Hey Crank Up that Talent Knob!

| 01 October 2009

Downtown Brew's Master of Sound

Kip Stork is a local sound engineer, working in both live and recording environments for over 20 years. His two main occupations are Downtown Brew and his own custom Avalon Recording Studio, both located in San Luis Obispo. Avalon is unique in that it is completely designed by Stork himself, and was constructed with the help of his friends from the Travis Larson Band.

Stork started training for his recording career in 1985, learning the ropes at the Los Angeles Recording Workshop, but was always interested in music and recording ever since he was young. After his father brought home a reel-to-reel recorder in the 1960s, young Stork would get a hold of it and record all sorts of things. He started playing the cello in junior high; that soon led to bass and acoustic guitar. For years, up until his mid-twenties, he was playing in bands.

After recording school, Stork worked in Los Angeles for a couple of years at Trax recording studios. After this he decided to escape Los Angeles and come up to San Luis Obispo County, where he had lived briefly in the early 1980s. Promised a job in a local studio, Stork learned, after moving to the area in 1990, that things had fallen through and he was going to be without the job he based the move on.

Luckily, DK's West Indies Bar (now Big Sky restaurant) needed a live sound engineer; he ended up working there six nights a week some months. "The music scene has gone through this ebb and flow over the years. Back in these days, it was huge around here," said Stork. After two years in that club, Stork found work at Loco Ranchero, which was another nightclub located at what is now KSBY studios. "Nice big room up there, it held about six or seven hundred people. It was a great place." The beginning of 1995 saw another change for Stork, and he began working sound at SLO Brew upstairs. Around 2001 he moved the stage downstairs, and in 2005 it became Downtown Brew, where he remains employed today.

Music has unquestionably defined Stork's life. It's not just how he makes a living, however. He loves what he does, and within his realm he has discovered time and time again those moments that one remembers for eternity. "When a band does a pass on a song that was really good, or that mistake that was perfect...it's bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I like those moments, and if it makes it to the CD, that's the cool part. You just want that special moment to go 'boom' on the tape, and there has been some really cool stuff over the years." More on Kip at www.avalonrecordingstudio.com.
Darien Lohof loves local music-related stuff, and is happy to expose it. E-mail any ideas or correspondence to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .