By Tom Hausman
For The Diamondback
Upon meeting Elie Rizk and finding out he’s working toward a psychology degree and a minor in neuroscience, one would not immediately think he has a different job already — he’s on his way to becoming a record producer.
Rizk, a sophomore, devotes most of his time to his passion for music, managing his own studio in his basement while pursuing a degree full time.
He and longtime friend and “jam partner” Angelo Munafo, a University of Pennsylvania sophomore, turned a high school senior project of theirs into reality this past year. They officially opened the doors to their music studio, One Stone Studios LLC, in Timonium in July.
“It’s scary,” Rizk said. “I found that I never have any idea what I’m doing; things just have a way of working themselves out.”
Rizk and Munafo jumped headfirst into starting their company, which caters to budding musicians, with no real business training, moving one step at a time. Rizk has had years of recording experience, but he quickly learned that producing and acting as a studio technician required more knowledge than he started with, he said. Through trial and error, he adapted and learned the physics and engineering of recording.
One Stone Studios’ first client — one of Rizk’s friends from high school — was the first person he ever recorded besides himself. The experience taught him about the recording process and being a businessman.
“You have to put on this facade of ‘I do know what I’m doing,’ so I’m masquerading as this professional, when in fact I had no idea what I was doing,” he said.
One Stone Studios has six artists who record there regularly, he said.
Rizk won the Best Original Soundtrack award at the University of Maryland Film Festival for his score in the short film “Ways.” Lizzy Coplin, a senior environmental science and policy major who directed the film, said working with Rizk “enhanced the tone of [her] film.”
“I was amazed on his ability to take my vague musical ideas and flesh them out into full composed songs,” Coplin said. “He’s very energetic and such a hard worker.”
All of the work is put to the test when he balances his schoolwork with his studio work, to which he said he dedicates his entire weekends.
“It’s been tough,” Rizk said. “Your social life takes a hit, your academic life takes a hit, but I found I don’t have many other options. There’s some overlap because you can’t not do schoolwork on the weekends.”
It is not always particularly serious work, though, Munafo said. One time, the duo got hired to record a jingle for a friend’s Mediterranean catering business.
“[Rizk] said, ‘Change of plans, we’re writing a jingle,’ and like that, over the course of the afternoon and the evening, we came up with a jingle,” Munafo said.
The duo began work writing a theme song for an upcoming online television series called “StandUp/BreakDown,” and Munafo said they plan to work on music for the rest of the series as well.
Even though both studio owners share a passion for the business, Munafo said Rizk’s hard work and dedication to learning the tools of the trade surpass his own.
“Every second that he isn’t studying or working or doing something, he is reading up online about microphones or recording techniques,” Munafo said.
