Cali Co. was built specifically for artists as they navigate the music industry. Founded and Established in Temecula California, studio manager and producer Daniel Martin is a full time music producer and music composer, while Bryan Lanning is the studio owner and artist.

Martin is the founder of ReAmp recording studios and co-owner of Hourglass Independent Records. He is a multi instrumentalist and has been published by Sony ATV music Publishing, Riptide Music and Perfect Storm Music group. Daniel has produced for hundreds of artists including Fetty Wap, American Idol Finalist Jessica Muse, Bryan Lanning, Paul Reed Smith and Victor Wooten.

Lanning is a songwriter, producer and performer while using the platform of Youtube as '“Daily Bumps” to share the life of him, his wife and their two boys. Lanning’s debut single, “This Is Home” has been streamed over nine million times. His first EP, “Like A Lion” ranked #2 on the Itunes Charts. Lanning also has his own media company that creates content for socials such as Youtube and Instagram.

We sat down to talk with Daniel and Bryan to talk about how Cali Co. Music Group came to be, what their dreams are for the artists that walk through their door and what they want to say to people who want to be in the music industry.

BC: How was Cali Co. Music Group born?

Lanning: “Cali Co really started because I was an artist needing a space to work. I have been for the last seven years running a Youtube company and I have two boys, a full family, so I have a full house. It was really hard for me to get any work done.” Bryan laughs, “Or have a place to create, connect with other creators, other artists. I met Daniel along the way - we have been making records together for sometime. I told him, I think it’s time we build our own space so we can really go for this. After it was done, it turned out so beautifully, like our second home. It would have been a shame not to share it with the public so we opened our days and invited people to share the space with us.”

Martin: “It’s a crazy process. You have to be a little bit nuts to do it thats for sure - but here we are. It took a over a year to build the studio and deal with the permitting so it was a pretty crazy thing. We definitely love that it’s being used quite a bit.”

BC: What’s the most important part of this company - this studio?

Lanning: “I would say for me it’s about having a place where artists and creative people just feel comfortable coming in and they can grow from their experiences. I love seeing people walk through my door and writing with them, seeing where they are at a year later and writing with them again. Seeing how much better you get when you do it! That’s what is exciting for me. Having that community, and that space to grow as an artist with each other.”

Martin: “It’s about filling a void and there was nothing else servicing a really large area probably sixty seventy miles worth of people that had no real creative outlet. We put this here and immediately we had people coming from all over the place because there’s nothing exactly like what we do.”

Martin: “Yeah, We also really facilitate artists. We don’t just walk in and say, ‘how much money are you here to spend?’ we say, ‘what do you need and are you ready for that or not?’ We help them gauge where they’re at in their careers and if spending money on a record or single is the right thing and we will guide them through that process.” Martin explains, “And if it’s not, we’ll tell them they should join our songwriting groups or other things that we do to ease into it with them.”

BC: I love how it’s about the journey for the artists and not about the money - how is your recording studio different from other studios?

Martin: “I think it’s just the matter of so worried about pressuring people into the sales aspect of it. Obviously we’re a business and we want to make money; we want to keep investing into our gear and our facility but it’s not so much going to make us bend our moral grounds for treating people the way they should be treated. We’ve experienced a lot of recording studios where it’s just about the money, just about how much time you spend.” Daniel confesses, “We’ve learned along the way that money will come when you just do the right thing for people.” Daniel says, “And I would say that’s the reason I went into studio ownership because of that (money).”

Lanning: “And I would say that we care. We really just care. Music is the reason we’re here. It wasn’t the building, it wasn’t the business. It was strictly just about we wanted to make good music - how can we keep making good music?”

BC: You mentioned your songwriting group, what can you share with us about that?

Lanning: “Those are super fun! We definitely break people out of their shell when it comes to the songwriting workshops. The first one we had, we had ten people come and it was really just to get peoples feet wet with songwriting. A lot of people hadn’t written before, or there was a mix of people who did call themselves songwriters. When you put people in a room, start a clock and say ‘you have an hour and a half to come up with a song that you have to show the group’ it really gets people’s brain movin.” Bryan tells us, “In the first session we told people to bring candles because the studios always needs candles and when they broke into their groups they learned they had to write a song about the name of their candle. It was challenging but at the end of the day we got three really good songs.”

Martin: “It’s very creative, challenging especially when you got people who are really good songwriters that come and then you’re mixing them with amateur songwriters or people who are just hobbiest. Seeing those two work together - the pro songwriters not trying to just give all the answers to the amateur. It’s really just funny to watch - it’s encouraging though I like to see that these people are helping us as well find these songwriters who right now are amateur but have so much crazy potential.” Daniel says, “don’t put it past us to pull some songwriter out of the group and start writing with them the next day on our projects.”

BC: What gave you the idea for the songwriting sessions? It’s a very unique thing that a recording studio has. Was this something you guys wish you had prior to the beginning of your careers?

Lanning: “Oh definitely! I think the first songwriting workshop I ever went to was the one I hosted so I definitely always wanted a space where I could so something like that.”

