by J.Arif Verner

Coming to RUG by way of Baltimore, Maryland is Clean Cuts Studios. And no, we're not talking about the local hair styling salon; we're talking about one of the top music production houses in the Mid-Atlantic region. Clean Cuts started out as a record label 10 years ago under the direction of Jack Heyrman (they're still making records with twenty albums to their credit). Since then, Clean Cuts has branched out into other areas, most notably television and radio projects, film scoring, advertising and independent music production. To handle this range of work, Clean Cuts' facility includes (in addition to their Roland gear, of course) two buildings with three recording studios. Clients have a choice of a full-featured 32-track room or two 24-track digital rooms. Of the dozen or so employees, four are engineers, three are composers and one is a sound designer.

"We do a lot of work for the Learning Channel" states composer, producer and guitarist, Wall Matthews. "For example, we produce the station IDs, opening and closing segments and any custom scores needed for show promotions. And occasionally, we'll even score a full show for them."

The composers at Clean Cuts have also worked on projects for the Lifetime Cable Network, The Discovery Channel, PBS, MultiMedia's Donahue and NBC. Confirming the quality of Clean Cuts' work, the studio has racked up top honors from the Houston International Film Festival, the New York Festival, Show South and the International Film Festival.

Helping Clean Cuts handle the heavy work load is the Roland VG-8. "The VG-8 has been an incredible tool for us" states Matthews. "I'm a guitarist who composes and records with the guitar. The VG-8 allows me to layer all kinds of guitar parts into a film score. I even use the acoustic guitar sounds if the tracks need to be thickened. You can also get a lot of in-your-face crunch without having to max the volume level. Everyone's really amazed. In fact, all the other composers here have been asking me to use the VG-8 on their sessions. I've been using it not only for guitar parts but also for the sound textures. Often, the listener doesn't know what those sounds are or where they are coming from. And it's not like a keyboard with a pitch wheel - you play the VG-8 like a real guitar."

Matthews goes on to say, "One of the other composers here feels that the VG-8 is definitely a composers tool. He's right about that. You can get the whole idea for a score based on the sounds in the VG-8. It's a real guitar player's tool. Roland has done so much with the virtual modeling on this instrument - I love it."

Also in Clean Cuts' arsenal of sounds are the Roland S-760 and the S-700 samplers, the R-8 and the U-20. "What we're going to do" states Matthews, "is use a digital audio sequencer with the VG-8. That way we can layer the VG-8 sounds directly into the program along with the sequenced synth tracks, making things even easier."

The next time you tune into The Learning Channel, check out Wall Matthews' guitar work. Chances are it will be coming from the Roland VG-8.

You can reach Clean Cuts Studios at 2901 Chestnut Ave, Baltimore, MD 21211.