October 2004 ~ Featuring Jason Singleton
This month, I would like to take the opportunity to shine the spotlight on a friend of mine who now works behind the scenes of Southern Gospel Music. When I first met Jason Singleton, he was a member of the Diplomats Quartet. This was at a time when they traveled with a full band, which also included one of Southern Gospel's favorite musicians, Steve "Rabbit" Easter. Since that time, he has stayed home to be with his family and to build his dream, a state of the art recording facility just west of Atlanta, Georgia, called Red Hill Digital. I have recently made several trips to his studio to play on sessions for various projects. I first took advantage of Red Hill Digital when I was putting together the "Southern Gospel Players" recording which featured most all of the musicians in Gospel Music. Here lately, Jason Singleton, Ricky Free, Scoot Shelnut, and I have been recording quite a few tracks in this northwest Georgia studio!

Jason Singleton was born on February 25, 1973. His parents are the late Jimmy and Bonnie Singleton. He says that his parents were his greatest influences. They not only taught the Word to their children, they lived the Christian life in front of them. Because of their love of Southern Gospel Music, Jason was introduced to it at an early age, which led to his involvement in the Gospel Music industry. Jason has one brother, Gary, and two sisters, Patricia and Kathy. Jason and his wife Heather were married on November 27, 1994, and they live in his hometown of Draketown, Georgia. Jason states "God has blessed me with a beautiful wife of ten years. We have two children, Layne (age 7) and Lauren (age 2)." Heather is a P.E. teacher at Temple Elementary and has taught for 4 years. Layne's hobbies are riding his dirt bike and playing soccer. Lauren likes playing with her baby dolls. The Singleton's are active members at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Temple, GA. Jason was saved in April of 1982 in the living room of his parents home. He enjoys turkey hunting and he collects custom turkey calls.

Jason started playing the drums at the age of five. When he was eleven, he began playing for his first group, The Rick Leamon Trio, of whom the bass player, Corky Addison, is now his pastor. Jason says that Corky was like a big brother on the road and taught him, "If you're going to play it, play it right." After four years with the Rick Leamon Trio, he played with the Mills Family from Locust Grove, GA, consisting of Billy and Helen Mills and their sons. After three years with the Mills Family, he joined the Monarchs of Carrollton, GA, where he met one of his best friends and fellow musicians, Dennis Cates. Three years later, he and Dennis formed their own group, Sweetwater Revival, with the help of Mike Bailey, Daniel Addison, Steve Moss, and Gary Singleton. They had a great six-year run, with four studio project releases along with the assistance of producers Daniel Riley and Danny Crawford. After a two-year break, Jason filled the position as drummer for The Diplomats, a great family group from Carrollton, GA. Jason enjoyed two years working for Jimmy Pearson, his wife, Rita, and son Corey.

In February of 2003, Jason began construction of a nine-year dream, to own and operate his own recording facility that would cater to Christian Music. Since working the eight previous years in the recording industry, he was able to establish strong relationships with some of the top producers, engineers, and musicians that enabled him to mold his own unique approach to recording. Jason started out with consultation from a great friend, Jeff Brugger (Post Audio Manager for Turner Entertainment, Atlanta, GA). Jeff drew out the buildings acoustic design, which would include room layouts, and acoustic materials that would be used. After they had a design, it was time to decide what format to use, which dictated the wiring that would be needed, and for that Jason went to long time friend at Atlanta Pro Audio, and Digidesign Guru, Troy Manning. Now with a game plan in hand, they poured a six inch slab, then eight months later on October 15, 2003, Red Hill's record button lit up for the first time. They are now approaching their first year anniversary and are very pleased with their progress.

The studio houses some of the latest recording gear, microphones, and instruments that any producer and artist could ask for, with names like Digidesign's Pro-Tools, a K-Kawai grand piano, Drum Workshop Drums, Universal Audio, API, Neuman, Rode, and Hear Back Technologies. To break that down in to more familiar terms, they have the good stuff! Jason wanted to create an environment that would house the technical abilities to produce a quality project and give you the presence of a real recording environment, but at the same time remain budget friendly for their clients. Most all studios at the professional level start out with the same common goals, but few possess all, and I believe they have done that at Red Hill.

Red Hill Digital uses some of the best musicians in the business, most of which were featured on my latest project, "The Southern Gospel Players." I have mentioned this studio occasionally throughout the making of the project, especially since I have been recently been featuring many of the musicians that played on it. We had the pleasure of working with Jason at Red Hill Digital. If you would like more information on this studio, visit the website at www.redhilldigital.com or call Jason at the studio at 770-562-0928. I highly recommend this studio for any of your recording needs. Perhaps in the near future, Jason, Ricky, Scoot, and I can do some recording for you!