Downtown Fort Worth YMCA’s new recording studio opens music production to all

September 2,2024

See full Fort Worth Report article by Ryan Thorpe here.

Mouse clicks, microphones and mountains of audio waves are taking over Lamar Street.

The sweet sounds of music and mixing are products of the Amon G. Carter Downtown YMCA’s newest feature: recording studios.

Adorned with swanky, bright furniture and a seemingly endless string of switches and levers, 4All Studios is welcoming people of all ages to sing, mix and record their own music.

Opened last December, the studio offers a couple of soundproof rooms to sing, play instruments and mix sounds. The building also features a computer lab above the studios to create full-fledged music pieces. The studios resemble a spaceship control panel, featuring modern, live-art decor and bright streaks of color.

A close-up look of the main desk in the live listening room at 4All Studios. The control panels are used to adjust sound quality, volume and other components of music production. (Ryan Thorpe | Fort Worth Report)

Jenny Bishop, executive director of visual and performing arts for the Fort Worth Metropolitan YMCA, emphasized the accessibility of the studios.

“We want to make these things available,” Bishop said. “We don’t want the costs to be prohibitive for anybody.”

The inside of the recording studio at 4All Studios in the YMCA. Instruments, such as the guitar and the piano, are available, but artists are welcome to bring their own. (Ryan Thorpe | Fort Worth Report)

The YMCA plans to offer a slew of new programming starting in the fall, ranging from adult dance classes and beginner guitar classes, to movement classes for families and visual arts classes for all skill levels.

One group of day campers spent a three-hour class making music. Each camper took home a piece of music they mixed, Bishop said.

“They kept asking, ‘Can we do this tomorrow?’” Bishop said, smiling at the memory.

The classes are designed for fun. Classes at professional studios can cause nerves and feelings of being overwhelmed. Bishop said she wanted to change that so people can say, “I could go to my YMCA and just try it out and have some fun.”

“That’s the feeling I want to bring to the community,” Bishop said.

The studios are part of a larger plan for YMCA to bring attention to the arts. Plans to open a theater space, dance studio, visual art studio and a podcast studio also are in the works.

The studios and other projects are funded through fundraising, grants and reserve funding from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Joshua Reed, a YMCA official.

Reed hopes to attract people of differing interests into the YMCA through the studios.

“What people think about the YMCA is gym and swim,” Reed said. “With the studios, it allows for students that may not play sports, but maybe want to become engineers, actors, musicians or dancers.”

Ryan Thorpe is an audience engagement fellow at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ryan.thorpe@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Location Mentioned: YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth