A personal message from Bill Walch.

Hello and welcome. First of all, a little background. My business name, "Eclectic Sky", is a way to identify myself and what I do. I would not necessarily say at this point that I am a business, although my ultimate goal is to own and operate a full service recording studio. So far, this activity is just a part time hobby.

I actually make little or no profit from these sales. I just try to help pay for the equipment and materials I use to record and make CD's with (the key word here is 'try', although I've been told that I'll never make ends meet, which is probably true).

As for my background, for as long as I remember, I have always enjoyed music in all forms. My mother wrote and produced original musical stage and dinner theater, so I was hooked early on listening to show tunes by Learner, Kern, and Rogers, and many early jazz artists such as Coltrane, Brubeck, and The Diz. For my musical background, at one time or another, I've played the bugle, acoustic and electric guitar, and piano, with my primary interest in drums. I played in small rock bands in the late 60's, ending up in an 8 piece "Chicago Transit Authority" style group.

Over the past years, with my youngest son playing jazz and performing in the marching band, many people, including myself, had wished we had a record of their performances. It wasn't until the beginning of his senior year, that I decided to get back into recording after a 20 year hiatus, starting out with the intent of making audition recordings for music scholarships.

Just recently getting back into professional recording, my past studio and remote recording and theatrical (light and sound) experience goes back almost thirty plus years ago, working with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the CSO Jazz Ensemble, Cincinnati Music Theater, Theater In the Park (professional off-Broadway), George Wein Productions, and various other music and theatrical venues, such as the Cincinnati Jazz Festivals of the late 60's. In addition, I have considerable experience in the engineering and sales of professional audio recording studio and sound reinforcement systems and installations.

So why do I do it? Mostly for the joy it provides to those who would otherwise not have any record of their performances. I gain the most satisfaction from hearing from students and their parents about how much they liked the recordings. If I could afford to do it for free, I would.

What's in the future. Well, I have three lifelong ambitions. One is to own and operate a true commercial Jazz FM radio station, own and operate a local jazz club, or have a recording studio. I don't know about the former two, but the later seems most likely. 

Right now, I utilize digital 8 and 24 track track studio recorders for all my remote recordings. In addition, I utilize an 8 and 16 channel recording console for remote recordings (combined, up to 24 channels), and an "in-studio" 48 channel recording console used for mastering. 

Any comments you have related to this web site, or my recordings would be gratefully appreciated.

Finally I'd like to thank the various band and music directors for allowing me to record their performances, so that the students performances are preserved and not forgotten.

Thank you.