Meet Robert Mccutcheon

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robert Mccutcheon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robert below.

Robert, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

After the loss of my 19 year old son, Ryan, in an automobile accident, my family and and I re-evaluated what was truly important in our lives and decided that we wanted to pursue our passion for music while also honoring Ryans legacy. As a result, I retired from a 28 year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers and turned our personal recording studio project into a commercial venture while also establishing “The Ryan McCutcheon Rhythm19 Fund” as a charitable foundation. Today The Vault Recording Studio hosts a number of award winning engineers and producers, an independent record label and our community efforts working with school students through the Rhythm19 Fund.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

After several years of playing in bands and writing and recording my own music, I started my first recording studio (Alternative Studio) in my mothers house when I was only 19 years old. Eventually I spent more time engineering and producing other artists than my own music, and managed to work my way through college running that studio. After graduating from business school, I started a career in accounting and finance with, then Coopers & Lybrand, which eventually become PricewaterhouseCoopers. While I had a successful career in Accounting and Consulting, music was always in the background. As my two sons, Ryan and Brett, grew older, they also developed an interest in music. Both were percussionists, and Brett also played piano and saxophone.

After seeing the documentary “Sound City” on the in-flight movies returning from Europe on a business trip, I knew at that moment that I wanted to build my dream studio. I went home, bought an old bank building and hired an architect out of Los Angeles to design the space. It took several years to materialize, but eventually we opened The Vault Recording Studio in early 2016.

I was still working at the firm at the time and only using the studio as a personal project studio, recording with friends and family. In September of 2017 my oldest son, Ryan, was killed in an automobile accident returning from instructing students at a local marching band competition. That changed everything.

In 2018, after establishing the Rhythm19 Fund in Ryans memory, I met Jimmy Hoyson. Jimmy, a Pittsburgh native, is a six-time Grammy winner. He had recently returned after a 32 year career in LA to take care of family. He joined the team as Chief Engineer and we immediately acquired a vintage (1977) NEVE 8058 recording console used by George Harrison and Ringo Star in Pete Drakes Studio in Nashville, before being sold to Scott Litt (REM, The Replacements, Nirvana,) who had it in LA until 2017.

in 2019, Dave Hillis joined the team after moving his family to Pittsburgh. DAve was. the engineer that recording Pearl Jam Ten, Alice in Chains, Sound Garden, Temple of The Dog and so many other grunge records that cam out of London Bridge Studios in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Dave also brought with him the vintage Studer A800 MKIII 24 track tape machine that was used for all of those records. It now sits with us at The Vault.

Then in 2020, Rob Deaner (V6 Music + Post) joined the team and we finished Studio B as a post-production/composer space when he joined us. Rob is a composer, arranger and producer with decades of post production ad/tv experience that complements the skill sets of the team.

Most recently, we finished the Dolby Atmos mix room, a state-of-the-art 9.1.4 spatial/immersive audio room that is used to mix for Apple Spatial Audio music as well as film.

The Rhythm19 Fund has grown significantly since 2018. We have raised well over $200,000 and have established scholarships, funded equipment purchases and other activities and host numerous high school field trips to the studio. We also run a one week “Music Makers” summer camp for 8-12 graders that focuses on writing, producing, recording and distributing music.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Knowing and following you passion is key. It does not have to be professionally. Just know what makes you happiest. What feeds your soul, and make sure you find ways to incorporate that into your life. Don’t loose who you are in the process of a busy life and career.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I always found that I maintained a great deal of intellectual curiosity. I was always interested in learning new things and gaining new experiences. It was fundamental to my success in my first career at PwC and in my second chapter at The Vault. I’ve never been afraid to try new things, and to learn through failure. It has opened up opportunities for me that I never could have imagined, simply because I was willing to try and was not hindered by my lack of experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thevaultrecording.com/
• Instagram: @thevaultrecording
• Facebook: TheVaultRecording
• Linkedin: Bob_McCutcheon
• Twitter: @vault_recording

Image Credits

Gregory Neiser, Jeff Swensen or Flying Scooter Productions, depending on the photo