Martin: “It’s great networking too because we’ve seen people start at songwriting things and then join bands together or do other creative projects together and they didn’t know each other before they got there.”

BC: That’s so awesome - what is your dream for these artists walking through your doors?

Martin: I guess it’s whatever they want. We don’t really try to impose on what they want for themselves we just try to harness it and help them figure out if their dreams are realistic. For the most part we’re facilitators of the level of dreams, hopes and aspirations they want for themselves. We definitely hope they go as far as they want to. We definitely try and make sure that they’re not discouraged at any point. There’s a lot of high highs and low lows.” Martin tells us, “As long as we can be the navigators to help them through all those different scenarios we’re pretty happy with that. Just making sure nobody gives up on themselves.”

Lanning: “For me it’s all about growth. Being able to show someone where they were at and where they are now is just really powerful. As long as they’re just always growing in their craft they’re doing the right thing.”

BC: What is deemed a successful day in your studio?

Martin: “One where we don’t fight,” Daniel laughs.

Lanning: “A lot of fun, a lot of food, a lot of different creative aspects. I know when we’re in the middle of production sometimes you’ll be like ya know let’s mess it all up - you’ll go and start to grab a random objects and bang this together ya know.”

Martin: “As long we smiled, had fun - at the end of the day if the song’s not finished whatever we’ll start it back up tomorrow. Some songs are really easy and it’s this successful day of just being super productive.

Lanning: “Yeah some songs happen so conventionally and others just get thrown together.”

Martin: “The fight of the song is part of the fun too so putting together that puzzle piece at the end of the day like ‘hey we figured that out, here it is’ it’s pretty rewarding."

Lanning: “I would say at the end of the day as long as everyone in the room likes what they did then that’s a successful day and that’s kind of how you start a hit. If five people in the room can go, ‘whoa! That’s the greatest thing I’ve heard in the last twenty four hours’ that’s probably gonna gravitate to being seen that way outside the room.”

Martin: And I guess once the sessions over and if you still feel like coming back the next day then it’s successful.”

Lanning: “If you want to do it again, yeah!” Bryan laughs.

BC: Do the artists that you work with inspire you in any way?

Lanning: “For sure! I started this because I was an artist myself - I had this dream. I learned a lot about the industry and a lot about myself as an artist throughout the years. You could say I’m a little jaded in the whole scene or the dream but when I see artists walk through with that light in their eyes, pep in their step and their so excited about what they’re creating that’s really what re-inspires me. It goes like, “Oh yeah this is why we are here to just keep creating joy, creating happiness in these songs. That’s whats important for me.”

Martin: “There’s definitely a feeling of walking in the studio for the first time and being like, ‘wow this place is amazing’ and it’s something I try really hard to not take for granted because when you’re here everyday it’s like ‘oh ok I gotta go to work, I gotta turn the board on, I gotta get things set up’ I don’t really get to take that in everyday I come in. It’s really cool to get to see artists come in and start to show their talent to us. Once they start, especially when they are really really good and they don’t even know it that’s gets really exciting for us because we’re like ‘wow we can definitely help you figure out what you need to do. That’s kind of what it’s all about.”

BC: It’s great to be able to see what Cali Co. Music Group is all about but we want to take the chance to know you both individually. Daniel - has being a music producer always been something you were passionate about? How did you come into that?

Martin: “Yes, so I’m always the type of guy who does fifteen things at one time - I just can’t do one thing at a time; we have multiple businesses, multiple songs everything is just constantly going - i’ve always been that way. When I was working and touring with other bands I played with I was the only one that really decided to think about life outside of the band and so I started learning pro-tools, learning production, bought a computer, buying microphones. I started realizing even within a couples weeks of touring this wasn’t right for me. I definitely was a homesick sort of person so I just kept developing that passion to create new music every single day so it naturally led me into the production world just by doing a little bit of everything in the music business. Not just production but also the label side and figuring out how to help these artists grow and collaborate with other writers, producers, musicians. It’s all really fascinating to me so I think somewhere along the way I was just naturally guided to the hot seat in the studio.”

Daniel Martin || Courtesy of Cali Co. Music Group

Lanning: “I think Daniel also has such a positive moral compass when it comes to the industry. He’s very experienced in the different contracts he’s dealt with. He really wants to make sure people know what they’re getting themselves into.”

Martin: “Yeah, it shouldn’t be scary for anybody. It should feel good the whole time. There’s a lot of situations that I’ve learned being a producer, a song writer. I learned the right way to do things and the wrong way so I’m glad to be in a position which is that producer role of making sure that I can oversee things to make sure they go the way they’re supposed to.”

BC: What’s your favorite part about being a music producer?

Martin: “Probably the challenge of putting that puzzle together. Like I said the songs will present challenges and it’s definitely my job to figure them out. I have a great ear - I was born with it, I know when something doesn’t feel right we need to work through it. I’ve learned over the years, this is an experience thing is understanding that you service the song. You don’t service your own opinion, the songwriter’s, the artist. You listen to what the songs asking for and you give it to the song. It means a lot of the times my ideas have to take a back seat or they don’t work a lot of the times. When they do work though it’s rewarding to see the outcome.”

