Rock the 90s visits legendary tree sound studios in altanta
From a behind-the-scenes tour of one of Atlanta’s most historic recording studios to an episode of Talking Chit — and then straight to the stage at MadLife.
Rock the 90s at Tree Sound Studios - Atlanta
When your band spends its nights celebrating the music of the 1990s, it’s pretty special to walk into a place where some of that music was actually made.
That was the experience for Rock the 90s during a recent visit to Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, where the entire band spent the afternoon with Tree Sound owner, founder, designer and longtime friend Paul Diaz before heading to Woodstock for our show that night at MadLife Stage & Studios.
Our own bassist/guitarist Lewis “Tex” Texidor has his own studio room at Tree Sound and co-hosts the studio’s Talking Chit podcast with Paul. So this wasn’t simply a tour of a legendary studio. Tree Sound is already part of Tex’s musical world, and this time the rest of the band got to experience it firsthand.
Hugh Hession, Lewis Smith, Lance Rodriguez, Drew King and Tex were all there as Paul showed us around the facility before we sat down together for an episode of Talking Chit.
Watch Rock the 90s on Talking Chit
Before we get deeper into the history of Tree Sound, check out our full conversation with Paul and Tex.
The episode gave us a chance to talk about Rock the 90s, the band’s history, the music we grew up with and the experiences that come with taking this show around the country.
Because Paul is a friend — and Tex is part of both Tree Sound and Rock the 90s — it never really felt like a formal interview.
It felt more like musicians hanging out, telling stories and talking shop.
Which is exactly what Talking Chit should be.
Inside Tree Sound Studios
Paul founded Tree Sound Studios in 1988 and played a central role in designing and developing the facility itself, working with other talented designers and acoustical experts along the way, including renowned studio designer George Augspurger.
Tree Sound also became a creative home for a number of Atlanta producers and engineers over the years. One of them was Rick Beato, who worked out of Tree Sound early in his production career before later building his own Black Dog Sound Studios. A 2004 Mix feature described Beato as one of the independent producers working from private production rooms inside Tree Sound.
Over the decades, Tree Sound has grown into one of Atlanta’s most recognized recording facilities, hosting artists across multiple generations and genres.
For Rock the 90s, though, some of the studio’s history hits especially close to home.
Several artists whose music helped define the era we celebrate have recorded within those walls.
Check out this Tree Sound tour by Paul Diaz himself!
Collective Soul
Atlanta’s own Collective Soul has a long-standing relationship with Tree Sound that stretches across multiple projects and years.
Their 1999 album Dosage was recorded there, and the band later returned to Tree Sound for work on albums including Youth, Afterwords and Blood.
That connection is especially cool for us. Collective Soul is one of the bands most closely associated with the Atlanta rock scene of the 1990s, and their music remains a major part of that era.
Matchbox Twenty
Tree Sound also played a role in the making of Matchbox Twenty’s second album, Mad Season.
Released in 2000, the album included “Bent,” “If You’re Gone,” “Mad Season” and other songs that became staples of rock radio.
Standing inside a studio connected to those sessions gives the music a different perspective.
You’re no longer just hearing a song or learning how to recreate it live. You’re standing in one of the places where musicians, producers and engineers actually worked to build those records.
OutKast
You also can’t talk about Atlanta music history without talking about OutKast.
Tree Sound was involved in multiple landmark OutKast projects, including Aquemini, Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
One particularly cool connection is “Hey Ya!”
During the making of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, André 3000 did additional recording at Tree Sound for both “Hey Ya!” and “She Lives in My Lap.”
That’s a pretty remarkable piece of Atlanta music history sitting inside those walls.
Edwin McCain and “I’ll Be”
Another moment during our tour really stood out.
Paul showed us Studio A, where Edwin McCain recorded “I’ll Be.”
McCain has talked publicly about the session and explained that an earlier version of the song had been recorded in Nashville. The label wanted another version with a bigger sound, and McCain returned to Tree Sound with Matchbox producer Matt Serletic to record the version that became the late-90s hit people know today.
That story lands differently when you’re actually standing in the room.
“I’ll Be” is one of those songs permanently attached to the late 1990s, and there we were walking through the studio where that version came together.
That’s what made the Tree Sound tour so interesting for us.
Around almost every corner there seemed to be another connection to a record, artist or song from an era we’ve spent more than a decade celebrating onstage.
From Tree Sound to MadLife
Eventually, though, we had another appointment to keep.
After spending the afternoon inside Tree Sound, we packed up and headed north to MadLife Stage & Studios in Woodstock.
That night, it was our turn.
There was something fitting about the sequence of the day.
In the afternoon, we were standing inside rooms where records were created.
That evening, we were standing onstage bringing the music of that era back to life.
And in a way, that’s what Rock the 90s has always been about.
The music of the 1990s wasn’t just a collection of hit songs. It was an incredible period of creativity when rock, alternative, grunge, pop, hip-hop and countless other styles collided.
Behind those records were musicians, producers, engineers, studios, consoles, microphones — and a lot of experimentation.
Places like Tree Sound were part of that process.
More than 30 years later, we get to take some of those songs out every weekend and watch another room full of people react to them all over again.
That’s a pretty cool connection.
Thanks to Paul Diaz and everyone at Tree Sound Studios for opening the doors, showing us around and making Rock the 90s feel at home.
And thanks to Paul and Tex for letting the rest of us crash Talking Chit for an afternoon.
If you haven’t watched the episode yet, check out the full Rock the 90s conversation with Paul and Tex.
Then it was off to MadLife.
Because eventually, somebody has to play the songs.
— Rock the 90s
