Christopher Whipple, Deviate the Plan

"Most things in life, whether we realize it or not, are out of our control. However, there are those rare times when we make certain decisions that could possibly set us on the path for the life that we have always dreamed of.The first time I picked up a guitar and could play a song, I felt a gravitational pull that to this day cannot seem to be broken. It was the one thing that would always help me escape and forget whatever was going wrong in my life at the time, as it still does now.

Ever since I started my first business in high school, a pressure washing sole proprietorship, I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Having the freedom and ability to live life on my own terms and make money while doing it, is something that has always been of paramount importance to me. Growing up in a middle class household, whose parents divorced when I was 11, I was always taught the importance of hard work and making your own way. I was also taught that you would never get rich or live the life I had dreamed of by working for someone else. I was a good student from elementary school through college, receiving A’s and B’s as well as scholarships. However most of the time, I always did the minimum in order to get by. I don’t think it had to do with me as a person or my work ethic, but rather that I was not passionate about what I was doing or learning.

One thing that I was always passionate about was music. After hours of locking myself in my room learning to play, I picked up on it fairly quickly. I played in bands throughout high school and college, performing locally in New Jersey at venues such as the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, opening for national acts such as Dispatch and The Parlor Mob. I also gigged in cover bands in the Tampa and St. Petersburg areas of Florida. However, with all the pressure of school, trying to balance making friends and obtaining an internship to help me “get a real job,” I never had the time to fully devote myself to music like I wanted to.After graduating the University of Tampa in May 2013 with a degree in Finance and securing my first job out of school at a public accounting firm, things were looking up. I had a new job, nice apartment, and even a new car. However as time went on, grinding through 40-55+ hour workweeks and long busy seasons just to collect the paycheck, my heart knew that something wasn’t right. There was something missing…passion and inspiration.

The entrepreneurial bug started to nag at me again and I had no choice but to answer its call. The only question was what I would choose to do. I have many interests and things that I enjoy doing. Though, when it came down to it they all came second to music. In August of 2014, I had gotten together with one of my old cover band members Jake Jansen and we started writing songs together. This is when my interest in production, recording, mixing and mastering had taken full force. I purchased an all-in-one home recording package from Guitar Center and started recording the songs we had written on my computer in a small, 900 square foot apartment bedroom. This process continued until the end of December and throughout this time we were not happy with the quality of the recordings. They did not have that professional sound that we had heard on so many of our favorite albums.

With frustration mounting and my skills not improving as quickly as I would have liked, we were going to resort to going to a studio to have them recorded, mixed, and mastered. Although this would have likely been the easy way out, something inside me was telling me to stick it out and keep honing my craft. I decided to seek out all the information I could regarding audio production and recording. I managed to find and develop a relationship with a great mentor, who has worked with top recording artists such as John Legend, to show me how things were done and cut through all of the noise. Once my confidence and skill level improved to the point where I could get the sound quality I was seeking, we decided that we wanted to not just record, mix, and master music for ourselves whenever we wanted, but also to help other people do it as well. That was the moment that Red Attic Sound Studio was born.

All of 2015 consisted of us planning and executing our new recording studio business idea. We drew up a business plan, formed an LLC, filed for our tax identification number, opened up business accounts and credit cards and were on our way to setting up shop in our warehouse space. There was just one small issue standing in the way…capital to get up and running. After shopping around for small business loans and being denied for all of them, it seemed like I was not going to be able to raise capital to get the necessary equipment. I then decided to use a business credit line in order to finance the equipment.

Although this seems like a no-brainer to some, I was wary of using credit at higher interest rates, but desperate times called for desperate measures. We were able to finance the purchase of the equipment and studio renovation and got to work. We painted, laid down flooring, and set up the plethora of new gear that we had just purchased and we were up and running by October. As of December 2015, we have secured some of our first clients and can’t wait to begin working on the projects. To conclude my story, let me circle back to the initial reason I got into music in the first place, playing guitar and being in a band. We recently formed a new band called Deviate the Plan and look forward to taking it as far as we can go. Our first show is Sunday, January 24th, 2016 at the Orpheum in Tampa. Things haven’t been easy, mistakes have been made, and not everything has always gone the way I would have liked it to, but it is what I enjoy doing and I can’t wait to see what 2016 has in store."

Written by: Christopher Whipple

Coming Soon: Www.DeviateThePlan.com