) and I thought, “This is Amazing! I’m about to get signed by Sony!” I took a disc out to my car. After putting in the disc and turning my radio up, I was completely deflated. It didn’t sound that great after all, and Sony wasn’t calling. On the other side of that, I’ve had friends go to Nashville, New York or LA and spend 10k+ on a project that is excellent, but lacked integrity because there were so many unfulfilled promises. I wanted Blue Sky Studios to make an excellent product, but do it in a way that was straightforward and full of integrity on the business side.”
What is a typical day like at Blue Sky Studios?
“I usually start working on the business from 7:30am-10am each day. I really want the experience of someone recording at Blue Sky to be crazy awesome, so I work on that, our content creation, and ways to provide resources for our customers to grow their skills and move their careers forward.
Monday through Wednesday, I have meetings from 10am-1pm, and usually spend the afternoon on a recording session or mixing current projects.
Monday through Wednesday from 1pm-6:30pm and all day Thursday through Saturday are usually recording sessions. We really spend a lot of time helping people craft something that’s unique to them, but also familiar to the marketplace. That takes time.
Last year we started a podcasting service for businesses. We currently work with C Spire, Morgan White Group, Do Good Mississippi, and are launching several more this month. Justin Patterson is one our engineers and he’s usually doing that during the week and editing on those and he takes recording sessions too. We also have an editor named Bobby Hansford who comes in a few hours a week to help add an extra layer of polish to the tracks. Bobby and Justin are amazingly gifted!”
Who comes to record at Blue Sky? Do you have people who have always wanted to record something they wrote, or do you have people hoping to get their music out to the masses? Or a mix?
“Great Question! It’s definitely a mix. I would say 80% of the projects we do are either full-time or part-time (moving forward full-time) musicians. The other 20% are folks doing projects for fun, for a family member, or as a hobby. The crazy thing about Mississippi is that everyone is insanely talented. I’ve had people come in before who are just doing a project for fun. They have a full-time job they love, and just want to do something special to give to their kids one day. Then they stand behind they microphone and blow you away! They could literally do this for a living! This is a talented state!”
Tell me about your job as a music producer! How do you help artists take ideas and turn them into songs?
“Having been on the other side of this, there’s nothing more frustrating than having a vision, but not having someone to help walk you through how to make it a reality. I’ve been there and know that feeling. We want to show people the path to making something that they’ve dreamed about. Additionally, we try to educate artists on how to make it in this crazy crowded industry. As entertaining as American Idol or the Voice may be, that’s not real life. Being a professional musician is hard and it requires years of grueling work. We want to help encourage and provide resources for artist to build long-term success - not viral candy that fades.”
I read on your blog that you believe in the journey of reaching goals. Tell me why enjoying the journey is so important for musicians/artists
“Absolutely! I’ve only been writing down goals for about five years. What I’ve found when I reach a goal is that it’s sort of anticlimactic. As I’ve learned more about myself and what drives me I’ve started making goals that will be fun to reach. Goals that have a fun journey in reaching them. For musicians, if their goal is to play a 50,000 person arena, that’s cool. And don’t get me wrong, reaching that goal would be crazy fun, but its playing that awful gig where your mom and two cousins were the only people who showed up that’s the journey. You can’t appreciate the arena without the coffee shop. When we enjoy the journey it makes us grateful for every moment and every struggle.”
Thank you so much, Casey! If you are interested in making your musical dreams a reality, call or email Casey! You can reach Blue Sky Studios at [email protected] or 601.460.0448. For more information on Blue Sky Studios, please visit their website here!
A special thank you to Caitlyn Sullivan Photography for capturing these amazing photographs of the studio!
{Blog by Mitchell Walters}
{Blog by Mitchell Walters}
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