Compound Bio

In 1997 Elder D moved his studio from The Cakehouse in Long Beach to the current location at The Compound, a crude former cabinet shop on the border of Signal Hill. Slowly The Compound was transformed from an open warehouse to a full scale recording facility. The first objective of the construction was a perfectly balanced and tuned control room; a place to provide accurate monitoring where great mixes could be made.

In 2001 the final plans for the control room were delivered thanks to world famous studio tech Rob Harvey. Ken Negrete provided interior design and surface materials based on his experience at Jabbz recording in downtown Long Beach. With the help of Joel Means, major construction was finished by April of 2001. The happy accident of the project was the revelation of the great sounding live tracking room. At over 1000 square feet with 15 foot high ceilings and rough hewn wood surfaces, the live room sounds amazing and has enough space to track even large bands live.

In 2003 Anthony Arvizu and Heath Bennett became partners in The Compound adding a Pro Tools HD system and some excellent mics and outboard gear.
 

Anthony Arvizu
Engineer, Producer, Drummer, Studio Partner

Arvizu began his music career as a drummer in the late seventies/ early eighties as punk rock changed to an “alternative” art rock. A founding member of Dr. Dream recording artists’ "National Peoples Gang" , he recorded, released and toured internationally for three records before disbanding in the mid nineties. During this time Arvizu graduated from Golden West College in Huntington Beach, CA with a degree in Recording Engineering and began recording at the now defunct recording studio “The Toledo” in Long Beach, CA. The Toledo became "Mambo Sound and Recording", where Arvizu continued to record and produce as well as managing the studio and live sound reinforcement company.

Later in the nineties he was a founding member of the delta blues group “Bourbon Jones”, earning the moniker “Two Drum Tony”, famous for simply playing the 26” Radio King bass drum and cowhide snare, digging deep into the “second line” style of New Orleans blues and swing. It was in 1998 that Anthony had the opportunity to engineer at Capitol Studios in Hollywood. The experience of working in a world class studio inspired him to take on a job there as assistant engineer/set-up, exposing him to a truly professional recording environment. Still living in Long Beach, the commute and long hours at Capitol inspired Anthony to look for a recording environment closer to home.

In 2003, happy to finally have a studio to truly call home, Anthony joined the Compound to help create "An Organic Recording Experience".

Pre-Compound Discography
1988 NPG / The Hard Swing - Drums and Cymbals
1989 NPG / Orange - Drums and Cymbals
1991 NPG / Masterbate- Drums and Production
1992 Chad Jasmine / FEED - Drums and Production
1992 Sublime / 40oz to Freedom - Engineer
1993 Big Drill Car / Batch - 2nd Engineer
1993 Rocket From the Crypt / Boychucker - Recording and Mixing
1993 Supercollider / Dual - Recording and Mixing
1994 The Lung Pigs / Recording and Mixing
1995 King Cotton / El Royal Flush - Recording and Mixing
1996 Hook Herrera / LIVE at the Blue Cafe - Recording and Mixing
1996 Robert Deeble / Days Like These - Drums and Production
1998 Robert Deeble / Earthside Down - Drums and Production
1998 The Eddie Reed Big Band / Hollywood Jump - Recording and Mixing
1999 Killingtons / American Made -Recording and Mixing
2000 The Violet Burning / Demonstrates - Recording and Mixing
2001 The Violet Burning / Faith and Devotions - Recording and Mixing
2001 Centimeters / Help Is On The Way - Recording and Mixing
2002 Havalina Rail Co. / Space, Love and Bullfighting - Mixing
 

Heath Bennett
Engineer, Producer, Percussionist, Studio Partner

Heath has been an active member of Delta Nove and it's recording engineer since it's beginning. As, a percussionist, recording engineer, and a producer Heath draws from a deep well of knowledge that brings a vibrant sound to the music he works with. As engineer and producer he has worked with Natural Afrodesiac, Shave, Thu Winners, Ryln, Delta Nove, Steel Parade, and many more local Long Beach Bands. As a musician he helped to form Delta Nove, and has also performed with Mickey Hart, Bruce Hornsby, Santana, and many other local and national touring acts. Musicality, vibe, and fresh sounds bring life into the music and musicians Heath works with.
 

Steve Cross
Musician, Composer, Producer, Studio Partner

Steve Cross (aka Elder D) began his music career in 1986, playing guitar and singing with a band called Imagining Yellow Suns. After being signed to Indy label Dr. Dream in 1988, they went in the studio and record their self titled CD. As in previous attempts, the recording did not come out sounding like the band did live. This led The Elder to begin a quest for a pure and representative studio experience. In 1994 Anthony Arvizu (AAA) offered to record the band Long Beach Cake in which The Elder played guitar, composed, and sang. Although there was little time for experimentation, this studio experience brought him closer to what he had hoped to get from the music in the studio environment, and began a working relationship with AAA. The CD entitled "The Lungpigs" was released by Headchange Records in spring of 1995.

In 1996 Elder D bought his first digital work station and began recording and mastering projects on his own. AAA brought him editing jobs by Disco Stranger, Lily De La Mora and others. He also began mastering projects such as The Parkas, Centimeters, and friends' "Kentucky Rhythm Compilation" and Sublime's evil twin - The Juice Bros. He concurrently worked on playing bass, tracking and mixing Shave, The Len Brown Society, and Dean Martin's Liver. The summer of 97 Elder D earned his name when he conceived and developed "The Elderly Rock Opera" - a ten member show in which he composed, sang and played guitar.

1998 Shave / Jesus Shaves - Artist, Recording, Mixing
1998 Shave / Full Commercial XXXmas EP - Artist, Recording, Mixing
1998 Thu Winners / Primero -Mastering
1998 Chase Frank / short film - Composer
1999 Ace Areola / "The Malibu Mile" - Composer
2001-2004 Thu Winners, Peaking Widows, Rilyn, Lo-Fi Champion Recording and Mixing
2004 Shave / Trans Universal Worldwide - Artist, Recording, Mixing

The Elder is currently tracking and mixing future $have releases, "$have The Nation", "Pissed Off For Peace", and "Rockstars Anonymous Roast."
 

Jeff Lewis
Engineer, Tech, Webmaster, Musician

Basically works on every session that comes through the Compound. Worked with tons of bands (see client list), played in a few bands (Pat Gallagher and the Peace Bombs, the Year Zero, Katie the Pest), and he tinkers with electronics (he'll fix your broken cables and pedals and such.)