All Roads Really Do Lead To.....
Rome History
The walls of Rome Recording Studio once displayed reminders of the country greats of the past. Fond memories of stars who have recorded at Rome include the late actor Forrest Tucker, Ricky Skaggs (#1 hit), Ryan Pelton, Red Allen, Bizzy Bone, Dick Unteed, Sonny Curtis, and many others. Local artists quickly discovered that Rome was a state-of-the-art studio with a family touch.
Jack and Joyce Casey, the founders of Rome Recording, spent their lives in the music business. Jack started with nothing but a guitar and starry eyes and travelled the country looking for his big break. Soon he found himself at the Grand Ole Opry. "Once there, Marty Robbins, Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb… all of them gave a helping hand," remembered Jack. "They were all fine people." Jack performed on stage with many well know celebrities. In fact, he and his band opened for Patsy Cline the night before she died in a plane crash.
In January 1965 an auto accident changed the Caseys' future. Jack's back was broken and the doctors said, "No more travel!" Due to this, a studio and practice room now known as Rome Recording was started on East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio. "The people in Nashville said I'd never get good sound out of that old building," said Jack, "but my friend would bring groups up from Nashville because the sound was so good." Rome was later relocated to 3970 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio, in 1991.
In January 1965 an auto accident changed the Caseys' future. Jack's back was broken and the doctors said, "No more travel!" Due to this, a studio and practice room now known as Rome Recording was started on East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio. "The people in Nashville said I'd never get good sound out of that old building," said Jack, "but my friend would bring groups up from Nashville because the sound was so good." Rome was later relocated to 3970 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio, in 1991.
Another change came when Jack became a Christian. When that happened, all he wanted to do was record Christian music. "Then one day when I was working, I heard real plain that what I found in my life could help people, so I decided to work with whoever came in my door," Jack recalled. "There are a lot of bad practices in the music business, you almost hate to say you're a part of it, but it pays in the long run to be honest and up front with people." Jack continued to operate a successful studio for many years.
Then in 1999, tragedy struck. On October 30th, 1999 Jack Casey passed away. His death left a big void in all the lives he touched. Joyce Casey took over the big responsibility of running the studio, relying heavily on the help of many friends like studio manager Barbara Curtis (wife of Sonny Curtis), Joyce's son Johnny Lyle, and Dean Inboden (engineer). After a few more years Joyce was ready to retire and move back to Virginia to be with her family. With much consideration she decided to sell Rome Recording to David Keller. While there were others interested in purchasing Rome, Joyce decided that David was the best fit to continue the Rome Recording tradition of family friendliness with honesty and integrity in recording excellence while bringing in the needed upgrades to the studio. Joyce said that David reminded her of a young Jack Casey, full of dreams with a heart for Christian ministry and to help others.
Then in 1999, tragedy struck. On October 30th, 1999 Jack Casey passed away. His death left a big void in all the lives he touched. Joyce Casey took over the big responsibility of running the studio, relying heavily on the help of many friends like studio manager Barbara Curtis (wife of Sonny Curtis), Joyce's son Johnny Lyle, and Dean Inboden (engineer). After a few more years Joyce was ready to retire and move back to Virginia to be with her family. With much consideration she decided to sell Rome Recording to David Keller. While there were others interested in purchasing Rome, Joyce decided that David was the best fit to continue the Rome Recording tradition of family friendliness with honesty and integrity in recording excellence while bringing in the needed upgrades to the studio. Joyce said that David reminded her of a young Jack Casey, full of dreams with a heart for Christian ministry and to help others.
The new era of Rome Recording began on April 1, 2003, when David completed the sale with Joyce. The first year brought about many changes. Gone was the faded old yellow sign out front, replaced with a large, lit sign featuring an all new logo. The studio was modernized with hardwood floors, fresh paint, new carpet, and acoustic treatments. The equipment upgrades included Protools HD4, known to be the very best digital recording equipment available at that time. David also merged his mic collection with Rome's, thus creating one of the best mic collections in the area. Rome also expanded its preamp and outboard processing gear to complete the package. Not long after, a headphone mixing system was added so musicians could each set up their own headphone mixes. Finally the duplication department was outfitted for CD Duplication, including color laser printing and CD thermal printing.
In 2004, Dean Inboden retired from Rome. We greatly appreciate Dean's work here at Rome and the legacy of excellence he helped build. Between 2004 and 2007 Rome saw many staff changes in efforts to improve and grow with the market. Still, David Keller (owner) was too busy in business administration to spend as much time engineering as he felt he should.
The 40th Anniversary of Rome held many changes as Rome saw the end of one Era and the beginning of another. By early 2007 David knew it was time to go back to his roots in musicianship and engineering. Once he started serving his clients with his 20+ years of engineering experience the positive response from clients was overwhelming. Going back to the owner engineering days that Jack Casey used for the foundation of Rome was proving to be the right decision. During the transition of David Keller moving into the primary engineer position he was also closely monitoring changes in the recording industry and the recording scene of Columbus, Ohio. With rising overhead, David began to consider the options of moving and down sizing the staff. There were far too many factors to elaborate here but suffice it to say that assets and advantages of the past were turning into liabilities and distracting problems. It was time to end the 3970 S. High St. Era.
