Published: June 26, 2006 04:48 pm            

Hit Factory

Most passing by the unassuming house situated in a Cleburne neighborhood would never imagine it contained a sophisticated recording and production studio. Probably fewer still equate Cleburne with much in the way of a music scene — let alone a burgeoning hip hop one. All three are alive, vibrant and growing. So say Shonn Bonnett and Joshua Rendon, better known as Moox and J, respectively, a pair of self-proclaimed “multi-talented maestros” and owners of Traktwinz Recording Studio.

Neither consider recording studios or rap and hip hop music out of place in Cleburne.

“You’ll see a pickup, looks like an old farm truck, pass by with rap music playing,” J said. “Even cowboy kids listen to 50 Cent these days. Rap is the No. 1 listened to radio genre across the country among kids of all colors.”

Both are quick to point out that while they’ve enjoyed most of their success — as performers and producers — in the field of R&B and hip hop, their personal musical tastes and studio services run the gamut.

“We’re a full-service studio,” Moox said. “Whether that’s poetry, spoken word, singing, commercial voice-overs or music from rap to rock to country or whatever.”

The pair reel off a string of performers and musical styles, including R&B, rock, soul, classical, country, Latin, pop, heavy metal, reggaeton (reggae mixed with Latin music), world music and more when asked what’s on their Ipods.

“In my personal day-to-day I kind of stay stuck in the ’80s and ’90s,” Moox said. “But I listen to everything to stay current.”

Both consider staying current essential to their business.

“Music goes in cycles and changes with the times,” J said. “A lot of producers stick to one style and don’t change with the times. We’re focused on keeping up, staying a step or two ahead for the long haul.”

The pair’s insistence on staying current has already paid dividends for the Traktwinz, as Moox and J call themselves. A remix of a Nelly track featuring country star Tim McGraw, which the pair produced, hit big in the UK. Other major-artist production credits on their resume include Chris Brown, Lil Rob and the Bloodhound Gang among others. And no, should you be wondering, Nelly and McGraw didn’t travel to Cleburne. Their respective “people” contacted Moox and J about the remix project, which sprung from already-recorded tracks.

“Just worked and made connections over the years,” J said when asked how two guys living in Cleburne came to work with big names and major labels. “Generally, someone a little higher up in the industry hears your work and is impressed and passes word or a copy of your CD to someone higher up still and so on.”



Long time coming

J, 28, and Moox, 32, readily admit to years of hard work in search of their dreams.

J began singing in church at age 10, which led to participation in various groups while at Cleburne High School, a communications advertising degree with a minor in music business from the University of Texas at Arlington and a lifelong love of music. Moox, likewise, caught the music bug early on while growing up in Grand Rapids, Mich., and passing through San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin before making his way to Cleburne.

Although the pair still sing, write and play instruments, both gravitated toward the production side along the way, individually at first and later as a team.

Moox worked several years with Austin rapper Trzan, whose wife, a CHS graduate, introduced him to J.

“We clicked and basically enhance each others strengths and weaknesses, hence the name Traktwinz” Moox said.

Both function as producers and engineers.

“We learned through trial and error and watching others more than any technical training,” J said about the pair’s recording and production experience. “It was more, ‘Hey Moox, this does this and that does that.’”



Peer approval

Artists who have worked with the Traktwinz consider them anything but amateurs, however.

“I’ve worked with a lot of producers and these guys are the best,” said Trzan, who is recording his upcoming solo album with the pair. “They’re on the level with the major guys like [record producers Dr.] Dre and Timbaland talent-wise. They’re just not as publicly known as those guys yet.”

Mario Vasquez, owner of MV Entertainment in San Francisco, agreed with Trzan’s assessment.

“I worked with Moox for the past six years through my involvement in the dance and hip hop scene and met J after that,” Vasquez said. “Their production is amazing. You tell them what you want and they just take it to another level. They’re quick with ideas flying and it’s not just production work, they jump on a track and see it through because it’s their name on the credits and they want to make sure it measures up.”

Vasquez, who works to develop artists through promotion and radio play, is working in conjunction with the Traktwinz to produce an album by singer Nataani.

Vasquez said the recording studio’s Cleburne location presents no problems as Moox traveled to California for the first half of the Nataani album while J used e-mail and the Internet to send lyrics and music ideas back and forth from home.

“Depending on our schedules, they’ll either fly out here to complete the album, or we’ll go there,” Vasquez said.

That may change. The Cleburne house and recording studio also has a production facility with a 24-track digital deck and other state-of-the-art gadgets. They also deal in graphic design, signs, business cards, banners, other promotional items and business commercial production. On top of all that, they plan to launch a record label — 2-Ton Records — in the next few months. To that end, they’ve signed J’s sister Jennifer Rendon, a country pop artist, and Redeye, a rapper, to the fledgling label.

Both said the well-known horror stories of artists dealing with major record labels have left them determined to work with the big names and companies but remain as independent as possible. They also remain convinced that — thanks to e-mail, the Internet, a growing reputation and their willingness to travel outside Johnson County when necessary — basing operations in Cleburne shouldn’t hinder their success.

“We’ve both struggled, haven’t 100-percent made it yet, but can’t complain,” J said. “Compared to 10 years ago when we were both doing remixes out of our bedroom closet to this is just a big change and a dream come true.”

“The first night we sat in this studio doing music, we were just astonished,” Moox said. “We knew it would happen one day, just not when. This has just been a blessing.”



‘Just for fun’

For all the talk of major labels and established stars, Moox and J constantly refer to singers and bands coming up or just starting out. Which begs the question who exactly is Traktwinz Recording Studio going to cater to?

“We definitely want to balance the two,” J said. “Bigger names and local artists. We want to help the community and local kids who don’t have the resources but want to record either just for fun or to get something started.

Moox agreed.

“We don’t want to record just one type of music or known artists,” Moox said. “We want everyone from the kids with a garage band up the street to the 40-year-old guy who’s written country songs in a notebook for years and thinks it would be fun to record them. Because there is a rap market in this area, but there’s still more rock, country and Spanish, and we want to record them all.”

Still, the question remains, why Cleburne? Why not locate in Fort Worth or Dallas ... or Los Angeles for that matter?

“Well, we’re comfy country boys who visit the big city frequently. We travel and people fly here too,” J said. “Our first thought was to make this a private studio for us and our artists, but there’s a lot of talent in this area. Music plays a role in everyone’s life. We figured why not open to the public and help others fulfill their dreams and get where they want to go?”

Just as they hope to mix working with established artists and unknowns, Moox and J also mix the joy of making music with business savvy.

“For our own stuff we just like to go off the wall and do something crazy and different music wise,” Moox said. “But we also do commercial stuff too and know that’s what most people are looking for.”

For information, call 817-556-2929 or visit www.traktwinz.com.



Matt Smith can be reached at 817-645-2441,

ext. 2339, or

msmith@trcle.com.

        

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