In today’s recording industry, where technology is readily affordable to the consumer, many would-be artists and producers dismiss the vital elements of talent, experience and professionalism as unnecessary and out-dated. Yet, any artist or producer that is consistently successful knows that, in order to make a hit recording, you need professional musicians and engineers to inject their experience and talent in order to create something that can grab the public by the ear and sell units.
Yet, Larry knows as well as anyone else that the hit-making charm of one song, past or present, can hardly be attached to another in an attempt to make it a hit, "You can't put the same shoes on a different song, it just never works. Each song has got a soul and you have to hear in the music, or from the artist or producer, what it is that the song is trying to say. Then attempt to interpret what it is the song is about." Larry's room full of gold and platinum records is a gleaming testament to the wisdom of this statement. However, this knowledge and respect of the artistic process wasn't developed overnight. For Larry Sturm's considerable skills have been seasoned and sharpened over time, starting with a musical background that was encouraged and given structure by some of the best musical talents in the world at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. After Berklee, Larry hit the road as a drummer in various bands in search of his own piece of musical history. Yet, he soon realized that his innate talents, as well as his pieces of musical history, weren’t out on some sleepy highway to gigdom but behind the thick glass of a recording studio. Before long, Larry had moved into the upper regions of the National and International music scene, engineering and participating in the production and A & R of a succession of hits for a wide range of major labels. It was during this time that Sturm, as a member of a production / remix team that included songwriter and producer Steve " Silk" Hurley, worked to build the legend and influence that was The Chicago House Sound. However, when Sturm & Hurley formed ID Records their commercial influence soared to a peak with such hits as Kym Sims’ Too Blind to See It and Ce Ce Peniston's Keep on Walkin’ & We Got a Love Thang which then lead to the formation of SOS Records and the hits that followed including Gillette's mega-hit Short Short Man, Lick It by Roula and Fat Boy by Max-A-Million. Larry Sturm once said within soundproof walls, "You're always striving to make something that someone likes or will appreciate but you don't always know what's going to be popular. If I knew that," he said jokingly,"I'd be Clive Davis!" And although Mr. Sturm might not be Mr. Davis, he is still quite aware of the ingredients needed to create a hit record. It's this awareness that then found him working next on several releases with the reigning King of R & B, R. Kelly. As a freelance Engineer / Producer / Remixer, Larry has worked with such artists as Twista, Destiny's Child & Mary J. Blige, from such glamorous extremes as DMX to Buddy Guy and Disturbed. Now, as Chief Engineer at Chicago’s Pressure Point Studios and on the Board Of Governors of The Recording Academy (NARAS). The talent, expertise and experience that has earned Larry the success and respect of his peers continues to be in demand today as well as tomorrow and deep into the chart-topping future. - Jeffery C. Johnson |
It's
just that fact that keeps Engineer / Producer / Remixer Larry
Sturm in demand. At any given moment in the day, Larry is hard
at work on his Protools HD rig or the SSL 9000 K at Chicago’s
Pressure Point Studios applying that proven hit-making ability
that is found on his most recent of chart successes like Twista’s
multi-chart #1 album, Michelle Williams’ Gospel chart
topping album or on Beyonce’s Grammy winning “Crazy
in Love” Featuring Jay Z.
