History of Clayton Studios

I’m Dick Ulett. I’ve been working in the recording business in St. Louis since 1965. And, as you can imagine, I’ve seen more than my share of changes in this industry. We’ve gone from razor blades to computer editing, reel-to-reel to digital audio files.

I was in the radio business for the first part of my career and was lucky enough to work at the legendary KXOK, KSD, and K-SHE. But after a dozen years behind the mic, I felt it was time to be my own boss. In 1976 I started a studio in my house in University City. My first client was Imo’s pizza and it didn’t take long before I was working with local and national clients and producing quite a few radio and TV commercials. My clients liked that I had a radio background and knew the ins and outs of how commercials were supposed to sound.

As my clientele grew, so did my studio needs. Outgrowing the small one-room home studio, I moved to a commercial location in the heart of downtown Clayton. We doubled our space and renamed the studio, Clayton Studios. At the time, St. Louis was a center for large ad agencies like Gardner Advertising, D’arcy, Kenrick, and Kerlick/Switzer, our client list continued to grow…Budweiser, Six Flags, Ralston Purina, Boatmens Bank, Dads Root Beer… Those were good ol’ days when advertising budgets were huge and projects were many.

In 1979 the landlord increased our rent, and it was time for a location change. We said,” why not own our own building and lot”. So we bought our building at 1126 S. Big Bend. (It was another 10 years before we had our own lot) With business going well I thought it was time to hire another engineer, so Keith Filges was brought on board and that brought about the addition of Studio 2.

As our commercial and corporate business continued to grow, so did our music business. In the early 80's we added 2 more studios that included a much larger music studio. We’ve been lucky to have worked with some great talent that come from St. Louis and beyond…Nelly, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Brian Setzer, Lou Rawls, Jordin Sparks and others.

Today Clayton Studios has evolved into 5 studios, including a video suite, CD duplication, DVD replication, and a staff that I am proud to say has been with me almost from the beginning. I feel blessed that everyday I get to come to work and do what I love with people I can call my “family”.

But enough about me, we like to hear about you. If you have a good studio or advertising story we’d love to hear it. Or, if you had a great session at Clayton Studios, we’d love to hear about that, too. Share your stories or feel free to share ours.