Gifted Composer and Producer Neal Merrick Blackwood

Composer, producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist: Neal Merrick Blackwood

A turnkey music house for independent music artists, composing, and film, tv and video game music.

Our studio, Merrick Music, is available to all Merrick Management clients. In addition, our music and film composing facility, Music City Scoring, is also at their disposal and they receive special pricing. Our studio is basically an intimate boutique writers studio for Neal Merrick Blackwood to do film scoring and singer-songwriter production in. Previously, Neal owned a multi-million dollar studio in Nashville, TN with his grandfather, Robert N. Smith. Neal also stood at the helm of Space For Media, Inc., a large entertainment and graphic arts endeavor, with Robert N. Smith as the sole financial backer.

Neal works with many artists here, who seek out his exquisite knowledge of the recording, mixing and mastering process, as well as the music industry in general. They need someone who they know will give 500% effort to their project and not just treat them like a revenue source.

Our reputation is built on true customer service and quality. We actually work with people’s budgets (within reason) versus trying to take them for a ride.

We operate on a different frequency. Myself, with my virtual assistant and online business management company Merrick Management And Media Services, and Neal, with Merrick Music. Both of us strongly believe that the customer comes first. Our goal with our clients is for them to have a highly personalized experience, with rich rewards and the satisfaction that they are giving themselves a treat of the best service that money can buy.

But this post is about Merrick Music and Neal. We have been told by our clients that nobody has ever had more skill with mixing and mastering their project. Neal is likely one of the most gifted audio engineers in the world. Some clients want to sail through a project, feeding their ego more than their brain. Those are not our kind of clients. Our studio clients work with Neal on every facet, every detail of the song/track/project. Neal could hear a pin drop 10,000 miles away. His attention to detail in mixing and mastering is stunning.

We recently heard an album where it was a train wreck waiting to happen. The recording engineer obviously flunked out of Full Sail or Berklee or wherever he went. Having million dollar equipment does not guarantee that the user is facile with it. A thought to keep in mind for those “shiny object” people. In fact, the mix was so bad that the mastering engineer could really do nothing about it. The whole “you can’t put lipstick on a pig” analogy. Although we are animal lovers and think pigs are beautiful, this doesn’t apply to music 😉

Artists who choose to do their studio recording project with Merrick Music will not have to go through this train wreck. Neal involves himself 500% in every detail. So he will mix what he records and master what he mixes. Viola! Success!

Neal has music in his blood. His biological father is Ron Blackwood, from the world famous family The Blackwood Brothers, legends of gospel music.  They are 9 time Grammy Award winners. Neal highly respects the enduring talent and success of his family and occasionally works with them on projects. We have recently been discussing future projects with them such as collaborations with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Charlie Daniels.

We hope that you will come see us! If you have questions, just ask! In the meantime, please check out one of our latest projects, a two plus year labor of love called Psalm Space, with internationally known flautist Peg Luke, and featuring top artists such as the Elvis’ Imperials Terry Blackwood, Lisa Bevill, and Ginny Luke. The recordings were done at several facilities: Ocean Way Studios, Blackbird Studios and here at our own studio.

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Author bio: Taryn Merrick is a Professional Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager (OBM). As Principal of Merrick Management And Media Services, she has over 20 years of administrative management experience. Taryn works to promote the Virtual Assistant industry and to make it stand out as a true profession of excellence. Her style is easy going, yet precise, with emphasis placed on exceeding customer expectations, client communication and satisfaction.

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