RenilkMusic History

History & Vision

John & Jacque Kliner

“We have created a real relaxing,creative space for Songwriters and bands”

Hello!  We are John & Jacque Kliner and welcome to our studio.  We want to provide the utmost in comfort, atmosphere and quality audio work.   See below how to get a hold of us.

John Kliner has been in the recording business 46 years.
He worked in his first professional studio in 1974, as a senior in High School in Ft Wayne Indiana.
"SoundTrac studio was equipped with an analog 1" Ampex AG-440 8 track tape machine and a small Neotek console and was my first hands on experience with any kind of professional recording equipment. The studio and control room were tight and designed very well but can't recall who designed it.
Upon HS graduation and entering Hillsdale College as a full time student, 90 miles north of Fort Wayne, I would head home weekends to get more experience in the studio and I always had a few interested and curious music friends in tow as well
After several unsuccessful academic years at Hillsdale College in which I spent more time on music than academics "I had to stop wasting my parents money make some serious decisions... getting to Los Angeles was at the top of my list...."
But how to get there?
I Auditioned for a major Detroit club band called TILT. They were really great and very popular. They had gotten a recording deal with Casablanca records. They recorded the album, John Ponder their original drummer quit, and I jumped right in. As I eventually left the band Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilly Peppers joined. Just trivia.
But this was just a means to an end.
After a brief stint with TILT and another band called ARTIST it was time to check out of Detroit. Still needing money, it was off toVernal, Utah with my cousin to work in the booming oil field.
LA was gonna be expensive$$$
After a year in the beautiful mountains of Utah away to LA I went.
Arriving in LaLa land in 1979 took A lot of hitting the streets and Networking.
With the huge help my great friend Martin Dombey, who was the tape rep for 3M at the time, I landed my first entry level Recording Engineering gig at The Record Plant. Wow what an education!!!...4 SSL Rooms! Original location on 3rd & Lacienega in West Hollywood, and probably the busiest and most high profile recording studio in the world, I was in heaven!!
"Although my position was entry level and basically a "runner" in nature, It was the best possible position to be in!. Being able to be on every session that was going on in that 24 hour span of whatever day it was, was a chance for me and my staff colleagues to be involved in every session, mingle with Rock Stars, and support everyones needs in those sessions from food and drink to many other crazy requests. And besides, I can clean one nasty toilet.
I was in on sessions with Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Ozzy Osborne, Rod Stewart, John Travolta-Debra Winger, Aretha Franklin and many more...And A lot of great stories to tell
After a year at The Record Plant I moved on to work for Jazz guitar legend and session master Larry Carlton at his famous home studio Room 335. I got to work with Hal Saks, Larrys engineer and continued my education. "While here I got to go on 2 tours with Larry in support of his album "Friends".
I was responsible for his personal equipment for the tour which came right out of the studio. What an experience! East Coast & West Coast tours.
Larry taught me how to align a 2" 24 track machine and some basic flow on the MCI console. Even went fishing with Larry on the Kern River near his ranch.
At 335 I was in on sessions for "Against All Odds" Soundtrack, Bill Withers and numerous tracking dates with Jeff Porcaro Abraham Laborial , Randy Kerber and of course Larry.

Audio Services

Project Coordination

Tracking

MixingMastering. (new)

Advice & Consultation on Publishing, Copyright,

Duplication/Tape/

Vinyl Transfer

For Booking Call:
205-331-7968
334-399-3949
 
 

