“Music picks you.” David Barbe on UGA music business and celebrating 25 years of Chase Park Transduction. 

The melodious sounds of keyboards and drums is heard throughout the studio while UGA music business students freestyle jam on instruments laid out for guests to play. A couple hundred people mill in and out of Chase Park to eat, drink indie rock beers and celebrate under the colored light bulbs. 

 

The atmosphere was golden at the anniversary party hosted for the engineers, musicians and music business students. Glasses were hoisted with a hearty round of applause all afternoon while toasts were given. 

 

The party was a celebration for 25 years of producing music which David Barbe, owner and producer of Chase Park Transduction and the director of the University of Georgia’s music business program, refers to as “the hottest game in town.”

 

Over its course of operation, Chase Park has recorded and produced an immense amount of records. Barbe said, “I mean I would say it’s gotta be approaching a thousand, it’s a ton, 40 a year for 25 years, I mean there’s no telling. We’ve had so many people come from literally all over the world to make records in there.” 

 

Barbe has about five records he is in the middle of right now and is still out finding new talent to record. He said, “And as far as finding bands it’s like, I see a band play, I mean I’ve been working on a record this week with the Howdies.” The band was playing at the World Famous when Barbe and his friend T Hardy Morris noticed how much they both enjoyed the group. 

 

They agreed about how cool it would be if they co-produced a Howdies record. Barbe said, “We talked to them after the show, and they [The Howdies] were like, ‘We would love that.’ And they got signed a record deal.”

 

In college, Barbe played with a number of bands, but didn’t really take off until playing with Mercyland. In the 80s, he and his punk rock band toured along the East coast and played in “legendary places like CBGB, 930 and the Rat Club.” 

 

Mercyland toured and made records for five years until realizing it was “time to move into something new in life.” Mercyland did however recently play a couple of reunion shows last month in September as well as reissuing an album.

 

After Mercyland, Barbe really started focusing on chartered engineering and CDOs, as well as  freelancing for a number of years. With this experience, he built Chase Park Transduction.

 

Along with running the studio and recording music, Barbe is also the director of the UGA music business program. He credits his ability to do it all with his love of working. He said, “I love to work. I guess I’ve been working 60 hours a week since I was 21.”

 

Barbe said his favorite part about running the program is “the students, for sure, their creative energy is so inspiring.” As busy as he is making records, it’s hard to imagine wanting to do even more work. He said, “I don’t have to do this, I do it because I like to, but it’s hard for me to imagine this, MBUS, not being a part of my life.”

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

There are so many different aspects of the music industry and Barbe hopes to prepare his students for a future in that world. He said, “Well I mean we teach how the music business works and um how to, you know, make a career out of it basically, I  mean, in a nutshell, that they’ll teach you how to play it over at Hodgson and we’ll teach you how to make money at it.”

 

Barbe did have some trouble adjusting to the “structural aspects” of higher learning, and how to work in the “normal people world” after only having a career in the music world. But, he uses his immense knowledge and personal experiences to give his students the resources they need to succeed in the industry. 

 

Barbe’s love for music can be seen in what he has done and continues to do. He said, “Music is not a calling, it’s an affliction. If it’s who you are, it’s what you do.”