Family Effort Gets Studio - And Musician - Up And Running

Dan Humann, a strict vegetarian, was only too happy to help the Emerson family convert a Spokane Valley meat-packing plant into a recording studio.

Humann, also a recording engineer, studio designer and general handyman, brought his expertise to the long-empty meat-packing plant at 4918 E. Sixth, and with recording artist Don Emerson and Emerson’s close-knit family, braved the foul smells of the meat lockers and reclaimed the decaying, vacant building.

“It was plumb gross,” Don Emerson said. “The lockers smelled like meat. It was bad.”

Yet Emerson had realized upon first touring the building last year that the thick-walled ruin would be the perfect home for his nascent Malta Records recording facility, and the whole Emerson family soon joined the massive project.

Father Donald and brother David bought the 6,000-square-foot building, then gutted its interior and put on a new roof. Sister Rose moved into the living quarters upstairs and became publicist and office manager. Brother Joe played drums, guitar and keyboards on Don’s first album, “Through Life.”

Humann helped with the design and remodeling work and also helped outfit the the 32-track recording studio’s meat lockers-turned-sound rooms with his own electronic equipment.

The Malta Records studio has been in operation since November and during that time Don’s career as a recording and performing artist has been at the heart of this family business.

One recent afternoon found Rose flying between copy machine and computer, scrutinizing the new European charts. Rose and the rest of the core team at Malta were elated: Don’s “Rocky Start” single had climbed to No. 10 on the European Country Music Association Radio Chart for the week ending May 18. The song was No. 8 in Belguim, No. 6 in Holland, No. 3 in Italy, and No 1 on the Top-25 Independents’ Chart.

“It’s awesome, just awesone,” said Don, who is 35 years old and has been a career musician.

Long-term, Malta’s business goal is to grow into a successful independent record label. In addition to recording Don and other artists, Malta offers support services ranging from choreography and costume consulting to publicity and web-page design.

The project of the moment is Don’s new album, on which he and the rest of the Malta crew are hard at work. There is talk of a promotional tour of European radio stations, and on-going negotiations with the San Francisco company that does video and technical work for Garth Brooks.

Malta Records has brought new life to an old building in the Spokane Valley. Here, the family business is music.

Rose Emerson listened raptly to two acoustic guitars interweave with her brother’s voice as Don sang a song that seemed to summarize the Malta vibe, “Whatever it takes to win you over, I’m more than willing to do.”