GARY: Next on "Start Up," we head to West Baltimore, Maryland, to meet up with Don Trunk, a music producer dedicated to giving artists a space to be themselves and create music in a safe and comfortable environment.

All of this and more is next on "Start Up."

ANNOUNCER: Spectrum Business recognizes the importance of small businesses to local communities, so we're investing $21 million to help small businesses access funding to help them grow.

Spectrum Business.

More than an internet, phone, and TV provider.

♪ The first time you made a sale online was also the first time you heard of a town named... MAN: Dinosaur.

We just got an order from Dinosaur, Colorado.

MAN: No way!

ANNOUNCER: Build a website to help reach more customers.

WOMAN: Wait, wait, wait, wait!

One more.

ANNOUNCER: GoDaddy.

Tools and support for small business firsts.

♪ My name is Gary Bredow.

I'm a documentary filmmaker and an entrepreneur.

As the country continues to recover, small business owners everywhere are doing all they can to keep their dream alive.

So we set out for our tenth consecutive season to talk with a wide range of diverse business owners to better understand how they've learned to adapt, innovate, and even completely reinvent themselves.

♪ This is "Start Up."

♪ A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing and audio production of instrumental and vocal musical performances.

The earliest recording studios were very basic facilities, essentially soundproof rooms that isolated the performers from outside noise.

During this early era of sound production, it wasn't uncommon for musical recordings to be made in any available location, such as a local ballroom or dance hall using portable acoustic recording equipment.

♪ Today, I'm heading to Baltimore, Maryland, to meet up with Don Trunk, a music producer dedicated to giving artists a space to be themselves and create music in a safe and comfortable environment.

From what I know, Don has been obsessed with music and recording from a very young age.

And as a musician myself, I'm incredibly excited to meet up with Don and learn more about his journey.

♪ ♪ Tell me about your, how your love of music kind of started when you were a kid.

What were you listening to?

What are some of the things that really stood out to you?

DON: I really didn't go to sleep as a kid.

So, I was, like, really amped up.

My mother used to drive around and play Sade and Marvin Gaye.

She played a lot of cassette tapes in the car.

And I just really always fell in love with like the sounds that I heard on the cassette tape.

And it just got me to the point where I was like, "All right, how do they make those type of songs?

And what is that instrument?

I'm like, what does that sound?

Like, how do you make that? "

So I fell in love with that as a kid.

GARY: You had like a genuine curiosity not about just, like, the song itself, but how it was made.

DON: Yeah.

I always wondered, like, you hear all these instruments in songs, how do they all make music in a room together?

I always wondered how that happened.

GARY: Tell me about Baltimore City.

What is it like growing up here?

DON: Growing up in Baltimore City is a city where you have to learn basically how to take care of yourself.

It's not a lot of resources for what we do in the music field, so you kind of got to learn by doing on your own first.

When I wanted to start doing music, I couldn't just go to middle school or high school and say, "Hey, how do I start a recording studio?"

It's just not a question.

Like, you could probably ask that question in California, New York, Atlanta, but in Baltimore it's like, how do you build a studio?

You cannot ask that in Baltimore.

I love my city.

I love my culture.

I love, you know, everything about Baltimore.

And growing up here, I just learned, you know, how to adapt to the way life is here.

GARY: Talk about your early musical influences and inspirations.

DON: My grandmother gave me the basement, and we lived in a rowhouse in Baltimore on the west side, and she gave me the basement around about 12, 13.

GARY: Okay, that was your space?

DON: That was my space.

GARY: Okay.

DON: So, having that space, I really wanted to build a studio.

I asked my mother, "Could I get this keyboard called a Korg Triton?"

It was $3,300.

GARY: Oh, my gosh.

DON: And she's looking at me like, "I can't get you that for Christmas."

GARY: Yeah.

DON: So I had to find ways.

I had to do sessions and get internships and just really stay in my house and figure out how I can make money.

So I bought a RadioShack mic.

I bought a couple pieces of gear that were cheap, and I just started doing sessions in my grandma's basement.

GARY: And that's how you were making money to buy the gear that you wanted?

DON: Yeah, yeah.

My aunt gave me a Dell computer.

Like, we had this old Dell computer that had the loudest fan ever on it.