After 2 years with Larry and working another full time job for PRC Corporation I landed a staff 2nd engineering position at Westlake Audio, Studios A&B on Beverly Blvd in Hollywood.
This studio had 2 rooms with 2 Harrison Consoles and phenomenally sound and accurate Rooms.
Studio A was the studio where Michael Jacksons "The Wall" &"Thriller" were recorded. It was here under Chief Engineer Ric Butz that I started assisting in the rooms.
I stayed at Westlake for 2 years and worked with Michael Jackson on his Disney project "Captain E.O., with John Barnes, Donna Summer, Barbara Streisand, Billy Crystal, Stevie Nicks. To me the excitement was to be able to work with many high profile engineers and producers such as Bruce Sweden & Quincy Jones.
After 2 years at Westlake I moved on to Total Experience Records in Hollywood an offshoot of RCA Records. This studio had an API & JH24 2" machine and was basically minimal Their major artist was "The Gap Band". but wasn't a good fit for me.
It was on to Cherokee Studios in Hollywood for another staff 2nd engineer position. Cherokee was legendary at that time and had 4 beautiful studios equipped with Trident Consoles. It was here I got to work with Rod Stewart Again!, Billy Preston, Laura Branigan, Mel Brooks Jody Whatley & Cheryl Lynn. The biggest thrill was jumping in the first engineer chair to cut Carlos Vega on a Laura Branigan session. My real first time engineering. It was after this I had no Fear
After Cherokee I landed at a very special place in the Valley on Burbank & Lankershim in North Hollywood called Studio Sound recorders and another 2nd engineering position with producer George Tobin.
George is a veteran producer who had produced many hits such as Donna Weiss's" Betty Davis Eyes" Smokey Robinson, New Edition & was currently producing Tiffany when I came in.
The studio was renamed to Roxx Studios It was here Brad Schmidt, Georges Studio Manager, started using me as a first engineer, mostly cutting Regional Mexican stuff for Luna Records. Los Caminantes, Los Dinnos...the most substantial thing about this studio, for me, was really getting to work with 2 great engineers, Alan Hirschberg and Bill Smith. I started First Engineering more and more working on A lot of TIFFANYS stuff and wala!.... got my first Gold & Platinum records with her
The studio was noted to be one of the finest rooms in LA for cutting jazz tracks, so all the major jazz session players were always in and out. Clients included Keiko & Kazu Matsui, Pat Kelly, Grant Geissman, Scott Henderson, Richard Elliot and Alphonse Mouzon.. After becoming Chief engineer and getting really burned out I eventually left Roxx and went Independent. I had landed some pretty cool artists under my my belt; Richard Elliot, Alphonse Mouzon and Luna records a Sony distributed major Regional Mexican label.
After about 10 years and needing a new challenge I decided I wanted to be closer to my family back east. Pretty much overnite I made the decision to move out of LA and I was gone.
With a pretty substantial track record I landed in Nashville at a time when LA Engineers seemed to not be well recieved. But through talking with people at MCA Nashville, networking and hitting the streets, I landed with Randy Scruggs at Scruggs Sound in Berry Hill as Randys Studio assistant, mostly working with Ron "Snake" Reynolds. I also did work for Bob Solomon at Air Studios Hendersonville. I got a real lesson in country music getting to work with Sawyer brown, Joe Diffie and others
As things got tough, I made my way down to Tuscaloosa Alabama and got up with well known musician and local businessman Kenny Smitherman. Kenny brought me in to help establish KOS Studios. KOS had a couple years of moderate growth but failed to produce many clients...As the studio folded it was back to Nashville.
I had networked with Bob Solomon as he acquired the Woodland Digital. This was a beautiful and significant studio in the 80s but had been vacant for a few years. Bob transformed it into a beautiful facility with a vintage Neve 8068 in a pristine tracking room and the mixing room had a Neve Vr72. I got to do A lot here. Albums with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pam Tillis, Patty Loveless, Shania Twain Willie Nelson and many more.
Eventually I had the itching to do a studio of my own. It was back down to Tuscaloosa. Renilkmusic was born as a BMI consideration for a publishing company name so in 1995 RenilkMusic was born. Bought the equipment, and into business I went.
Eventually to supplement my family with benefits and retirement I landed as a Videographer/Editor and Media producer at The University of Alabama. Went back to school, got my degree, put my 2 daughters through college as well. I now live in Tuscaloosa with my beautiful wife Jacque.