Contributed photo
Director of Five Star Studio Productions, O'Neil Grindley, in the studio in Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth.

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

"Yuh hear fi mi voice coming through di speaker, but it sound sweeter wid di echo chamber". So said Papa Levi in his song Mi God Mi King. This week 'Echo Chambers' ventures out of Kingston into St. Elizabeth.

Delivering a complete music package to St. Elizabeth and its neighbouring parishes, Five Star Studio Productions operates out of Santa Cruz, opening new doors for the island's southern region. Five Star is the only registered studio in St. Elizabeth and takes pride in its reputation for excellence.

Well-equipped technologically and able to produce music and CDs on all levels, Five Star does voice recording, mixing, rhythm building, distribution, track editing and more. Operated by director O'Neil Grindley, Five Star has been in operation since 1992 with a sister company in Hollywood; however, the studio itself was established in Santa Cruz five years ago.

Looking to expand

As well as managing artistes and their development, Five Star is looking to expand into making music videos. Currently, it does advertisements and other media-related productions.

According to Grindley, Five Star, despite not being in a technological hub of activity, can brag about the quality of its productions. "We have people who do demos here and people are amazed about the quality from here considering the we are 'country'," he said. Artistes such as Don Mafia have recorded at the studio as well as Cornell Campbell who is a veteran lovers' rock and roots reggae singer. Currently, they work with Ras Ibeah, who is in the process of making his debut album as well as Cush-I.

To protect the interests of its artistes, Five Star Studio Productions is a member of the Entertainment Retailers' Association of Jamaica, a body formed to enforce copyright laws.

Another goal of Five Star is to do its best to develop talent coming out of St Elizabeth. One of the ways of doing this is Five Star's close relationship with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), whereby the studio assists in the 'Get A Bus' competition. Grindley says, "We go into the different villages and towns and see if we can pack up talents and get them together".

Lovers of foundation reggae music, the operators of Five Star are open to developing all music genres, as Grindley says there is an active music scene in St. Elizabeth. However, he says that "the music scene is here in Santa Cruz, the problem is that people feel they are not getting the right share. Our talent is pushed under the table. Most people who have talent don't want to travel to Kingston or Montego Bay to record or rehearse. So now that we're here, more people are coming out of the woodwork".

Forging ahead of the rest in the area, the principals of Five Star Studio Productions are innovators who intend to put on to the music scene countless number one hits from St. Elizabeth. Grindley told The Sunday Gleaner that "we want St. Elizabeth to be competitive; we have talent".