GARY: Oh, no.

DON: So I'm sitting here trying to turn the area where the furnace is into a vocal booth.

So I'm over here putting sheets over top of the furnace, and my grandmother's, like, coming downstairs, like, "You about to burn the house down."

'Cause I got sheets over top of the furnace.

And, like, I got the mattress blocking the door.

It was hot.

It was... very bad for audio.

But I had people coming to record.

I saved up money from that.

GARY: How old were you when you were doing that?

DON: My first official session where I can say I made money.

I was about 13.

GARY: That's, that's incredible.

DON: I charged $25 an hour.

GARY: Oh, that's awesome, man.

DON: And it was a guy that lived up the street.

I charged $25 an hour.

He stayed with me for, like, eight or nine hours, and he told everybody, and then everybody just kept coming.

GARY: But you earned a reputation early on as the guy to go to to record music then.

DON: Yeah, I kind of had to build a fan base of people that just wanted to do music and wanted to record.

And pretty much build up clientele in high school for the people that rapped and freestyled.

My goal at the time was $100 a day.

By the end of the week, I can buy a piece of gear that I want.

So that's all I was thinking at the time.

Not thinking about saving.

I was thinking about buying the gear.

GARY: What did it feel like the very first time that you heard a track that you produced or wrote or were part of on the radio?

What did that feel like?

DON: I was just happy that somebody took something that was done in my grandmother's basement and it got on the radio.

That's all I was happy about.

GARY: It gives you that confidence, like, "This is possible."

Every little win like that inches you closer.

DON: My grandmother was yelling at the top of her lungs, "Turn that down.

Stop all that noise."

All day.

So to be able to say, "All that noise I'm downstairs making..." GARY: Is on the radio.

DON: "Is on the radio."

I started getting radio royalties, so, like, mechanical royalties from some of them songs being on the radio.

Because my mother made it clear, like, if you're gonna treat this like a job, you better start learning about publishing and, you know, your fees and what you're supposed to get.

Because I got all these people coming in the house, I didn't know anything about copyright laws.

I didn't know anything about that.

GARY: How'd you learn?

DON: Internet.

YouTube era.

So that first check when I actually got to show her was like, "Yeah, Ma, I'm moving.

I'm getting an apartment.

All right, I just want to let you know."

So I got an apartment and started doing apartment studio.

GARY: What was some of the, I guess, the best things that came out of the apartment studio?

DON: The songs at that time really helped me get a production deal at the time.

GARY: Okay.

DON: Yeah.

So I got my first production deal.

GARY: What does that mean, getting a production deal?

DON: A production deal is a deal where basically you sign as a producer under a company and they set up your stuff for catalog.

And they basically get you ready to sell to a major artist or sell for sync licensing.

GARY: That's how you get to a point where a large artist will go and say, "I want that beat."

And it's all set up legally.

DON: Yup.

GARY: Okay.

What were some of the artists that you showed... were able to show your tracks and stuff to?

DON: I went into the studio with Kanye West.

That was enough for me.

GARY: You went into the studio with Kanye?

DON: Yeah.

GARY: What were you doing in the studio, like just showing him beats and stuff?

DON: I got to play him my beats.

I got to pull stuff off of my MPC and say, "Hey, this is the drums I use."

You know what I'm saying?

That was more than enough.

I didn't care about no financial gain.

I didn't care about none of that.

I could tell my mother, "I went into the studio with Kanye West."

That's enough.

GARY: What happened next?

DON: I took all that money from doing all those sessions and beats.

I took all that money and started buying gear for the real studio.

GARY: Yeah.

Okay, so what was the real studio?

What is the real studio?

DON: The real studio is where we're at now.

GARY: Dream First?

DON: Yes.

GARY: Tell me, what is Dream First Studios?

Where did the name come from?

DON: So we had a lot of dreamcatchers in the house growing up.

My mother always told us to put our dream first.

And that statement stuck with me the most.

Because a lot of artists think about their personal struggles, their life, and they just, like, a lot of times, give up on their dreams.

GARY: Yep.

DON: Right in front of you.

Like I had people do sessions just give up.

And I was like, "I got to use this statement as a way to give motivation to artists.

