Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Jones
Hi Jason, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
So, where do I begin?
Really, it begins with who I am. I’m Jason Jones. As early as I can remember, music has always run through my veins, and I honestly don’t know why. Growing up, neither my family nor my friends were particularly interested in music. I guess I was born that way. I remember walking to and from elementary school. I would rhythmically count the lines on the sidewalk as I walked. I remember creating little rhythms from those lines, including upbeats, eighth notes, and little syncopations here and there. This was when I was around six years old. I had no idea what I was doing.
A little later, I remember being at my aunt’s house and seeing that they had a piano, something my family didn’t have and really didn’t need, as nobody but me was musical. So, while looking at that piano, I sat down and from memory, I played ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ because I knew I could play that on the black keys. I remember my mom and dad recounting that experience and looking at each other in bewilderment, wondering if the other one had taught me that. Honestly, I don’t remember where I learned it, but I’m grateful that my parents picked up on it, and we ended up getting a family piano. I got piano lessons when I was eight.
The piano was nice, but what I really wanted was drums. Rhythm was in my soul and playing a drum set seemed like my goal in life. The deal from my parents was that if I took piano lessons for five years, then I could get a drum set. Anyone who has heard a teenager play an acoustic drum set knows the reason behind the wait. I get the feeling that in addition to making sure this wasn’t a fleeting desire of mine, they probably subconsciously knew they needed a little prep time for themselves – and probably the neighbors, too.
I remember my mom telling me that when I was a baby and she needed some space from me, being the mother of five very energetic kids, she knew that I would be entertained if she put some pots and pans in a room, turned them upside down, and let me bang on them for awhile. So, fast forward five years after my piano lessons, and I will forever be grateful that my parents kept their end of the bargain, knowing they would probably have to wave goodbye to peace in the household and probably a bit of their sanity, too. God bless them both.
I vividly remember getting my first drum set. It was a Tama five-piece Swingstar drum set. I don’t remember much about choosing it, but what I do remember is driving over to the home where it was being sold from, going down into the basement, and seeing it there. I was starstruck. I couldn’t believe that I was looking at a drum set that could be mine. It had some Paiste cymbals, which I will forever regret selling. It had a ride cymbal, a crash cymbal, and some hi-hats. Even before we purchased it, I remember sitting down on that drum kit and playing a simple rock beat, and anyone could have easily convinced me I had died and gone to heaven. Four hundred and seventy-five dollars later, we were packing the set and taking it to its new home.
My parents were surprised that despite not having any lessons, I already knew how to play them. Unknown to them, I had spent the past months (most likely years) learning by watching bands play on TV. I would record any music that had drums to a VHS tape and would sit on my bedside with it playing on repeat while I beat out the patterns on an imaginary drum kit while watching. I did this for hours on end. I ended up playing drums for the rest of my life – and still play regularly.
Sometime later – probably during my college years – I wondered what I needed to do to record my drums because, of course, all of my favorite rock songs had drums in them and I wanted to record my own. So, I just put a desktop microphone plugged into my computer under the drum set and tried recording it that way. I quickly found out how difficult it truly is to record drums, but I was on a path. Through the years and a lot of work and the help from a guy named Greg L. on the homerecording.com forum, as well as a college professor named Mike Wizland, I was able to figure out how to get a decent drum recording. This was probably around 2007.
At about that time, I was working on a musical project called Herod the Fink with my friend Jesse Crowley. We decided to get together and using my very limited experience, a few months later, we had our first album and we couldn’t have been more proud.
About two years later, and after working on various recordings of my own, a local neighborhood band knew that I had been recording music and asked if I would be willing to record a song for them. The band was called Brookside, and I, of course, said yes.
They came over, and I frantically tried my best to record their drums, guitar, bass, and vocals in a small bedroom recording setup with my limited knowledge. When it all came together, the band was thrilled that they had a recording, and I was thrilled as well that I had made a quick hundred dollars and had an amazing time doing it. What’s more, the band actually loved the sound and continued using me as their engineer to record a lot of songs after that. It was then that I decided to get serious about the possibilities of this becoming a source of income. So, I continued to work hard, learning as much as I could day in and day out all the while holding down a day job and working evenings in music. This was from 2009 to 2012.
Music is in my soul, and as most adolescents grow out of music into adulthood, I experienced the exact opposite. Music continues to explode out of me, continues to run through my veins, and that is how Art City Sound was born.
