article

Scratching the Record - Photoshoot

May 24, 2024, 9:00 AM CT · 2 min read

May 24, 2024. Eight frames from a studio session at The Record Shop in La Vergne, Tennessee, just outside Nashville - Alpha The Wolf in a black suit and gold spiked loafers, a collaborator in a red wide-brim hat and burgundy leather jacket, the two of them parked at a large mixing console with a DAW session open on the monitor.

Alpha The Wolf and a collaborator seated at a recording console in a professionally treated studio, both facing a large monitor showing a DAW session, the collaborator wearing a distinctive red wide-brim hat and patterned jacket, a keyboard visible at left

The Record Shop has sat at 2480 Moore Way since owner-producer-engineer Sean Giovanni - "Gio" - founded it in 2004, after years freelancing as an engineer and producer. The pitch is vision first: a relaxed, creative room built around the client's idea of the record rather than a meter running by the hour, free pre-production consultations included. Large tracking room, a deep shelf of classic analog gear, Pro Tools HDX, a wall of mics and instruments. Country artist and songwriter John Rich has said he has cut numerous #1 Billboard songs in the building. Alpha booked sessions there - nothing more, nothing less.

Alpha The Wolf leaned back in a studio chair with legs extended and feet crossed, wearing a black suit and gold loafers with spiked detailing, facing the collaborator seated at the console, the red and black control room decor and rack gear visible behind them

The frames are all in-between moments - Alpha reclined with his feet crossed while the man in the red hat works the board, the two of them turned away from the monitor mid-disagreement about something on the screen, a conversation you can't hear. Nobody is performing for the camera. It reads like documentation of a work session that happened to have a photographer in the room.

One image from the day went up on Instagram on May 28, tagged in La Vergne and credited to Alpha The Wolf, under a line from Estée Lauder: "I never dreamt of success. I worked for it." (view the post). In the comments, papacrowmusic wrote "My brother Gio" - a nod toward the studio's founder, though who exactly is under the red hat in these frames is left open.

Alpha The Wolf and the collaborator both turned away from the console, deep in back-and-forth dialogue, Alpha in his black suit and gold loafers with arms relaxed, the collaborator in the red hat and leather jacket, the full studio environment visible around them

What "Scratching the Record" means

A scratch take is the rough one - the guide, the first pass, the version you cut so there is something to build against, knowing it won't survive to the master. "Scratching the Record" is that stage photographed: two people at a console with a session that isn't finished, friction on the screen, nothing clean yet. Five months later the same room turns up again in Remixing the Record - same console, same city, the same body of work taken back apart. This is the before. That one is the after.

SEE ALL 8 PHOTOS FROM THE SHOOT HERE

See the October mix session →

FOLLOW ALPHA THE WOLF
Instagram | Spotify | YouTube

For more information, please contact:
Alpha The Wolf
wolf@alphathewolf.com