Like, put your dream first, never give up on your dream.

Like, never give up."

GARY: That's the philosophy that sort of umbrellas everything you're doing.

DON: Everybody on Earth has a dream, right?

GARY: Yes.

DON: I don't care what you're going through in life, you put your dream first no matter what.

That's how the best businesses, the best ideas, you know, all that stuff gets started from a dream.

♪ GARY: When did you first start working with Don in Dream First?

CHUBZ: I met Don probably like four or five years ago in this summer camp that we did called Careers Kids.

We was in this room with 40 kids.

We learned off this laptop with Pro Tools.

GARY: You were one of the kids?

CHUBZ: I was one of the kids.

GARY: Oh, wow.

Okay.

CHUBZ: Probably like, three years later, Don gave me my first internship here at this location.

And then probably a year later, I got the job with Don.

And ever since I've been his head engineer.

Dealing with regular city schools, you don't have hands-on experience with the audio engineer, producing... GARY: Think math, social studies, English... nothing fun.

CHUBZ: Everything's just basic.

It's not basic, but they don't teach what you really want to do for your future.

They just want you to learn the 9-to-5.

And the studio world is not a 9-to-5.

GARY: Talk about Don.

What kind of person is he?

CHUBZ: Don is the GOAT.

Greatest of all time.

He helped me change my life.

I was outside doing things that I really wasn't supposed to do.

But when Don gave me the hands-on experience to do music, it changed my life.

Don also gave me just different opportunities to help me to go reach my goal and reach my dreams.

GARY: What do you love about music?

CHUBZ: What I love about music is I get to work with different artists, and I get to help them bring their dream.

GARY: So your dream is to see their dream come true?

CHUBZ: Yes.

And make the magic happen.

See the smile on their face.

♪ GARY: How did you find the space?

Getting equipment in?

Like, I want to learn about the business.

DON: The hardest thing in the world to find was location.

At the time, I'm working at all these other studios, I asked another studio that I was working at could I rent the rest of their warehouse.

They had 3,000 square feet of space left, and they didn't want the hip hop crowd to come in there.

GARY: Why?

DON: Because it's looked upon as negative.

Hip hop is looked upon as sex, drugs, guns and gangsters, I guess you could say.

That's what it's looked upon.

GARY: So the landlords, other studios said "We don't want it."

DON: All the landlords said, "No."

GARY: Okay.

DON: Said, "No."

And it wasn't because of me.

I didn't take any of that personally.

I just know that... GARY: It's perception.

DON: Baltimore is one of the cities where it's like a lot of drugs and crime.

And "The Wire" is what we're always portrayed as.

So if you say, "I'm getting ready to do music," the first thing they're gonna say is, "Like what's on 'The Wire'?

You all gonna have these type of people in here?"

So it's like, a lot of times they say, "No."

GARY: Tell me about when you found the space.

How were you able to secure the lease?

How were things with the landlord?

DON: When I found the space, it was a rehearsal space.

GARY: Okay.

Like music, band rehearsals and stuff.

DON: Yeah, band rehearsal space.

GARY: Okay.

DON: So the landlord, Scott Gately, and I met him and I instantly was like, "This is the person I'm gonna do a lease with."

That first studio, I worked on that all by myself, you know, with me and my friends.

You feel me?

We worked on that first.

And Scott saw that and was amazed by it, right?

So fast forward to now, we're working on more spaces in here, you know what I'm saying?

Because I built the trust up, so now it's like I run the spaces in here.

GARY: I'm assuming all of it was self-funded.

You just paid your rent... DON: Mm-hmm.

GARY: ...to build out everything?

Didn't have to take any loans or anything?

DON: Drywall.

Everything.

Every electrical thing, everything dealing, like, everything.

♪ GARY: Tell me a little bit about this building.

Where are we right now?

DON: We are at Studio 14.

This building has been around for about 32 years, and I've been in operation in this building for about eight years now.

GARY: What was it before it was a studio?

DON: Before it was a studio, it was a rehearsal building.

Scott Gately owned it.

GARY: Like a band music rehearsal?

DON: Yeah, for bands that needed to rehearse, like pretty much metal bands, you know, jazz bands.

And I came here hoping to knock down walls and build a studio.

