St. Louis library opens recording studio

by: Patrick Clark

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – When Charles Thomas tells his friends he’s in the studio working on his latest release, they don’t expect to hear its being recorded at the library.

‘I tell them, ‘You want to come down you just got to bring your library card,’ says Charles Thomas.

Since January he’s put in 20 two hour sessions in the new creative experience lab.

‘So in Creative Experience we have Mac computers and they’re all set up in collaborative work areas we call them pods,’ says Andrea Johnson, the Creative Experience Specialist.  ‘They have the iLife suite on them which is Garageband, iMovie and iPhoto and we also have Adobe Creative Suite Six which includes Photoshop and Dreamweaver.’

Throw in some microphones and webcams and a little elbow grease, and there’s no stopping this rapper who goes by the name Chuck Stick’Em.

‘Go step by step everyday and it becomes easier and if you explore a little bit you’ll find things that sound good to you,’ says Thomas.

After a write up in the riverfront times, getting a reservation in the room hasn’t been easy.

But to get to the top of the pop charts you might have to start in the basement of the central library.

‘We hope that that happens,’ adds Johnson.  ‘We have the resources for people to get started and where they take it is completely up to them.’

They just have to book their two hour session in this room a week and a half in advance, and make sure you don’t have any overdue fees.

‘It’s a way to make your day shine,’ says Thomas.  ‘You know if you wake up and have a whole lot of problems, you just come here and feel better about yourself.’


If one day this Gateway City resident wins a Grammy…he can thank his local librarian.

from: Fox2Now