Chuck T

About the Producer ~ Chuck T

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In 2004 when I started making beats I realized that none of my friends nor I knew anyone who was an audio engineer and although many people I knew were rappers or singers they all lacked a professional and reliable engineer. So at the age of 16 I made the decision to not only pursue a career as a music producer but to also become the go-to audio engineer for recording artists, film directors, and anyone else that I know who needed audio work done. 

 

After graduating from Oakland Technical High School I was accepted into Howard University in Washington D.C. where I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Radio, TV, & Film production with a focus in audio production. While in college I interned for different people and companies within my field to hone my audio engineering skills such as Howard University’s student radio station WHBC 830AM, Gary Drew (Raheem Devaughn’s former manager & audio engineer), & MTV. I also created a home studio and began recording music for people who I went to college with for a fee. After graduating from college, I had music that I produced featured on the show BET’s Black Carpet as well as be featured in The Source Magazine. I also moved back to the bay area after graduating where I began recording and producing music for local artists as a 2nd job. During this time I worked for different non-profit organizations teaching children how to use audio and music production software and I also worked for Academy of Art University within their music production and sound design for visual media department. After a few years of gaining more knowledge and experience as well as building my clientele, I decided that it was time to cash in on all the time and effort that I invested into learning audio engineering by opening and establishing 10,000 Hours Of Music, LLC. & Rich City Studios. While still a teenager a made a big decision for my life that I sought out with plans and goals and now as an adult I’m able to act on and achieve what I set out to do.

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Since opening Rich City Studios doors in 2019, ChuckT & Rich City Studios have been featured in numerous publications as well as participated in multiple local and national events and campaigns. In 2019, Rich City Studios held 2 artist showcases which had over 100 spectators at each event and also composed an instrumental for a promo video for Oakland’s First Fridays. In 2020 Rich City Studios also held a live virtual artist showcase that had over 200 viewers. Rich City Studios & ChuckT we’re also featured in the Richmond Standard, The Main Street Of America Newsletter, the tv show Sidewalks TV, and in 2022 had a float in Oakland’s Black Joy Parade and assisted with the “Edutainment School Tour” that featured the R&B group, Futrell who are currently signed to Sony Records and touring the globe. In February 2022 ChuckT also published the “Indie Artist Handbook” which is a beginner's guide to understanding the business side of the music industry from an independent artist’s perspective.

 

 

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The Business ~ Rich City Studios

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To the community of Richmond I would like to think that my business offers an affordable, convenient, community based, and uncensored outlet for the people. I say we’re affordable not only because we offer recording packages such as 3 hours of recording time with 1 song mixed and mastered for $100 to give our clients more bang for their buck but because we also offer discounts for minors.  As far as being convenient & community based, I’m speaking to the fact that we’re located in Downtown Richmond in the historic Market Square Mall which is less than a mile from the Richmond Bart Station & also because we allow same day appointments as long as you call at least 3 hours before the time you would to schedule. I also say that we’re community based because since being in business we have held 2 artist showcases & one online showcase and with each showcase we had Richmond residents performing, vending, and/or working as a photographer.  These events also included residents of other bay area cities so we were able to help artists and businesses of Richmond and other places network and grow.  Lastly, to explain what I meant by having an uncensored outlet for the city is the fact that the city of Richmond has very limited venues for the artists of the city to showcase themselves and to make matters tougher some of the venues or programs which create performance and other opportunities for artists have guidelines or rules as to what performers/clients can and can’t do or just aren’t always open to everyone’s lifestyle/opinions. For example, some of my under 18 clients come to my studios and record really edgy songs that a youth organization might not allow or want recorded but I allow my clients no matter their age, gender, or sexual preference to freely express themselves. Another example of how we’re uncensored and open to people is the fact that we’re a LGBT friendly business who actually work with our clients to have good songs and projects rather than just rushing them in and out of the door because something that they might have recorded isn’t relatable to our engineers.