People want to know what's up with EASTWEST Studios — the former Cello/Western Recorders. Is it open to the public yet?
D: We got held up for a long time with permits. We are more or less rebuilding the entire place. We haven't touched the studios because I'd be stoned to death if I did that. I didn't want to anyway because they sound so fantastic — but everything else got torn out of there. We got Philippe Starck to design the rest of the place. The cost will be ten million dollars when it's done. No studio owner could rationalize spending that kind of money based on today's market — it's only because of our software business that we can justify doing this. It'll be half for our use and half for outside clients.
Have you already had people express interest in getting in there?
D: Oh, absolutely. We've had calls from many top producers, some wanting to book their favorite room for up to eighteen months. Unfortunately I can't do that, because our primary reason for buying it was for recording our stuff in there. I put the studios together so that we can record in any control room and any studio combination — we can use all of the rooms if a particular sound works in a particular space.
How many sample libraries are there on EASTWEST/Quantum Leap right now?
D: We probably have fifty or sixty.
Nick, Were you working independently before joining forces with Doug?
N: I've always been a composer. I did one sample title, brought it to Doug and said, "Would you like to distribute this?" He said, "Yeah, great." It was Quantum Leap Guitar & Bass — that was over ten years ago and we've worked together ever since. I compose; the sounds I'm looking for that I need for compositions spark ideas for products, or Doug has ideas and we just go for it.
You guys work in different fields but collaborate as well. From my under-standing, you're coming from a slightly more electronic background.
N: Not really. I learned classical piano as a kid. I like electronic music as well but I'm more from the film score, classical. Doug is more the engineer, producer, entrepreneur.
How much actual work goes into creating a string library.
N: It's very tedious. It's interesting how different players respond to that. If you get very good players they actually get into it because they're so good with their instrument. It's very different when you've got to sample a violin rather than playing pieces of music. Quite a few years ago we found that getting the best players, the best equipment and the best room is worth it. It's not worth it to take short cuts.
Were there experiences before where you had a player that you realized wasn't up to par to what you were trying to accomplish?
