BIOGRAPHY
From the beginning of his life, Bill Douglass of Royal Recording was influenced by sounds and music. His journey to recording and producing began in 1981 at the tender age of 10. Equipped with a tape recorder his father gifted him, Bill began recording any sounds he could. From himself yelling to television audio, from the radio and vinyl records to his grandfather playing the piano, Bill captured these sounds with his recorder. This was the beginning of Bill’s fascination with recorded sound.
Bill’s formative years were filled with the influence of classical music, but at the age of twelve he began to crave a harder beat. Armed with a drum kit provided by his father, Bill joined a band called Archer and he frequently recorded their sessions with his recording deck and Radio Shack mics. These early recording sessions laid the foundation for Bill’s future career.
In 1987 Bill parted with Archer. Soon after his exit from Archer, Bill was approached about an opportunity to drum for a project called Vision. He accepted and performed with them for two years before moving forward to his next exclusive drumming project, Montemayor. This project allowed him to spring board into his current and ongoing project BZKT.
BZKT was born in a trailer park with Bill’s good friend Erik Bonner. The pair had an outlandishly good time experimenting with musical themes and tonalities, drawing influences from artists such as Frank Zappa and Ween. In 1992, the pair parted ways to afford Bill the opportunity to attend The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CORAS) in Phoenix, AZ.
Upon graduation from CORAS, Bill was offered placement in New York and Los Angeles, but decided to begin his professional career as an intern at Streeterville Studios in Chicago. In Chicago Bill was privileged to work under first engineers Steve Spapperi (rip), Brad Wood, Rob Russell, Ben Grosse and Jeff Moleski. While working with this crew, Bill was allowed to work with such talent as The Smashing Pumpkins, Filter, The Crystal Method, Los Hurracanes del Norte, and The Mighty Blue Kings. Two years into his stint at Streeterville Studios, Bill was approached by Hank Neuburger of Chicago Recording Company (CRC) with a job offer that Bill could not refuse.
Working at CRC was important for Bill’s musical engineering career and knowledge. He met important mentors in his engineering profession, including Chris Shepard, Allen Moulder, Flood, Danny Leake, Steven George, Troy Hightower, Brad Wood, and Ron Fair. In 1998 at CRC, Bill was honored with the opportunity to be a part of his first platinum record production, a feat that he was able to repeat several more times. In addition to his work on hit records, he was able to collaborate with The Smashing Pumpkins R. Kelly, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Ramsey Lewis, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Lisa Marie Presley, Moby, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews, Christina Aguilera, N’ Sync, and Bauhaus.
Bill enjoyed his time at CRC, but six years of ten to sixteen hour days started taking its toll. He began to crave something more personally fulfilling. Then in October of 2000, Bill’s father died of natural causes and sent Bill into a tailspin. In losing his father, Bill gained a new perspective on “burning the candle at both ends.” Bill resigned from CRC in 2001 and moved to Colorado to begin a new life.
Bill moved to Colorado Springs after receiving a job offer from a songwriter named Bill Warner. He was talked with designing, constructing, and operating Silver Stream Studios, which was to be a moderately sized mobile studio. After the construction of the studio, there was a change for Mr. Warner that required the sale of the brand new facility. Following the sale of Silver Stream Studios, Bill moved into a home at the base of Pike’s Peak with his best friend, Hoser the dog. His new goal was to build his own studio and work from his house. In 2002 Bill began recording bands in the lower portion of his home, some of whom have gained a fairly large Colorado Springs fan base. After working for a few months with a small recording rig, Bill decided it was time to expand his home to include a comfortable recording area. At the end of 2002 Bill began designing his new work space and by the middle of 2003 he was up and running in his new recording studio. While he is still expanding, Bill has enough space to record a full band and his facility features a bar and lounge area for his customers. The current list of finished albums out of this studio include: Jason Miller and Friends, Creating A Newsence, Porcelain Hand Jive, Rent to Own, Section 16, Distant Warning, Penelope Brain (originating in Australia), Gemma (originating in Italy), and a continuation of his project BZKT. Bill intends to continue to grow and expand his studio so he can better cater to local and national musical projects. Bill knows that there are many people in the world that want to record their music, to potentially make their impression on the music industry. But more importantly, to document a period of their own life!LONG LIVE THE DEATH OF ROCK!!
