Music
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Hip-hop, punk rock, R&B, pop— if it’s good, The OC Recording Co.’s founder and head engineer Asaf Fulks will lay it down.
What is The OC Recording Co.?
OC Recording is a studio in Orange County providing professional recording at affordable rates to aspiring bands and established musicians. My partner Jeff Burk and I also do voiceovers for radio or TV commercials, production, and web design. We’ve been open a little under two years. It’s a commercial office building in Santa Ana. I went to college in Ohio at Dennison University. My major was computer science, but I did recording more than I did computer science. I came out here because my mom worked at a book publisher, Seven Locks Press. When I came out, I started to work there, too. [The owner] had two office buildings and one side he used for storage, so I turned it into a recording studio.
Did your computer-science background help when you got into recording?
Yeah, definitely. I think the computer-science stuff is more difficult. The rigor of doing computer science helps with staying organized when doing recording sessions and mixing. Recording changes all the time. Everything used to be analog, and now most studios are all digital. With digital, there’s always new programs coming out and new equipment. So, you’ve got to stay on top of things.
Are there any styles of music you specialize in recording?
I’m just passionate about music. I think good music is good music. It doesn’t have to be one style or another. My background is mostly in hip-hop and R&B. That’s what I tend to get the most of. We do everything from punk rock, to doo-wop, classical music, voiceovers, pop music, anything you can think of. Music’s a universal language.
People don’t necessarily associate hip-hop and R&B with Orange County.
It’s funny because it’s so close to Los Angeles, and California is a pretty diverse place. I think hip-hop and R&B . . . when people see a studio that specializes in that and does it really well, they’ll come from LA, Long Beach. There are people doing hip-hop anywhere, really.
Have any local favorites?
Prominent Sons in Long Beach; we did the whole album together. They’re underground hip-hop. Also, Non-Pareilux from Huntington Beach, Sevenfalls, a local punk band, and we’ve done a lot of work with Chiladon Entertainment in Newport Beach. Currently, we’re taking The OC Recording Co. to the next level where we’ll start producing artists, trying to get them record deals. We found a local artist called Mona Lisa. She’s from Latvia. She came in to record one day and had a really good voice. We’re going to work with her pretty seriously and try to make her the next big thing.
What else is in the future?
Production deals, and maybe opening a few more locations in Orange County, trying to be the main thing in Orange County as far as recording. I think that the rates we offer people are lower than other professional recording studios in the area. The quality we give people is just as good, if not better than those other studios. We have all the fancy gear, but the stuff that makes the most difference is the engineer that you work with. Obviously, I know what I’m doing [laughs].
THE OC RECORDING COMPANY IS LOCATED AT 3100 W. WARNER AVE., SUITE 8, SANTA ANA. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT OCRECORDING.COM, HIPHOPBEATZ.COM AND SEVENLOCKSPUBLISHING.COM, OR CALL ASAF AT (323) 244-9794 . - The OC Weekly
Discography
Album - Asaf Productions Vol. 1
Singles:
Mona Lisa - Closer
Mona Lisa - Black Coffee
Beneficial - Push Me
Beneficial - So Cold
Photos
Bio
Asaf Fulks & Jeff Burk are the founders of The OC Recording Company, Asaf Productions, and Hiphopbeatz.com in Orange County, California. Their music production and sound engineering credits include: G-Malone, AZ, Royce Tha 5’ 9”, MTV‘s J-Lo Show, KABC’s Chef Jaime Gwen Show, independent film scores, & Adam Sandler’s Chuck and Larry.
Mona Lisa Godfrey was born in Latvia in 1986. She was raised in Stockholm, Sweden and later moved to the USA. She lives in Orange County, California.
Mona Lisa developed a passion for music and the performing arts as a young teen. She often played her original songs and improvised on an old piano during musical rehearsals. She continues to perform and is working on her debut album with producers Asaf Fulks and Jeff Burk of The OC Recording Company.
Mona Lisa’s versatile style ranges from the energetic Club/Pop duo with Beneficial Closer, to the soulful ballad Black Coffee featuring Uriel Vega on Saxophone.
Beneficial, Benjamin Smith, was born in Gardena, California, on March 23, 1986. His music ranges from the up-tempo pop hit Push Me to the smooth and soulful R&B song Day Dreamin. He is influenced by Luther Vandross, The Isley Brothers and Donny Hathaway.
Ben grew up in a musical family and began singing at church as a young boy. His mother was with The Jackson Sisters, the 70’s female group that won The Black Image Award for best new woman group by Record World Magazine.
Beneficial is currently working on his debut album with The OC Recording Company, and is collaborating with Producers Asaf Fulks and Jeff Burk. The album features Mona Lisa, Breanna, Space and Dim Da Lytes.
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