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Mostly Cloudy Local music studio grows stronger
With twice the space, business can expand
Sometimes bigger is better. Daryl Granum, owner of Strong Side Studios in Valley Stream, has moved his musical recording studio from Rockaway Avenue to 27 E. Merrick Road.
The new location, he said, is double in size and will allow him to expand his services to the community. Granum celebrated the grand opening of the new studio last Saturday.
“This location was right,” Granum said. “I wanted to stay close to where I was before.”
The new locale has twice the space and will allow Granum and his partner, Joanne Cuomo, to host dance and yoga classes, as well as record bands. His other studio, Granum said, was too small to do either, and it was hurting his business.
With limited space, Granum said he was losing business opportunities and needed an upgrade to his facility. His new studio now has a separate production room and a larger recording booth, Granum said, and he plans to give lessons to aspiring music producers on how to mix and master music. “This was definitely an upgrade,” he said. “It’s like night and day.”
Granum added that his studio now has enough space to host parties, sing-a-longs, dance classes, and record band jam sessions. He added that Girl Scouts can also use the studio to earn their music badge. Granum charges $45 an hour to record and $55 an hour for bands, and that includes a basic mix-down, he said.
Cuomo added that she would like to run some youth programs out of the new studio. She said music students can practice there, and Granum is working on a cable access show — Strong Side Teens — dedicated to showcasing local teens’ talents. Everything will be done by local kids, Granum said, including the performances, camera work and editing. Cuomo added how pleased she was with the expansion. “As time went on, our vision got bigger,” Cuomo said. “We saw great potential, and walking into this empty shell of a room, we saw the vision and it grew.”
Granum said the community’s response was overwhelming, and he’s happy he didn’t move his business elsewhere. “I’m just really glad that we stayed in Valley Stream,” he said.
