DIY Mondays: Sam Pura of The Panda Studios

Sam Pura owns and runs a recording business in San Jose, CA called The Panda Studios. He grew up in California and graduated from Ex’pression College of the Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA. Since then, he has been successful at producing albums for bands like Heavy Heavy Low Low and North.

What experiences most prepared you for recording bands?
I always try and defend myself to that question and say "building my studio and running my own gigs was how I learned. I did go to ECDA in Emeryville CA for audio production, but I don't like to give them much credit for my experience. Really the way I learned was talking to my friend's bands and whoring myself out to them trying to record the best people I could for literally free. The HHLL - Fuck It album was made by paying me $70 for example... I knew that offering my services for free to bands with a larger following would help my recording services. I figured that if a lot of people are listening to my records, a lot of people would positively respond to it and want to bring their musical projects to record with me.

What was the "driving factor" in entering music?
I'm not sure what you exactly mean but I'll approach it like this. I'm genetically made to record music. I never did well in school, I was kicked out of my catholic college prep high school for a 2.1 GPA. I never applied myself in areas I didn't enjoy. Instead I would sit in class thinking about music all the time, wanting to be playing my guitar or something rather than sit in chemistry. Thankfully I had a reliable upbringing and my mom was very understanding to my feelings about school and she instead pushed me to go to ECDA. My Dad on the other hand was a little disappointed at the time and basically stopped giving a shit about what I do, and my sister was an honor student at my high school, graduated in the top 5 of her class and went to UCLA. There has always been a lot of example on what true success is to me, and it's always pushed me to take my involvement with music to the next level.

I always kind of viewed myself as a loser, but when I'm involved with producing music, I can feel that thats where I belong.

How did you start The Panda Studios?
Great question. I used to dodge it all the time and I'll explain. My family got divorced when I was a junior in high school. My sister went away to college and my dad moved to Finland. So pretty much it was just me and my mom during my final days of high school. When I started ECDA, I said to my mom "Mom, if I want to go make this a career, I need to start right now. There are so many classes in that school and only 3 are dedicated to recording bands... and thats all I want to do." So my mom agreed and pretty much started The Panda Studios. She bought me my originals microphones and Pro Tools. Over the years while going to school, I found a live-in recording studio. Thankfully she paid my rent while I went to school, and I literally never went to school (got suspended by the way from ECDA for consistent absences hahaha) and recorded every day. Spent literally every dollar I had on more and more gear until I graduated.

People always ask me how I started and it always makes me feel so lucky to be in the position I am. "How do I start a studio man?" ...umm you need like $10,000 and then you need to dedicate the rest of your life to upgrading that gear and staying current. It sucks... it's a very hard world to get into.

What are the trends you see in your current business? Do you record more during a certain time of the year, certain bands, etc.
Not really unfortunately. The biggest trend is that everyone is broke, and I had to redesign my rates and expenses to answer that demand. Everyone wants to make records, but no one wants to spend a lot of money on it. It's tough.

What has been the hardest part about owning and running The Panda Studios? The most rewarding?
The hardest part is feeling like a loser. I live at my girlfriend's for free, and I can't afford health insurance. It's a hard career with a lot of low points, but the most rewarding experiences would have to be when people contact me to tell me how much they enjoy the music I've been apart of. That's the entire reason for the studio, is to bring better music to the world.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter the music business in recording?
I always tell them not to go to school. ;) It's really expensive and all of my friends who went to ECDA with me and had student loans to pay for it, are all in careers not related to audio. You basically put yourself into $90k of debt to go to a school to learn to record bands, and then once you are in the world the only available positions are in other states, and they are unpaid internships. It's just not a logical choice. Go knock on studio doors today and get an unpaid internship before you commit to school, or just start recording bands yourself at your house. It's not hard to get great sounds with very little & cheap gear. It's all about your mind. If you can think smart, you can figure out a way to be involved with recording artists.

How do you find the artists you record / How do they find you?
It's pretty much all word of mouth. Bands discovering bands with good recordings and then look at the linear notes to find my information. That's the usual way, I've never attempted to advertise. The new studio will definitely have some new advertising ideas to unveil, but mainly it's all word of mouth for the past 6 years.

When it comes to music and listening to other songs not recorded or mixed by yourself, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Do you critique it?
All the time. The best engineers are always "critically listening". The best education is using your ears to identify why things sound good or bad.

Have you ever encountered a situation while recording that made you uncomfortable?
Every day I record! There are always awkward moments, and the majority of times I don't really handle them too well. I'm really succinct with my statements and sometimes that comes across as rude to new individuals. It's hard to balance an awkward situation... like a female vocalist crying because she's frustrated with the bad quality of her voice, or educating a frustrated artist on why what they are doing doesn't sound good and how to improve that. It's very hard and definitely really puts people on the spot when they are paying me hourly for my time. No one wants to pay someone to identify all the weak points in you, but thats exactly what my job is.

What's the next project you're about to start on?
The new studio build. Once that's done, we're going to launch a new website with 24/7 video streaming in the studio for viewers to follow along with their favorite bands recording process. Also starting a podcast and interview TV show with artists on tour that stop by the studio. Hopefully those new projects will bring more curiosity to the studio and bring better bands. As far as musical projects, I am going to finish the new HHLL full length, and start on a STZ 5-inch. Nothing really too big planned besides making the space that should ideally bring more artists through.

When you get a career in doing something you love, is it really all just one huge party? Or do you actually have to be responsible with what you do?
It's a very hard career, but I love it. Everyone thinks it's a party because I smoke weed all the time (legally of course) and post pretty awesome pictures and video occasionally. But it's a hard life. If I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn't be recording bands. I'd be a doctor making the Benjamin's. ;) Starting your own business costs so much money. Taxes rape me from my potential earnings, and the economy and home recording industry forces me to compete with lower prices. It's a hard things, and that's why most people don't do it.

I love what I do though, and the challenge is finding a way to support my life with recording bands. Everyone says the hardest work is the most rewarding and maybe someday I'll hit it huge and be mainstream. But until then, I'm just trying to bring better music to the world and work with bands that inspire me to push myself and deliver recordings that continue to raise the bar for me.

For more information on Panda Studios, check out thepandastudios.com