Last week I caught up with Ant Whitehouse, a supremely talented sound smith and long time friend of The Cud. Ant has just given away a stable career in Occupational Therapy to start his own recording studio. Like many twenty-something’s, he has been questioning the merits of the traditional School, University, Career, Mortgage, Family progression. But unlike most, he has decided to stray from the traditional path, to pursue his passion for sound. In the following interview, Ant was kind enough to share with me his thoughts on his career change, the music industry, and life.

OP: You went to Uni, you worked for a while and now you're taking the plunge. What are your thoughts?

AW: In the last year or so, Sydney has never quite felt right. You've done your uni and you've had a crack at after uni, whatever that is, like in that line of work. I was looking at all these people who amaze me and re-invent themselves all the time. I just started meeting more and more people like that in my life. I thought bugger it, it's time for me to have a crack at that. There was a friend with a recording studio, and I was obsessed with sound and going over there and watching what he did. In it's rawest terms I kind of thought, "what do I love doing?" I thought bugger this, I could be quite good at this.

OP: Is there any type of music that you can't stand?

AW: I've always been averse to people... I'm a massive critic of music critics, I reckon, and it's funny, these are apparently the people who love music, and all they do is go to gigs and somehow turn it into something where they forget what it's all about. I'm particularly averse to people bashing lyrics with music. If you don't like it, then that's cool, but just go and shut up and keep it to yourself. Sorry, what was the question?

OP: Is there anything you don't like?

AW: No. But I look at some stuff like I don't get anything out of it. Like RnB. That hip-hop thing just doesn't float my boat. The hardest thing is accessing music which you like these days. You gotta know people or know some sort of amazing website chat-room, but coolest thing that's been about the studio is I'm recording stuff which I wouldn't normally like. But I'm totally into it when I'm in here, which is really cool, because I'm liking more and more music...

OP: Is that because you're seeing it in the different parts? And you're seeing a different problem, perhaps?

AW: You start seeing it from the perspective of the muso who's in here. You unlearn all these things which you think you like. And you start getting more and more out of music that you thought you didn't like.

OP: I'm guessing that you haven't recorded somebody famous or overly pretentious with a huge ego yet. Have you recorded some arseholes? Has there been any conflict?

AW: I only realised this recently. My job before this was managing a disability service. And I realised after a number of years that I'd gained some serious people skills without even really knowing it, not even knowing how to put it on paper or anything. I had to manage 50 staff, and many marginalised staff, because many people in that industry are people that couldn't get work in places that are more typical. As well as a lot of families, clients and government agencies. So I've learnt how to be diplomatic and get the most out of a situation without being too much of a bureaucrat or a wanker. But I've been very lucky that the first lots of people that I've had in here have been really, really, really great people. Like they haven't been too uptight. I'm waiting for the first arsehole to come in here, or the first person I call an arsehole 'cause they don't listen to me. I'd like to think that it's a bit of a testament to the fact that maybe I've chosen something that is right for me. It's not just that there's a bunch of nice people. It is clicking, what I'm doing. I guess anyone who's started some kind of small business like this, the highs and lows can be day to day. But that side of it I feel really good about.

OP: On the other side of the coin. Has there been anybody who's come in that simply doesn't have it? I've seen terrible people?

AW: I've been lucky in that most people I've had have been people with some talent. Again, I think it comes from my previous work with people with disabilities - that sounds really bad - you learn how to look at stuff and get the best out of it. There's times where I think, "God, that's grating". But that's half the challenge. Getting the most out of people. I'm sure I'll get someone who comes in who might have a bit of money to record a CD, and it's just gonna be painful as hell.

OP: So you'd have to take the money and record the album?

AW: Yeah. But it wouldn't just be that. It would be a challenge, and you don't know until you get someone in here. I actually feel like I can get more than what people can get out of themselves. I think I can help that process. But I haven't had any supreme fuck-ups as yet.

OP: What's the difference between a live performance and a recording?

AW: I read in one of these sound engineering books that I got on Amazon, like I've spend hundreds of buck on all these books over the last year or so, but someone said that a really good performance, which isn't a great recording, is always better than not a great performance with a really great recording of it. I think that's something to remember when you've got someone in here, it's about trying to get them in the studio to relax as much as possible, 'cause that's when you get the magic. And that's what music is about, not worrying that there's a microphone in front of them, or if you've hit the note or not.

OP: What was really important, you own a recording studio, you're a producer, has that helped out your love life at all?

AW: Well! I've got this big red couch, which you're sitting on at the moment. Where we just had a drink, The Rose, I did have a date. I don't think I've been on a date before. I've had lots of girlfriends and things, but this was the first date, and after a couple of beers I did actually say, would you like to see my studio? And that's as far as it went. We listened to some music and then went somewhere else. But, other than that I haven't had any rock 'n roll moments in the studio. But I'll be pissed off when this lease is up, whenever that is, if I can't say I got one magic story out of it.

OP: There's a lot of competition out there. What's the difference between you and them?