You know?

GARY: Does this serve all your needs as a studio?

DON: Yeah.

I get to have musicians, you know, at endless times, like if it's 2:00 in the morning.

All I got to do is walk down the hallway.

"Are you a guitar player?

All right.

Come in here."

It's just a safe place for musicians in Baltimore.

And I feel like it's perfect for a studio.

GARY: And you got plenty of room to expand.

It looks like there's a bunch of little areas.

DON: It's about another six or seven more rooms I can work on.

So I'm gonna just finish these three studios for now, though.

GARY: Awesome.

I love it.

What is the makings of a really good studio?

Is it all about the sound quality pretty much?

DON: It's sound quality, but it's more about energy.

Like, being a producer, you kind of just want to be able to have the freedom to do stuff.

And I just see musicians all the time in here.

So, I just felt like this is the perfect place for a studio.

♪ GARY: You're not selling a retail product.

You're, essentially, you're selling time.

DON: You're selling time and yourself.

GARY: There's a cap for what you can make.

I mean, is it a viable business?

DON: So when I really got into the commercial part, I had to build a website.

GARY: Okay, let's talk about your website.

DON: At first I looked at Wix, I looked at all the musician versions of building websites.

And I was like, I don't want it too artsy.

I want people to understand... GARY: Straightforward.

DON: ...they're coming to a studio.

So I looked at GoDaddy's platform and I instantly was like, "I can tweak this the way I want to tweak it."

And it worked out.

And then once I saw their scheduling, I was like, oh, this is perfect.

I can schedule multiple rooms.

I can have Studio A, Studio B, Studio C. I can have an engineer in this room, engineer in that room.

It could work out.

And within like the first 20 minutes of going published and going live, somebody booked a session.

GARY: That's crazy.

DON: Mm-hmm.

GARY: We don't hear that that much.

DON: The pictures was enough.

GARY: Yeah.

DON: I didn't have any audio of the site at the time.

GARY: Pictures of your studio.

DON: It was enough.

GARY: Who are some of the favorite artists or experiences, tracks or whatever that you've worked on over the years?

That stand out in your mind?

DON: Dru Hill.

GARY: Dru Hill?

Okay.

DON: Yeah.

Because I always wanted to work with them.

It's something I really wanted to scratch off the list to work with them.

And then working with Sisqo was more of a like, I did it because when I first met Sisqo, I met him in the parking lot and he just, like, did not listen to my music at all.

GARY: Okay.

DON: So I said, "I'm gonna get to the point where he gonna come to the studio and want to work with me."

He came to the studio and was like, "You one of the best producers I ever worked with."

And that was a good feeling.

GARY: What a compliment.

DON: Yeah.

So that was one of my, like, highlights.

As far as, like, artists that I, like, enjoy working with like no matter what, like T Savage is like, one of my favorite female rappers of all time.

GARY: Okay.

DON: I'm probably giving her a lot of praise.

She's probably gonna say something about it later, but like she got this raspiness in her voice that just reminds me of where we come from.

The struggle that we had.

It just reminds me, like, everything in it is passion.

It's nothing phony.

It's Baltimore to the core.

Like, she rap better than a lot of males, I tell her this all the time.

She rap better than literally all the females here.

Like I'm not even gonna sit here and front, she's like one of the best female rappers I ever had, and I just don't want to put her in the female category, but she can rap her butt off.

GARY: Just rap.

It don't need to be male or female, just best artist.

DON: She's dope.

You got to listen to her music.

She is dope.

[singing "Westside"] ♪ Westside ♪ ♪ ♪ Westside, Westside ♪ ♪ ♪ Westside ♪ GARY: Tell me your name and a little bit about yourself.

T SAVAGE: My name is T Savage.

I'm an artist.

I come from Baltimore City.

Specifically West Baltimore.

I've been rapping since about maybe since I was eight, but professionally, probably since 2018.

GARY: Did you first start recording and writing your own, own tracks when you were young, too?

T SAVAGE: Writing.

I probably started recording once I got a little bit older, but writing was kind of my only outlet.

Like that was kind of all I had.

I grew up, like I'm really from the city of Baltimore.

Like, what they show you on "The Wire," what they show you that they say is the negative, that's what I come from.

