By Joshua Sherman, M.D.
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One of the things that I discovered when I started producing media in Vermont in 2010 was that there was no central hub for development / collaboration, production, distribution, and promotion. Those four key steps (which make up the pipeline of product development) are key to what we do at Old Mill Road Media and Old Mill Road Recording.
Where do we do it? Old Mill Road in East Arlington, VT.
We have converted the beautiful historic village of East Arlington (and the town’s amazing buildings from the 1700’s and 1800’s) into a campus for creativity.
I’m a problem solver. That’s what I do, no matter the subject.
In addition to being a music producer, I’m a real estate developer and a publisher. I’m also a physician. While these might seem disparate professions, they’re really not. They all require listening skills, communication skills, organization skills, attention to detail, and the ability to navigate group dynamics. The most important common denominator? Problem solving. So – with that in mind - let’s go back and discuss not only those four key steps, but also the hurdles that exist in the obstacle course of product development and realization.
Hurdle One:
Let’s say an artist is lucky enough or connected enough to get a residency or development lab, what happens next? If the artist doesn’t have a producer, manager, or agent attached to the project, the time and effort in development was wasted.
One of the things we do at Old Mill Road is create a pipeline from development to production. We offer the opportunity to not only compose an album, but we can also produce the album at our state-of-the-art recording studio. Old Mill Road Recording won the 2020 NAMM TEC Award for “Best Audio Design,” which is like winning the Super Bowl for acoustical design. Our in-house engineer, Benjamin J. Arrindel, is not only a GRAMMY Award Winner, but has worked with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson. When recording, the goal is always to get the best performance out of an artist. In order to do that, it is crucial to create an environment where the artist feels comfortable and ready to take risks. So, not only does Old Mill Road Recording’s spaces sound great, the studio looks great, too. We’ve brought Vermont “indoors”. Performers literally look out at the river and waterfall while they are recording.
Hurdle Two:
Let’s say an artist is lucky enough or connected enough to get their work produced. The next challenge is distribution. Here at Old Mill Road, we not only create high quality content, we have an international distribution network that allows us to move projects forward by pushing the material “out there.”
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Hurdle Three:
Let’s say an artist is lucky enough, smart enough, and connected enough to get their work distributed. Then what? How do people find out about the work? Promotion is critical – and that’s where Old Mill Road Media comes in.
Old Mill Road Media has a full range of services, including web management, graphic design, and social media management, in addition to our five publications: Vermont Magazine, Stratton Magazine, Vermont News Guide, Berkshire Magazine, and Manchester Life.
At Old Mill Road, we love nothing more than assisting artists and corporate clients alike in achieving their vision.
We’ve created the environment that allows ideas to get developed, produced, distributed, and promoted.
Problem solved.