How did we get to this place?
Tracy N Misner, the producer of the Studio One Documentary, got his start in music production at Belmont University with a degree in Music Business and a major in Recording Engineering. After graduating Belmont in 1985, Misner moved back to Atlanta and lived at home with his parents in Doraville, Georgia.
He happened to "find" Studio One after driving around and went inside. "I could literally feel the magic as I looked up at the row of album covers from bands that recorded there," Misner added. There he met Greg Quesnel engineering and producing Johnny Van Zant's album, Last of the Wild Ones. "Greg let me sit in on the session and finally asked if I could move a microphone." Each day I would come in and sit and wait for instructions from Greg. Eventually Misner struck up a conversation with Johnny Van Zant and I started assisting and being a sounding board.
The album wrapped and Misner moved onto working with his father in a family business. After 8 long years in the family business, Misner learned how to shoot video and started a video business. "I shot video for 15 years and loved every minute of it, however, the recession of 2008-2009 took its toll on the business and I found teaching video at Alpharetta High School."
In 2011, Misner was at a local recording studio visiting a friend, when the owner, Melaney Mills, talked about her dad, Rodney Mills. "We soon learned that she graduated from Chattahoochee High School (my daughter graduated from there in 2009.) and that her dad was the engineer and producer of many of the albums recorded at Studio One. She set up a meeting to do a video interview. "That interview was the start of something great in story telling! Anyone who has ever sat with Rodney Mills can be captivated by his story-telling, Misner added. From Mills, led a drive to Alabama to interview Buddy Buie, Studio One's owner and creator. And from Buddy came a great interview with J.R. Cobb, one of the founding members of the Atlanta Rhythm Section.
In 2012, tragedy struck Misner in the passing of his daughter and all creativity stopped! The videos were put onto hard drives and tucked away. Misner concentrated on building his video program and his program won an unprecedented 22 Student Production Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences(NATAS). In 2016 Misner was awarded Teacher of the Year from The Student Television Network. Later that same year, Misner received the honor of Digital Innovator from Public Broadcasting System (PBS) Also in 2016, Misner was one of 20 teachers in Georgia to become a LEAD CTAE instructor. In 2018, Apple awarded Misner Apple Distinguished Educator.
2020 has brought new challenges and great opportunities! In late 2019, the hard drives were found and the footage had to be transferred to updated drives. The quality of those first interviews were not the greatest, but the story was there. There was renewed interest in great story telling due to people consuming more media than ever. The interviews took on a new life when Al Kooper, the producer for the first albums of Lynyrd Skynyrd offered his interview via Zoom. Al shared his stories of hearing the band for the first time after moving to Atlanta in the early 70's and signing them to his newly founded record company. And just like that, the interviews started to take shape. Rodney Justo, the original lead singer of The Atlanta Rhythm Section offered his story. Greg Quesnel offered his story. Kenny Crysler, drummer for the band Starbuck (Moonlight Feels Right) offered up his story.
And now the story really begins of the legendary Studio One. This little studio, the brainchild of Buddy Buie, grows out of his wanting to have a place to rehearse, write music, jam, and eventually record for his band, The Atlanta Rhythm Section. But what happened was something that aligned perfectly in the early 1970's as the popularity of Southern Rock grew with bands such as ARS, Skynyrd, .38 Special, and others that recorded there, created magic there, and loved just making music in a little place called Studio One.
He happened to "find" Studio One after driving around and went inside. "I could literally feel the magic as I looked up at the row of album covers from bands that recorded there," Misner added. There he met Greg Quesnel engineering and producing Johnny Van Zant's album, Last of the Wild Ones. "Greg let me sit in on the session and finally asked if I could move a microphone." Each day I would come in and sit and wait for instructions from Greg. Eventually Misner struck up a conversation with Johnny Van Zant and I started assisting and being a sounding board.
The album wrapped and Misner moved onto working with his father in a family business. After 8 long years in the family business, Misner learned how to shoot video and started a video business. "I shot video for 15 years and loved every minute of it, however, the recession of 2008-2009 took its toll on the business and I found teaching video at Alpharetta High School."
In 2011, Misner was at a local recording studio visiting a friend, when the owner, Melaney Mills, talked about her dad, Rodney Mills. "We soon learned that she graduated from Chattahoochee High School (my daughter graduated from there in 2009.) and that her dad was the engineer and producer of many of the albums recorded at Studio One. She set up a meeting to do a video interview. "That interview was the start of something great in story telling! Anyone who has ever sat with Rodney Mills can be captivated by his story-telling, Misner added. From Mills, led a drive to Alabama to interview Buddy Buie, Studio One's owner and creator. And from Buddy came a great interview with J.R. Cobb, one of the founding members of the Atlanta Rhythm Section.
In 2012, tragedy struck Misner in the passing of his daughter and all creativity stopped! The videos were put onto hard drives and tucked away. Misner concentrated on building his video program and his program won an unprecedented 22 Student Production Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences(NATAS). In 2016 Misner was awarded Teacher of the Year from The Student Television Network. Later that same year, Misner received the honor of Digital Innovator from Public Broadcasting System (PBS) Also in 2016, Misner was one of 20 teachers in Georgia to become a LEAD CTAE instructor. In 2018, Apple awarded Misner Apple Distinguished Educator.
2020 has brought new challenges and great opportunities! In late 2019, the hard drives were found and the footage had to be transferred to updated drives. The quality of those first interviews were not the greatest, but the story was there. There was renewed interest in great story telling due to people consuming more media than ever. The interviews took on a new life when Al Kooper, the producer for the first albums of Lynyrd Skynyrd offered his interview via Zoom. Al shared his stories of hearing the band for the first time after moving to Atlanta in the early 70's and signing them to his newly founded record company. And just like that, the interviews started to take shape. Rodney Justo, the original lead singer of The Atlanta Rhythm Section offered his story. Greg Quesnel offered his story. Kenny Crysler, drummer for the band Starbuck (Moonlight Feels Right) offered up his story.
And now the story really begins of the legendary Studio One. This little studio, the brainchild of Buddy Buie, grows out of his wanting to have a place to rehearse, write music, jam, and eventually record for his band, The Atlanta Rhythm Section. But what happened was something that aligned perfectly in the early 1970's as the popularity of Southern Rock grew with bands such as ARS, Skynyrd, .38 Special, and others that recorded there, created magic there, and loved just making music in a little place called Studio One.