SEMO SHOW BAND GOES INTO RECORDING STUDIO

John Mills, owner of Riverside Recording Studios, set up a microphone for the university's Show Band which includes Cliff Morice, left, and Matt Rhodes.

Recording engineer Tim Cagle adjusted sound levels for the Show Band.

Southeast Missouri State University's Show Band, whose spirited musicians usually fill the Show Me Center with harmony and rhythm during basketball games, have gathered to play a different venue -- Riverside Recording Studios.

While trumpets, saxes and "bones" intone warm-up passages of Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al," Tim Cagle is rushing into the control booth to adjust one of what must be a million knobs and switches and sliders on the Soundcraft DC 2000 mixing console. Then it's back out to move a microphone. And back in and back out.

Meanwhile, inside the control booth, a few Show Band members are mellowing out on a couch, looking much more relaxed than Cagle, the sound engineer. The cadence of drums, which are enclosed in a sound-proof booth that is actually beneath the alley behind the studio at 45 N. Main, penetrates the room through the monitor speakers.

When asked what the recording will be used for, the musicians say they really don't know -- maybe it's for alumni -- perhaps to promote the university.

But there's one thing they're sure of -- it's exciting to play in a real recording studio. One just like those they've seen in movies and on TV.

This day was different for Riverside. Of the 35 or so projects the company undertakes in a year, a great majority is for Southern gospel and contemporary Christian artists.

Riverside's biggest project last year, said John Mills, a partner in the business, was Kristin Swinford's "Resurrected Heart" album. It took over a year to cut the 30 or 40 tracks needed to produce the album.

Swinford of Jackson and a sophomore at Missouri Baptist College, hopes to catch the attention of producers in Nashville, Tenn.

She is following the same track many of Riverside's customers take. Professional audio studios are primarily used by serious artists and are a must for anyone who has professional aspirations. Mills said there are 14 million songwriters, while only 1,400 were paid for it last year -- so a quality recording is essential in such a competitive market.

"Mostly, it's people who either have a way of selling the product, or they have aspirations of distributing it and getting people to listen to it," Mills said.

Local Southern gospel and contemporary Christian groups sell albums that were recorded at Riverside at performances. CDs and tapes are also sold at local Christian bookstores and are distributed to area religious radio stations.

While Swinford is hoping to make it big in Nashville, technological advances allowed her to record here and save a 200-mile trip to Nashville.

Although a large undertaking like the "Resurrected Heart" album could cost $75,000 to $100,000 in a top studio in Nashville, "we have been able, due to technological advances, to start cutting into that quality of sound. We can produce Nashville-quality sound at a very, very reasonable price," Mills said.

That price is $45 an hour for recording and mastering. Riverside does everything from the recording to the packaging of the CDs and tapes. The only thing Riverside doesn't do is duplicate CDs, which is done in just a handful of factories in the country.

So, costs can range from a couple hundred dollars for a one-song demo to the Swinford effort.

Riverside also does commercial recording. Mills said that "many people in their production of things will overlook sound versus video. But audio plays a tremendous part."

Mills doesn't always play the role of businessman. Sometimes he's a therapist.

With inexperienced artists, "you soothe them and you try to make them feel at home and welcome," he said. "I guess that's probably the most challenging thing that an inexperienced person has in coming in here is realizing exactly what they sound like."