Woodland resident, musician, and sound engineer Tyrelle Massey fulfilled a lifelong dream when he converted an old restaurant freezer into a sound studio.
Massey’s company, Tyrelle Sound, aims to be a spot where bands of the Pacific Northwest can come and record their music. Massey helps them mix and master their sounds, and also does vocal recordings.
Massey said he found the supplies for his new venture through a stroke of luck in May of last year.
“I can’t remember the restaurant, but there was a restaurant closing down somewhere in Longview, and my dad happened to be driving by and seeing it,” Massey said. “(The freezer) was in panels, so right before they were about to bring them to the dump, my dad asked them ‘hey, I guess you’re taking that away? I’ll take that home.’”
His dad took the material home, built a platform and set the freezer up in the backyard to hold his tools since it was watertight and insulated. When Massey came back to Woodland from La Sierra University in California, he figured it would be a perfect spot to do his studio work.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, Massey completed a lot of his work remotely. His father, Joe Miller, who worked in construction, helped Massey seal the panels and put drywall up to convert the space into a small studio.
“After that, it took me about four or five months to get it to the point where you couldn’t tell it was a freezer anymore. Now I’m working full-time in it,” he said.
The soundproof panels are 9 feet by 20 feet. They allow him to play music or record in a quiet space. The studio is used primarily for “mixing and mastering of any kind of band or artist in the Pacific Northwest,” Massey said.
Tyrelle Sound has been the spot for numerous musicians to record their music. That includes La Center-based band Sunflower, who will host and perform at Field Fest on July 24 and July 25 in Woodland.
Massey formed an interest in music from an early age.
“I always just had a passion for it really, and I knew that I didn’t want to be a professional musician per se, but I wanted to be in the field still,” he said.
Massey grew up in Woodland and attended the city’s schools since fourth grade. At the schools, he took part in music groups, which solidified his interest to go into a music-related field.
After a couple of family friends recommended LSU, he applied to the university because they had a great sound program. He studied music production there for three years and received his bachelor’s degree in the field.
Massey said he worked as the head audio engineer of the university’s music department, which is a role he still does remotely. He was able to see firsthand how to run large scale productions.
“For instance, we did an opera production of ‘The Sound of Music,’ and it was a really tough experience learning how to manage or run live sound for an event that big,” Massey said.
Once he moved back home to Woodland, that’s when his studio project came to fruition.
Despite his focus on audio engineering, Massey said he played in the brass section of the band at Woodland High School. He also played the guitar in the jazz band and jazz choir. He still plays guitar as a session musician or for solo projects.
“In the long term, I’m hoping Tyrelle Sound can be a place or community where bands from Seattle or Portland can create authentic, genuine music, and help share it with the greater community,” Massey said.
The Tyrelle Sound website can be found at tyrellesound.com.