AW: I'm lucky. I have the next step up. What I wanted to avoid was, everyone's got a home studio set-up now. Technology has just advanced so much that it's become really, really affordable. And it has allowed me to start off a business, but everyone's trying to do it. You can set yourself up for not much money, it's not like the old days where you needed one-hundred grand to be able to have a studio running. You don't need that. You can do it on ten really well. I've spent maybe about thirty, thirty-five on my set-up, and it's a very good set-up. Which makes it really competitive. The difference with mine is it's not just a home studio set-up, I do have a dedicated space, and good rooms to record in, lots of good equipment and I think I'm good at what I do. The scariest part about the timing of when I've done this, or when I was born, is that the technology is such that everyone's doing it. So I've got my work cut out for me. Absolutely.

OP: Do you think a lot of your competitors are pretenders?

AW: I've been told by everyone, and not being arrogant. And it's probably the one thing that helped me take the step, is that I've literally got good ears. I can hear musically and sonically where things are at. The other thing in terms of making this place succeed is I've figured out what kind of studio that I wanna run. Not a big studio, I want to still have a pretty intimate setting, like it's irrelevant if it sells a thousand, or a hundred thousand copies, or none, but the person walks away from their experience of recording and thinks that's just great, and I've had something to do with it. I wanna keep it quite intimate in terms of the process.

OP: Do you think that's a rare goal of most business people, to have their customer walking away thinking "shit I feel good"?

AW: Yeah. I could have gone down a road with my Occupational Therapy of finding a very lucrative way to live my life. But this is the crux of wanting to keep a very intimate situation with my studio and make really good quality albums, I don't want to make demos here, but make everything as good as it can be for someone. Obviously I want to make a living out of this, and this is the hard part about running a business, because you can' not care about it, because it'll go under and you won't be able to do it the next day. But all I want to do is wake up the next day and be able to do it again. I'll be stoked.

OP: Do you watch Idol?

AW: Yeah, I'm a sucker for it. That's how fucking good this music machine out there is. Those guys, I don't care if they like crap pop, or they have that many trills on the end of every chorus, they're still people who really, really love singing. So good on 'em for having a crack. The whole Idol thing is outrageous! Would I make crap pop? Well, as I was saying, some music has come in here that I normally wouldn't have been into, but I still get a kick out of anything that's new at the moment. So if a girl came in here and wanted to do a bunch of pop singles and stuff like that I reckon it would be a really, really fun process. And it's fun, because your care factor for something like that might not be as precious, you can almost let go a little bit more, and it makes it even more fun in a way. It's a flip side to some of the more passionate stuff. I'll have a crack at anything, basically.

OP: How many hours a day do you log in here?

AW: I've only just quit my other job, but it varies. I might go hard for a couple of days. Twelve to fourteen-hour days of mixing away and recording stuff. Or I might come in and do some quieter stuff, or some of my own stuff. I also have a real aversion to the whole nine-to-five construct of most jobs. I'm sure it works for most people so they can have families, but it makes me physically ill, the idea of nine-to-five. That's a really nice cool thing about having your own business is that the hours are pretty obtuse. You can pick and choose when you want to work. I really like that side of it.

OP: Do you feel that when you're up and running that you'll be logging more hours down here than in a regular job?

AW: Well, it could end up that way. Studios are like wormholes for time. Time just disappears in them.

OP: Like casinos? Do you have a clock?

AW: I must say that when you turn on all my equipment, the bright lights are pretty similar to the pokies. You would be doing more, or just as much as some guy in a very intensive financial job in the city. It's like anything when you're enjoying it.

OP: Does it feel like work?

AW: Nah...

OP: Ever?

AW: Well, sometimes. But nothing like I imagine most other jobs out there. I was having a good chat with my folks, well, I've had a fair few in the last few months, going through this whole process of really letting go of my other career, and they keep highlighting that I'm the kind of person can't fake liking something if I have no motivation. The things I didn't like at Uni I just never went, and things I'm into I will give one hundred and ten percent. I just can't fake it and that's what's really important about planning something like that. It's definitely hard work, but it's good hard work. Maybe I won't do this forever. I was thinking the other day, like, a friend of mine, who I used to go to school with, she's an amazing tour guide, does all these amazing tours all around the world. That's what I was saying before about people that re-invent themselves. I don't want to be in the one job for the rest of my life. I definitely want to try different things. I've just gotta find a girl that can put up with that shit.

OP: Having your own recording studio, I think you might have a good chance.

AW: It sounds good, doesn't it!

OP: Perhaps a girl who wants to record her own pop album?

AW: You see right through me. This is just a means to an end. As I say, if I don't get one piece of naughty in this studio...

We at The Cud thank Ant for spending some time with us and wish him and the Anthouse the best of luck.

The Anthouse is in Chippendale, Sydney's inner west. And if you've ever thought of recording something, even a shitty pop album, you can contact Ant at antwhitehouse@hotmail.com