By: Shane Bagot, Follow South Jersey Community Journalist
SOUTH JERSEY – Banditt Records is Ocean County’s hub for all inspiring musicians seeking the support and help they need.
Based in Point Pleasant Beach and owned by Ocean County Music Corporation, Banditt Records is a record label with the primary goal of showcasing original and local artists. It does not cost clients a thing to come in and record, as long as they also master their music at the studio. The owner is Mike Corona, with the help of engineer Vinnie Evans, who themselves are artists of many years, are just trying to ultimately give back to their community.
The label has been in operation for three years, its growth largely through word of mouth. This has helped it be open to all types of genres, sounds, and different mediums of media, producing voiceovers for local fishermen and recording a podcast, to name a few. In addition, they will help play backup music on tracks if needed and brainstorm ideas to get the ball rolling charging $75 an hour to come in and work together.
They have a mix of clients that come in weekly and also one-off clients who just release one song. Some of their primary artists include Cathy Gaestel, Fabio Dreams, and MaryLou Doyle. These artists are not locked down by any contract and are not obliged to give a percentage to the label. They work as an avenue for artists to be themselves and not deal with the common issues found with labels of old. Artistic development and integrity are very central to the motive of the label.
“Our mission statement here is not to change anything they’re doing. We’re not going to go out there and say, ‘Oh, you can’t do that.’ Their music is their music. We just sit back there and let them express themselves however they want,” said Corona.
Corona and Evans pinpointed it to the changing times and how much power the artist has nowadays. Since they are artists themselves and release work on Banditt Records, they understand the hardships and struggles that go into being musicians. They take it as fuel for the love they have for music and helping others out.
“It’s more for the music. That’s what we’re in this for. We love the music. We enjoy doing this stuff. This is not work for me and Vinnie, this is something we’ve always wanted to do…We try to help them. We walk them through the process because people don’t know about monitoring, headphones, and how things sound and different things,” said Corona.
Alongside helping people record for various projects, they try to help and elevate the community as much as they can. They host open mic nights, karaoke with live bands, and a battle of the bands. They are also open to all ages, allowing young kids to come in and get an idea of the recording process. Corona spoke about one of the kids he teaches coming in and recording a song for the first time. The young kid is now feeling like he is famous. But it gave him the experience and confidence needed to go forward.
They hold to the motto of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” not necessarily looking to change the process of how they work. They will be looking to update and expand the website soon, specifically, adding artist pages to highlight the lineup they have built up over the years. The main thing for them is not to sit still and to keep growing with every passing year, keeping everything about the process organic.
For more information about the label and its services, click here to find the Banditt Records website.
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