SONGWRITER: GROUP INSPIRES WINSTEAD TO STUDIO VENTURE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Dean Winstead first got the inspiration to build a recording studio in Cape Girardeau as a way to help songwriters in the area produce their work.

Winstead is president of the Heartland Songwriters Association in Cape Girardeau, a group of 20 to 25 local people who meet and try to hone their songwriting skills.

Winstead said he decided to open a recording studio as a way to help members of the group record their songs. "After I got together with the songwriters, I saw the need for somebody to be able to go into a place and get a good `demo' to try to go out and sell their records," he said. "In Nashville, (Tenn.) you need a clean demo to even get in the door."

Winstead, a bass guitar and guitar player who's written about 75 songs himself in the past 15 years, said the city has had recording studios in the past, but nothing that he felt was truly "accessible" to musicians. "They were more production studios," he said. "They weren't really the type of thing that people could go in and get a demo of their songs."

Winstead's plans for a recording studio began humbly.

"I had a little four-track (recorder) here and I asked the guy if I could have a little corner of the basement, and he came back and said, `How 'bout if we just put up some money and build a studio?'" Winstead said.

"We've got an eight-track now that allows us to record all the music and come back and put vocals in. We spent a year building it and we opened it about six months ago."

Winstead said the new studio is involved in all aspects of recording, including producing a radio program, "Gospel Connection," for KUGT, 1170 AM. He said that although the studio is relatively new, there has been quite a bit of business.

"There are busy times, and there are dead times," he said. "But one thing: we're just finishing up our first, full-blown album, a gospel album."

Winstead said he's constantly trying to better recreate the type of "sound" in the recording studio that will sell in Nashville. "We're trying to get our sound as close to the Nashville sound as possible," he said. "There's a certain sound that comes out of Nashville studios, and to recreate that, it's just a matter of getting the equipment and working with it."

Winstead said the studio, fully equipped, cost about $40,000. Despite the investment, he said he tries to keep the recording rates reasonable.

"We try to keep our rates where anyone can afford to come in and make a nice demo," he said. "Our prices are based close to what you can get in Nashville for most studios."

For someone who brings in their own musicians, he said a demonstration recording could probably be done for $50 to $120.

Winstead said the Heartland Songwriters Association was formed three years ago. He said one of its functions is to endorse local recordings that Nashville producers or talent scouts might be interested in.

Songwriters rarely have an opportunity even to have their work heard without some type of endorsement, Winstead said. "If somebody's got something good, then the (association board of directors) will recommend it.

"The Nashville recording industry gets 60,000 pieces of mail a month, and they won't even look at it unless you've got a name of `so-and-so' recommending you," he explained. "By not sending them any bad stuff, that builds up our reputation, and that helps everybody."

Winstead said there are about three association members who are "on the verge of making it" in Nashville. But, he said, one of the first things new members are told is that the road to a successful songwriting career is paved with hard work and frustration. "We try to warn everybody and say, `Look, your odds of doing that are one in a million,'" Winstead said.

"What we try to do is help aspiring songwriters develop their craft. People have a lot of things inside of themselves, but don't know how to work them into something."

Winstead said there are right and wrong ways to write a song, but association members initially had difficulty telling one another when a song needed work. "It took us almost a year before we could get honest in our criticism," he said. "We try to give constructive criticism, then bring up things that would help to correct it."

Winstead said members of the association come from all walks of life, from farmers to college professors and many professions in between. Some have been musicians and performers for years; others are starting out.

The group uses textbooks and writing exercises that help artists develop the "other side of their brain" and understand the songwriting process.

He said one lesson most members have to learn is that, to be successful, you have to be willing to have your songs altered to fit the types of music people want to hear and ultimately buy. "There are two types of songs," Winstead said. "There's the song you write for yourself, which nobody's going to touch. Then there's commercial writing; if you want a song to go anyplace, you have to go commercial."

Another common difficulty songwriters have is with lyrics that are too "wordy," he said.

"A lot of times new songwriters don't leave enough air in the song," Winstead said. "In a real good song, every word should have a meaning, should make sense, and should follow a logical pattern."

Members of the association also make regular trips to Nashville to visit studios and restaurants where Nashville songwriters "hang out." Winstead said the meetings help the local group keep abreast of music-industry changes and learn what kinds of songs sell.

"It's always changing," he said. "If you keep your head in the sand, and don't know what's going on, you can send them something and miss what's hot."

In March, the Heartland Songwriters Association will have its own full-time representative in Nashville who will work closely with the publishing industry.