Grammy winning engineer/producer Matt Ross-Spang launches his 'dream' Crosstown studio
Matt Ross-Spang has spent his life in some of the finest and most hallowed recording studios in the world.
A two-time Grammy-winning engineer and producer, Ross-Spang got his start at Memphis’ Sun Studios before moving to the nearby Phillips Recording Service, and has made records in sound palaces across the South, from FAME in Muscle Shoals to Blackbird in Nashville.
“I’ve been lucky enough to record in so many amazing studios, but the long-term dream was always to have my own place,” said Ross Spang. “Working at all those great studios, I really learned and collected a lot of knowledge about what I would do with my own place if I ever got the chance.”
The opportunity finally arrived for Ross-Spang this past year with the opening of Southern Grooves. Located on the second floor of the Crosstown Concourse, the studio has become part of the vertical village’s creative identity – which includes multiple performance spaces, the Memphis Listening Lab, and freeform radio station WYXR.
Crosstown Redevelopment Collective President Todd Richardson noted that Ross-Spang's Southern Grooves is a key element of Crosstown’s arts ecosystem. “The studio he's designed and built, it’s not just beautiful but it’s a world-class facility,” said Richardson. “The history and knowledge and experience Matt brings is essential to that.”
A native of Memphis, Ross-Spang, 36, began his career at Sun – the facility made famous by producer/visionary Sam Phillips — in 2004, where he spent a decade learning his trade and helping revive the studio’s fortunes.
He followed Phillips’ trail to the Phillips Recording Service in 2016. In between, he became one of the top engineers in the business, working with Nashville heavyweight producer Dave Cobb on acclaimed albums by Jason Isbell, helming his own projects for Margo Price, John Prine, Al Green and doing extensive work for the Elvis Presley estate.
What prompted Ross-Spang to build the Crosstown studio?
The spark for building his own the studio in Crosstown came in the spring of 2018 while Ross-Spang was working on a record by the singer-songwriter John Kilzer. “We had a magical time making that record, and John kept saying ‘You gotta go see my friends at Crosstown and see what they’re doing over there,’” recalled Ross-Spang.
Ross-Spang and Kilzer toured Crosstown Concourse and met with the project’s key figures in investor/philanthropist Staley Cates and Richardson. “I saw what was going on over at Crosstown and it floored me that something like that could exist anywhere, and that it was in Memphis,” said Ross-Spang. “The space just blew my mind. We talked a lot about their vision of Crosstown and how it was so focused on arts and creative people.”
“The vision,” said Richardson, “was that we know we’ve got wonderful institutions in Memphis that celebrate the history of music culture here, and that is so important. But we wanted to make sure all our resources and space were available to creators so that history can continue to be made.”
Sadly, Kilzer died just a few months later at the age of 62. “When Kilzer passed away, it brought me closer to the folks at Crosstown,” said Ross-Spang. “And we really began talking more seriously about the possibility me opening a studio there. Kilzer was really the guiding spirit behind this.”
After considering a couple different areas in the building, Ross-Spang keyed in on a raw undeveloped second floor space. The area would ultimately come to house the Memphis Listening Lab, as well as Memphis filmmaker Craig Brewer’s offices, and the studio of photographer Jamie Harmon.
After testing the space with his studio consultant Steven Durr, to ensure the room's sound quality, Ross-Spang settled on a 3,000 square-foot chunk that he would build and customize from the ground up. Beyond the ability to tailor his own bespoke studio, the appeal of being inside Crosstown Concourse was an undeniable attraction for Ross-Spang.
“To have a studio with all of the amenities and features of the Crosstown building is unique,” he said. “My studio basically has a million square foot lounge with a coffee shop, a bar, a YMCA, places to stay, places to play. From that perspective it was really a no brainer to do it there.”
Traditional, even throwback, aesthetic
After agreeing to terms with Crosstown in the fall of 2020, a year of construction followed. Although he considered different types of designs, Ross-Spang ultimately settled on a traditional, even throwback, aesthetic for Southern Grooves, creating a large tracking room as its centerpiece, but utilizing the full extent of the space with modern technology.
“I only had 3,000 square feet, so I wanted to make the best use of it," said Ross-Spang. "Every room acoustically has a purpose. The entire space is hard wired for sound. So, the long [entrance] hallway doubles as an echo chamber; the lounge room is great for recording acoustics and vocals. Basically, every inch of the space is made for recording.”
In October of 2021, Ross-Spang began moving his gear into the space and spent the next six months getting equipment wired and set up. He quietly opened his doors in March of 2022, doing his first official recordings at Southern Grooves with local roots rockers Lucero for their album “Should’ve Learned by Now.”
“The first thing we noticed,” said Lucero front man Ben Nichols, “is that it’s a real comfortable spot. Ross-Spang kept the sightlines in mind while constructing the booths and the floor. Everybody can see everyone. And it’s big enough, but not too big. It’s easy for a band to make a connection together in the studio. It’s a space that’s conducive to that kind of creativity.”
Since then, Ross-Spang has remained busy, mixing several archival Elvis Presley projects, including the forthcoming 50th anniversary “Aloha From Hawaii” box set. He’s cut albums for local artists like Cyrena Wages, done projects for indie stars Iron and Wine, roots band Old Crow Medicine Show and veterans like Billy Swan, among others. “All the artists just seem to love the studio,” said Ross-Spang, “which means the most.”
As Lucero’s Nichols noted, “Matt’s studio has got such a specific aesthetic vibe. He loves that mid-century feel and just the color palette alone – the olive greens and burnt oranges -- you feel like you’re in a studio that’s been there since the ‘50s, even though it was only built a couple years ago.” Added Ross-Spang, “That what I like best about it: it feels like it’s been around forever, it doesn’t feel like a new studio, it feels like it’s lived a long life already.”
A student of Memphis music history, Ross-Spang’s recording consoles come with their own rich lineage. Currently, the studio is using a 1969 Auditronics console built by legendary Memphis tech wizard Welton Jetton, who custom made boards for Stax Records and Ardent studios in the 1960s and 70s. Later this year, Ross-Spang plans on installing a different Jetton-designed board, which was the original console used at Ardent’s National Street location.
The consoles, like everything else in the studio, have both a historical and personal meaning for Ross-Spang. “I learned from Sam Phillips’ approach when he built the Phillips Recording Service,” he said. “Sam slaved over every inch of that studio. It’s the same here.”
“When you come to Southern Grooves everything is specific -- the headphones systems are custom, so are the gobos [isolation panels]. So much of what’s in the space came straight from my brain, and there’s so much of me in every inch of this place. Because I’ve put so much of myself in the studio want to keep it going for as long as I can.”
Bob Mehr is the music reporter for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at bob.mehr@commercialappeal.com
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis producer Matt Ross-Spang fulfills dream with Southern Grooves studio