In August of 2007 the studio was moved out of the building that housed Rome Recording for over 15 years. After they moved out it was on to the rebuilding of Rome. During the transition they had some delays in getting a new building built. David had to do some mixing for a client getting ready for the Golden Globe Awards and was forced to work out of his 5000 Sq. Ft. home in Reynoldsburg. He chose a room that had some very good natural acoustics and was pleasantly surprised at how good he could hear and how good the mixes were turning out. The client was very pleased. Since the other building process was moving slow David started looking into what it would take to build an acoustically correct studio in his house and forget the commercial building. He started to realize that some of the best studios in Nashville were in homes just like his. The results were far better than anticipated. With the size of David’s home, he was able to devote enough space to comfortably record a full band yet still be roomy enough to have space to offer a break and lounge area with complete amenities. Quite a few successful projects came together in this location but we still wanted to get back to a commercial building.
We now fast forward to 2012 when a new chapter in Rome history began. An opportunity to once again move into a commercial building again at a new location in Grove City became available. We had a chance to renovate the building to suit our needs and create a comfortable acoustically pleasant sounding environment that would aid the recording process. We we’re also able to upgrade to the new Protools HDX system which you can read about on the Gear page.
Today, Rome Recording still maintains the foundational roots that made them a pillar of the music community in Columbus. We hold fast to the ideals of truly professional recordings springing forth from a humble spirit of service to others in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere with attention to detail. While Rome has worked with many national artists, we have always been here for the average guy who wants a professional recording and to help guide those who have never recorded before. As our jingle says, “No matter who you are at Rome Recording we treat you like a star.” In the beginning Jack Casey hated to see people get hurt with the bad practices of many in music business. While the music business has dramatically changed there are still many pitfalls and scams in the music business and we hope that our efforts to keep our clients informed helps prevent these things from happening. So just as is was in the beginning so it is today that Rome Recording having weathered many changes is still the same company that stands for honesty and integrity in providing the highest quality recording possible. We still are the state-of-the-art studio with a family touch.
The 40th Anniversary of Rome held many changes as Rome saw the end of one Era and the beginning of another. By early 2007 David knew it was time to go back to his roots in musicianship and engineering. Once he started serving his clients with his 20+ years of engineering experience the positive response from clients was overwhelming. Going back to the owner engineering days that Jack Casey used for the foundation of Rome was proving to be the right decision. During the transition of David Keller moving into the primary engineer position he was also closely monitoring changes in the recording industry and the recording scene of Columbus, Ohio. With rising overhead, David began to consider the options of moving and down sizing the staff. There were far too many factors to elaborate here but suffice it to say that assets and advantages of the past were turning into liabilities and distracting problems. It was time to end the 3970 S. High St. Era.
In August of 2007 the studio was moved out of the building that housed Rome Recording for over 15 years. After they moved out it was on to the rebuilding of Rome. During the transition they had some delays in getting a new building built. David had to do some mixing for a client getting ready for the Golden Globe Awards and was forced to work out of his 5000 Sq. Ft. home in Reynoldsburg. He chose a room that had some very good natural acoustics and was pleasantly surprised at how good he could hear and how good the mixes were turning out. The client was very pleased. Since the other building process was moving slow David started looking into what it would take to build an acoustically correct studio in his house and forget the commercial building. He started to realize that some of the best studios in Nashville were in homes just like his. The results were far better than anticipated. With the size of David’s home, he was able to devote enough space to comfortably record a full band yet still be roomy enough to have space to offer a break and lounge area with complete amenities. Quite a few successful projects came together in this location but we still wanted to get back to a commercial building.
New Location in Grove City
We now fast forward to 2012 when a new chapter in Rome history began. An opportunity to once again move into a commercial building again at a new location in Grove City became available. We had a chance to renovate the building to suit our needs and create a comfortable acoustically pleasant sounding environment that would aid the recording process. We we’re also able to upgrade to the new Protools HDX system which you can read about on the Gear page.
Today, Rome Recording still maintains the foundational roots that made them a pillar of the music community in Columbus. We hold fast to the ideals of truly professional recordings springing forth from a humble spirit of service to others in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere with attention to detail. While Rome has worked with many national artists, we have always been here for the average guy who wants a professional recording and to help guide those who have never recorded before. As our jingle says, “No matter who you are at Rome Recording we treat you like a star.” In the beginning Jack Casey hated to see people get hurt with the bad practices of many in music business. While the music business has dramatically changed there are still many pitfalls and scams in the music business and we hope that our efforts to keep our clients informed helps prevent these things from happening. So just as is was in the beginning so it is today that Rome Recording having weathered many changes is still the same company that stands for honesty and integrity in providing the highest quality recording possible. We still are the state-of-the-art studio with a family touch.
Remember, When it comes to recording... all Roads REALLY DO Lead to Rome.