So when you come from there, you grow up alone and you raise yourself.

So your composition notebook, that was all I had.

I didn't have a mother that was home every day.

I had a mother that hustled.

I had a father that was in the streets.

Both of my parents came from the streets, so there's not nothing I can open up and talk to somebody about.

I can't tell my teacher what I'm going through as a seven-year-old, that I'm alone and I'm fighting.

And so I write it in my book.

GARY: Because it could possibly get your parents in trouble.

T SAVAGE: I could be in foster care.

Right.

GARY: Get you taken.

And then it's worse, maybe.

T SAVAGE: Yeah.

I grew up like where my music was, that's my only outlet.

GARY: Talk about Don.

First time you met him.

T SAVAGE: I met him, I was coming out with a record that was called "Westside."

Me and him met.

We vibed.

And he was like, "Tell me about yourself."

I told him about who I was.

He told me about himself.

And it was like, instant.

We had a chemistry.

We did the "Westside."

I didn't have a beat.

I was in there like, "Look, I want the beat to sound like 'Dun na nuh mmm mmm.'"

He like, "Okay, I got you."

"Dun na nuh mmm."

And he put it together, and I'm like... GARY: Nice.

T SAVAGE: "Okay."

And then I just started appreciating what he was bringing out of me.

GARY: If people can know one thing about Don, what is it?

T SAVAGE: He'll help anybody, and he got a good heart.

That's why like...

There's no love in music.

GARY: Yeah.

T SAVAGE: These people will steal your craft.

They will run over you.

So when you meet genuine people like Don, that say... GARY: Hang on to them.

T SAVAGE: "I want to help you, and I want to make your talent grow."

He a special person.

And you're not really gonna meet too many of these guys that's in the Baltimore scene and that has done as big things that he's done, who's gonna be as humble as he is and willing to help the way he is.

GARY: And stay here because he's committed to the city.

T SAVAGE: Right.

GARY: Learning that I'm a musician, Don was kind enough to offer myself and Mark Damian, our audio engineer, and my former bandmate, the opportunity to record a new song that I'd been working on.

So we mic'ed up the guitar and fired up the vocal mic and gave it a go.

♪ I haven't recorded in a real studio for about 20 years, so I'm a little intimidated to work with someone of Don's caliber, but I decided to put my fears aside and give it my best shot.

♪ Shattered love ♪ ♪ Is it true?

♪ ♪ DON: Woo!

♪ ♪ Nothing left to do ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm a fraction of a better man ♪ ♪ Of this I'll never understand ♪ ♪ Black or blue ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, there's a distant future, blinded eyes ♪ ♪ And hide behind a great disguise ♪ ♪ All askew ♪ ♪ ♪ Where's my home?

♪ ♪ It's been so long, long, long ♪ ♪ Long, long ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪ GARY: What has been the biggest challenge from day one of opening Dream First?

The hardest thing to deal with?

DON: Finding serious people.

GARY: Serious people?

DON: Yeah.

And I mean seriously dedicated.

If you look at any business that you start, you want your employees and you want people to value the studio just as much as you.

You want people to wake up and be like, "I want to be there every day."

And it's not like everybody's dream job is being what I, what I am.

You know what I'm saying?

GARY: Yup.

DON: Like, my dream is a rare dream for a lot of people as far as producer/engineer.

But everybody wants to be an artist.

GARY: Yes.

DON: Everybody wants to be an artist.

Everybody wants to be famous.

But it's the people... GARY: That's our culture now.

DON: Yeah.

But just imagine, like, 4:00 in the morning, putting up drywall.

Nobody wants to come.

GARY: Nobody wants to do that.

That's not glamorous.

DON: That's not glamorous.

GARY: What did your Mom say?

Was she happy?

She had to be proud.

DON: She's very proud.

GARY: Yeah.

DON: My mother always said, "Put your dream first."

My mother put us before her all the time.

GARY: Yeah.

DON: You know, like, it's so many times, you look at, like, all the stuff your mother do.

You look at it like, yo-- And it's crazy, I don't cry, but this my mother.

GARY: Yeah.

DON: You look at all the stuff that your mother do for you, like, yo, she put you in art programs.

