Charles “Chicky” Reeves

Charles “Chicky” Reeves is a producer, recording, mixing and mastering engineer working with famous artists such as Ray Charles, Tito Puente, Johnny Cash, and Radiohead—as well as MTV’s Live at the Ten Spot, VH1 Storytellers, Boyz II Men, D-Lite, 247Spys. In 2004, Reeves moved to London with his New-York-schooled-style. He continues to collaborate with artists in the studio as well as mixing front of house for Grace Jones, Robert Logan, BEF (formerly Heaven 17), OneTwo (of OMD), Skye Edwards (of Morcheeba) and the Icelandic band Trabant. His studio, Sublime Studios, is located in Islington, London, England.

Early Life

Born in Griffin, Georgia, Reeves spent his early life in Georgia and Texas and was educated in Europe. He attended high school in Sulingen, Germany and the Vienna Conservatory in Vienna, where he studied contra-bass clarinet, double bass and conducting, with a focus on 20th century French music. In 1989, Reeves returned to America and composed music for Fox Television network. He opened a nightclub, 6th Street Records, which was also a live venue for Austin’s well-known 6th Street and its bands. He subsequently began focusing on engineering and production throughout the early 90s at well known Austin recording studios, The Hit Shack, Arlyn Studios, and Audio Image, and eventually converting his three-bedroom house into his own recording studio where he recorded many well-known Texas acts such as Loose Diamonds, Beaver Nelson, The Ging'bread Men, Troy Campbell, Michael Ramos, Pop Poppins, Laurie Freelove, Claude McCann, JoCarol Pierce, Rich Brotherton, Champ Hood, and Walter Tragert.

In 1996, Reeves moved to New York City, where he became chief engineer of Manhattan Center Studios/Hammerstein Ballroom. During this time, he also ran his own studio out of the Hotel New Yorker, where he worked with Lisa Left-Eye Lopez (TLC), BoyzIIMen, Beans, 247Spyz, Dee-Lite, Apollo Heights, Tru Life, Paul Sorvino, Amy Atchley, Morgan Taylor, Jeff Byrd, Broose Dickinson, as well as mixing for Ray Charles, Tito Puente, MTV, VH1, and many others.

In 1997, he collaborated with British singer and songwriter, Francesca Longrigg of True Noise, producing and recording her album for Reprise. The extended project eventually (in 2003) brought him to London, where under the management of One Fifteen, he began working with clients such as Grace Jones, Barry Adamson, Paul Humphreys (OMD), Claudia Brücken (Propoganda), Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, Jools Holland, Ben Waters, Ivor Guest, Skye Edwards (Morcheeba), Patrissia, Sam Sallon, Dana Boule, Adam Green, Bess Cavendish, Natalia DiSario, David Frazier, Gambling Hearts, The Cavaliers, Danny Valentine, Saint Jude, Anne Garner, Robert Logan, and Look, Stranger!.

In 2007, Reeves put out his first solo CD, Help Is On the Way, under his creative sobriquet, The Aklamate, and began composing tracks for Extreme Music. He continues to release music and make remixes under the names of both The Aklamate and Edmund Squeeze, as well as in 2010 releasing a series of videos (under both names as collaborative material) featuring lengthy single shots, sometimes as long as twenty minutes in length, with musical scoring.

Sublime Recording Studios

Reeves connected with his calling of owning and operating a studio when a band approached him at his nightclub in Austin, Texas, 6th Street Records, saying that he did a great job mixing their show and wanted to know whether he knew how to work a 24-track studio. A quick study, Reeves used this opportunity to work his first session, figuring out the ropes along the way. After several incarnations, his current studio now is Sublime Recording Studios in London and is located in a Grade II listed historical crescent in Islington, London, where he says his first priority is to provide a place of artistic and creative safety to his clients.

His influences include Boards of Canada, Sigur Rós, This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins, The Beatles, early Tears For Fears, Trevor Horn, Flood, Kraftwerk, Can, and Neu!, among others.