Marna Bales, owner of Red Amp Audio (Photo by Kate Andrews)
With more people plugging in to podcasts, interest also is growing in producing them. Marna Bales, owner of Red Amp Audio, a full-service recording, editing and mixing studio on West Grace Street downtown, started getting calls last year for advice about recording podcasts.
After enough calls, she and her colleagues decided to create a studio just for podcasters, equipped with Shure mics, headphones and soundproof walls. Their work was rewarded when John Cleese of “Monty Python” fame recorded an episode of his podcast there when he was in town.
Red Amp’s rates vary, depending on how much work its team does — including editing and incorporating music and sound effects — and the size of the venture.
Jay Smack, a Richmond DJ who started the local radio music show “StudioB” 23 years ago and now records a weekly podcast under the same name, is working with Bales to connect the local podcast community.
“Eventually we want to have a network,” Smack says. He envisions a website for locally produced podcasts, whether they’re recorded at Red Amp or not, that will be easy for listeners to browse.
Aside from “StudioB,” forthcoming Red Amp-based podcasts include an advice show for newcomers to the advertising field, legal counsel for small business owners and Smack’s new wellness endeavor, “The Well and Good Podcast.”