Nashville, TN (May 4, 2023)—A little more than 20 years ago, John McBride opened the doors to Blackbird Studio in the Berry Hill neighborhood of Nashville, and within just a few short years, by whatever metric these types of rankings are measured—whether mic locker, room acoustics, outboard rack, console, all-around vibe, the engineers and producers who track and mix there, or the artists who record a hit album during their stay, and then return for another go—he built it into one of the world’s premier recording facilities, one that fits comfortably in conversation among the likes of Abbey Road, Capitol, United or The Hit Factory.
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Then 10 years ago, after many years of planning and research—first pointed in one direction and then shifting to another, thinking about partnering with an established institution and then deciding not to, going back and forth on the best length of time to complete a course, and finally settling on an optimum number of students entering each new class—McBride bought the building next door to the studios and opened The Blackbird Academy, offering an advanced and unique classroom-meets-studio curriculum, as well as a classroom-meets-tour model for the Live Sound program. The Blackbird Academy has produced four Grammy winners, and the Live Program has well over 90 percent of its graduates working.
This month, McBride opens the curtain on Act III of his audio life, dubbed Inside Blackbird, an online venture that he figured would be a natural blend, even an extension, of the first two acts, just with more video. But as he got deeper into planning and development, learning what it takes to create a meaningful, active, content-rich website targeted at all things music and recording, he quickly realized that a) it’s a helluva lot more work than he expected; b) he was entering familiar, yet uncharted, territory; and c) it might yet prove to be his most ambitious and personally rewarding Blackbird-based enterprise to date.
“Every five years or so, I try to take a few steps back and look at my life, my career, my bills, whatever I’m doing, and I try to look at it as a whole,” McBride says. “Another way to do it is to take a piece of paper and write down the things that are going well in one column and things that could be better in the other. Whatever way you do it, it gets you thinking about your experiences. I remember about six years ago, the first thing that came to my mind was that people want more access. You see this when you’re on the road and you see it when you’re in town, in whatever field you work. It’s the idea that ‘the front row of the show is great, you know, but I’d really rather be backstage.’ As human beings, we want that connection, that thing that brings us closer to something we love.
“So I thought, ‘Well, you know what? I love music—and I have access,’” he continues. “Access to a great studio, to gear, to microphones, to players, producers and engineers. To songwriters, label people, management executives, to other artists. I should start filming some of the processes that go into making a record, or that go into putting on a concert—all the things that people think about when dealing with the reality of daily life. Maybe we could construct a curriculum around that, I thought, and if we had these incredible videos, this great content aimed at education, then maybe I could license it to universities around the world. There’s roughly 9,000 universities out there. That’s a big number. We didn’t end up going that route, but education was at the heart of the plan from the beginning, and it still is.
“I also have to admit that much of this goes back to the 21- or 22-year-old me, who at the time knew enough about audio to go do a show. Then the first time I went on a tour, I found that while I knew about audio, I couldn’t set up a drum kit if my life depended on it. I didn’t know about building keyboards. I didn’t know which guitar pedals were the coolest. I just didn’t know enough, and I didn’t want to just be the ‘audio guy.’ If I would have known then what I know now, well, I’d have talked to the drummer about his kit, or the guitarist about his strings or where he likes his mic. I would have been the perfect audience for Inside Blackbird. Now I want to inspire people starting out in music, give them a head start on their career. I want them to see and hear the passion that drives all these musicians and engineers we talk to. I want to do anything I can to heighten people’s knowledge of great music and great sound and see if it may be a career possibility.”