She made sure you always had stuff.

Like, you might have asked for a Triton, but she still got you a RadioShack keyboard.

GARY: Yeah.

DON: You look at stuff like that, like, "Wow."

GARY: She made some sacrifices for you.

Got a lot of respect for your mother.

[laughs] DON: And as a parent, it hit me more now.

Like, I could have failed so many times.

I had people I recorded that left the studio, got killed two hours after they left the studio.

So you look at it like, yo, my mother really was like, "Why are these people in my house?"

I'm not looking at it like that.

Some of these people are drug dealers, killers.

You don't look at it like that.

You're looking at it like, "He wants to do music.

I just want to do music.

I don't care his backstory.

I don't care.

He could have robbed a corner store before he came to the studio.

I don't care."

GARY: Yeah.

DON: I don't care about none of that.

All I care about is the song and how it makes us feel at the time.

So, if the--you know my mother like, "Hey, you wasting our electricity."

Nobody care about that.

I want to make a song.

GARY: That's pure, man.

That's love.

DON: Yeah.

So, that's... you just look at it now as an adult, like, yo.

I really just like, wasted my mother's electricity.

[laughing] You know?

GARY: I don't think she sees it that way, though.

DON: She don't see it that way now.

But it's like... GARY: And that's good, you know, keeping that in the back of your mind as your son is coming up, too.

DON: Yeah.

GARY: To be conscious of it, it's important.

DON: Like, my son the other day, my son is three months.

GARY: Yeah.

DON: So, I have him-- I don't have him in my studio, but I'll have him in the house.

I got my own home studio because I'm never getting rid of the home studio.

The other day, he touched the piano key for the first time and hit like four or five notes.

GARY: Yeah.

DON: And I almost dropped tears like crazy.

I don't care if he's not gonna be in music.

I really don't care.

All I care about is that he appreciates what his dad did so he could have a future.

That's all I care about.

You know, eventually be like, "Yeah, Dad, it's cool that you did music to help me get to where I want to get to in life."

GARY: Yeah.

DON: That's more than enough for me.

GARY: I really enjoyed my time with Don and his team at Dream First.

Don fell in love with music at an early age, and he mapped out a path that would get him to his goal as quickly as possible.

From recording artists in his grandma's basement, to starting a studio in his apartment, to working at a local radio station, Don understood the sacrifices that it took for him to earn a living in the music industry.

He recognized the changes that were happening around him and pivoted in a way that made sense for his business to grow.

And he's making it happen not only for himself, but for every talented artist that walks through his doors.

Don could have moved away like so many before him, but he's made a commitment to Baltimore, and he's seeing his vision come to life in ways that he could have never imagined.

He's giving Baltimore a voice that's way beyond what we've seen in the media or television shows.

He's showing us another side of his city, and it's absolutely beautiful.

If Don's past is any indication of his future, I believe that Dream First Studios is well on its way to putting Baltimore on the map as a city known for its talent, art, and incredible stories told through a medium that unites all: music.

I feel honored to be able to share his story, and I hope that it serves as an inspiration to anyone out there with a dream or vision to make the world a better place one track at a time.

For more information, visit our website and search episodes for Dream First.

♪ Next time on "Start Up."

we head to Portersville, Pennsylvania, to meet up with Ian Smith, the owner of SurfSUP, a company that offers guided stand-up paddleboarding tours and instruction.

Be sure to join us next time on "Start Up."

Would you like to learn more about the show or maybe nominate a business?

Visit our website at startup-usa.com and connect with us on social media.

♪ ♪ We got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us before we pay our dues ♪ ♪ We got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us before we pay our dues ♪ IAN: Awesome!

ANNOUNCER: The first time you made a sale online was also the first time you heard of a town named... MAN: Dinosaur.

We just got an order from Dinosaur, Colorado.

MAN: No way!

ANNOUNCER: Build a website to help reach more customers.

WOMAN: Wait, wait, wait, wait!

One more.

ANNOUNCER: GoDaddy.

Tools and support for small business firsts.

Spectrum Business recognizes the importance of small businesses to local communities, so we're investing $21 million to help small businesses access funding to help them grow.

Spectrum Business.

More than an internet, phone, and TV provider.

♪