Anyway, after working in my single bedroom studio setup for about five years, I felt that I needed to either get serious about my daytime job, which was programming computers, or get serious about music because, at the time, I had a wonderful wife, four young kids and one on the way, and I just couldn’t sustain being away from my family for days at a time. From 9 to 5 every work day I was away, and then I was also away in the evenings sometimes as late as 1am working with bands in the studio. There just wasn’t enough time. So, my wonderful wife and I decided that we needed to get a dedicated space for the studio and put our energies and our focus there.
In June of 2012, we closed on a lot in Springville and had plans for a house which had specifications in the basement for a studio and with the help of a few of my close friends, and some family members, I was able to build a studio around 900 square feet below my home – and that is now where Art City Sound resides.
I’ve been engineering audio now for 16 years professionally and plan to do so for as long as I can. I’ve worked on hundreds of albums and probably close to thousands of songs, and I’m grateful I continue to find joy in doing so.
One thing I think I should mention is the musical sandbox that I work on in my off hours called “Magic Jones”. It’s a YouTube channel I started in 2017 that has become just a series of songs and albums I produced as my way of musical expression. There are hundreds of songs there; some of them are pretty terrible, but some of them aren’t so bad.
Through the years of working in music, I’ve taken time to learn how to play additional instruments. Of course, I love playing drums, but I learned how to play bass, and guitar, as well as dipping my toes in the realms of singing. I love orchestration and arranging songs and have collaborated on some amazing projects.
I’m currently working with Mark Tiarra on a project called “Unite the Divide” and as of this writing have produced 19 songs as a result. I met Mark on reddit after he listened to ‘Against All Odds’ – a song I produced through ‘Magic Jones’ and posted there. After hearing it, he reached out to see if I would be willing to put lyrics to a guitar-based rock progression he would give me. I agreed, and two weeks later, the song “I See You” was born. We enjoyed working with each other so much, we decided to continue and today, 4 years later, ‘Unite the Divide’ is still rocking.
These days I work with all sorts of people making all sorts of music. From Tibetan singing bowls, to hardcore metal – from inspired religious choirs to indie-folk – if it’s music, I want to record it and bring it to its full potential.
If I had to put a stamp on the thing I like best about this journey, it would have to be the smiles of amazement on people’s faces when they listen to their finished masterpieces and realize how good their music can sound. I have no plans on stopping.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all. If I didn’t absolutely love creating music, I would have stopped 2 years into my journey. I guess I did things the hard way – meaning, I quit my stable full-time job programming computers to pursue music full-time. I believe that since I wasn’t “just a musician”, but also an audio engineer, orchestrator, songwriter, and producer, I had a good shot at making it work. It took eight years of barely making it by with a family of seven before I realized I needed another source of revenue. I’ve been programming on and off all while doing studio work. Every day is a step closer to reazling the dream, but every day I have to consciously choose it because this is tough! Like I said – if I didn’t absolutely love what I do, I would definitely be pursuing a career in computer programming. It’s much more lucrative.
We’ve been impressed with Art City Sound, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
As I previously mentioned, I love music and wouldn’t be doing what I do otherwise.
Art City Sound, as of this writing, has a 5-star rating on Google from 77 local reviews. It warms my heart when I happen to read a few of them. It’s good to know people appreciate what’s done here…
…and I guess ‘what’s done here’ is – taking a musical dream from someone who has limited, if any studio recording experience and creating something beautiful together. It’s my goal to blow their mind.
Two main objectives exist whenever an artist enters my door.
1. The product must exceed their expectations.
2. The studio experience must be the best it can possibly be.
I take both of those objectives seriously and I believe that’s what keeps people coming back. I haven’t spent any money in advertising for Art City Sound and through the usual ebbs and flows of business, I keep pretty busy.
I guess if I had to pick one thing we specialize in – apart from making musical dreams come true – would be that Art City Sound is known for getting great acoustic drum sounds. Drums are the hardest thing to record musically, and we’ve nailed it here. It also helps that I can play drums along with most songs that are recorded here, so the studio comes with a built-in drummer, too!
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I’m open for business and would love to help with whatever musical interests you’ve got going on Just visit my website at https://artcitysound.com or give me a call at 801-735-2820.
Pricing:
- $75.00 per hour for all services
Contact Info:
- Website: https://artcitysound.com
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@MagicJonesMusic
