WCA #605 with Chris Mara – Building Welcome to 1979, Restoring Tape Machines, and Saying Yes to Everything

Chris Mara owns Welcome to 1979, one of the larger recording studios in Nashville, along with his wife Yoli. He joins Matt for episode 605 to talk about moving to Nashville at 20, building Mara Machines and a vinyl mastering department alongside the studio, and running it for 18 years with no partners and almost no borrowed money.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

Growing Up in an 800-Person Wisconsin Town With No Internet and No Roadmap
Community College Recording and Moving to Nashville at 20
"I Am Working Class": No Safety Net, No Umbilical Cord
The Unpaid Internship and the Downtown Bellman Job That Funded It
Trading Every Favor to Pull Studio Shifts
Keys and Alarm Codes to Ten Studios
Seeing the Same Gear Used a Million Different Ways
Working Across Every Format: 2-Inch, RADAR, DAT, and Early Pro Tools
The Nashville Number System and Country-Session Efficiency
Bringing in Rock Bands and Running Them Like Pro Country Dates
Justifying Your Existence When the Guitarist Has Pro Tools at Home
Coming Up With Welcome to 1979 (and the Runner-Up: "Simulated Wood Grain")
Pitching a Studio to His Pregnant Wife for $1,100 a Month
"You Can Break Even As Long As You Want"
Yoli Quitting Her Job to Run the Business Side
How Mara Machines Was Born From a Side Hustle
Multiple Income Streams and Why They Carry the Weight
Watching Your Overhead Before It Sinks You
Is That Gear Going to Make You Money, or Just Sit There?
Renting Rooms Instead of Buying Them
Saying Yes to Everything and Learning on Someone Else's Dime
18 Years, No Partners, Almost No Borrowed Money, Still Married
The Recording Summit, Tape Camps, and Vinyl Camps

Matt's RANT!: A Brain Dump

Links and Show Notes:

Welcome to 1979: https://www.welcometo1979.com/
Mara Machines: https://www.maramachines.com/
Recording Summit: https://welcometo1979.com/events/#recordingsummit
Tape Camp: https://welcometo1979.com/events/#tapecamp
Vinyl Camp: https://welcometo1979.com/events/#vinylcamp
Lij Shaw / Recording Studio Rockstars: https://recordingstudiorockstars.com/

Credits:

Guest: Chris Mara
Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau
WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell
The Voice: Chuck Smith

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