BC: With seeing what the song needs how do you put your thoughts aside to really listen to the song?

Martin: “Sometimes it’s just the matter of not listening to it for a little while. When we’re under some sort of deadline to get something done that’s where it gets tough because we have to finish a song in a few days or the artist has a really strict deadline or a strict budget then I really have to go hard, experiment, where as other times let me go a week without listening to the demo and I’ll start songs from scratch completely. I’ll throw everything away and start over if I feel like I made some wrong decision that I don’t know where it was, I’ll just scarp the whole thing and start right over again.”

BC: When you do that is that discouraging for you?

Martin: “It used to be but not anymore. Now I know I’ll save more time and be a lot happier with the song if I just start over than trying to constantly fix something that can’t be fixed .”

BC: For those who don’t know what are the tasks of a music producer like yourself?

Martin: “I’m sure I take additional roles but for the most part it’s seeing a song from the pre-production stages which means the songs already been written, it comes to me, I listen to the demo, we make a demo together, we figure out the temp, key, how it’s gonna sound listening to other people’s songs and getting on the same page with the artist. I hire the musicians, bring in all the guys who do the scheduling for studio time. Once the music is all done, the vocals are all done I handle the editing, mixing and then I deliver all the files to mastering. Basically I see every single step of the song from beginning to end.”

BC: It’s so much work that I don’t think a lot of people realize when they are listening to a three minute song.

Martin: “Yeah, it’s humbling to a lot of people that come in and see what goes on and they realize, ‘oh it’s not so easy to make an awesome song.’ Not to be discouraging to other people but it takes years of doing it over and over again. Some people are just really lucky and they can produce out of their bedroom and it sounds amazing - more power to them. There’s probably a good forty hours into each song - no doubt.”

BC: What’s a full day look like for you as a producer?

Martin: “Most of my days start with just the business stuff….”

Lanning: “Your day doesn’t start with your kids jumping all over you? Lucky!” Bryan laughs

Martin: “Ok let’s start there,” Daniel laughs, “I get rudely woken up at six a.m. by my kids.”

Lanning: “Now I feel better, thank you!”

Martin: “My family is super important so there’s that element but when it comes time to get ready for the work day. It’s e-mails first, I get e-mails from people so worried about their projects because they just don’t know how it’s gonna go, what’s gonna happen, they have questions about the studio, what they should bring. I handle all that first to make sure everybody’s feeling good about what they’re doing. I get to the studio and it just depends if I have clients, if we’re working on a project, if I’m mixing. Sometimes I’m just completely here by myself because there’s no noise other than the noise that I’m making; not the children, not the other musicians, so it varies day to day but for the most I spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen and pushing buttons to make stuff sound cool.” Daniel laughs.

BC: I imagine that your kids are influenced by music, growing up around it, do you wish for them to take over the music producing?

Martin: “No.” Daniel then laughs.

Lanning: “They are little rockstars…”

Martin: “They are little rockstars. My daughter writes, plays the piano - she’s thirteen. My oldest son he plays guitar a little bit and then my two little ones, if there’s a drum kit they’re gonna hit it.” Daniel says, “I woke up this morning and there was an acoustic guitar being strummed, a violin being played, I woke up to music lessons this morning.”

Lanning: “Dude you’re gonna have a family band,”

Martin: That’s what I’m trying to avoid - I will always support them in anything they want to do but it’s not gonna be me persuading them or telling them that they should. My daughter wants to be a doctor - go for it! Do that.” Daniel says, “Sometimes she’ll be like ‘I wanna be a songwriter instead’ and I’m like, ‘no - don’t do it.’ There’s a lot of heartbreak in this business. You have to be comfortable with people telling you that you’re not good enough. It’s part of the journey, it has nothing to do with your actual talent. It’s whether or not that person sees the same version that you do. It’s matter of numbers you send your stuff to so many different people and eventually you’ll find the right people that want to harness it, grow with you and I personally wouldn’t want my children to go through that level of heartache just to have a career.”

BC: What’s it like looking back on when you opened your first studio and seeing where you are now?

Martin: “I’m a pretty overly ambitious person so when it comes to taking that leap of faith - I quit a job that was paying me one hundred thousand dollars a year and I said I don’t want to be doing this. It was mortgage, I was doing paper work and selling loans. That’s not what I want to be doing, I want to make music. I walked in and quit on the spot, left a hundred thousand dollars a year behind. I just built my own studio, I didn’t have a lot of money to build it at the time but I one, had faith in God so that’s a big part of it. The other is that I don’t feel that I’m irrational with the way I think about things. I plan things out, I really prepare for them. I know there’s always surprises along the way but if I know that it’s coming it’s a lot easier to work around those obstacles and keep pushing forward. So far, so good!”

Lanning: “I’m kind of the dreamer,” Bryan chimes in, “I’m the pusher, he’s kind of like, “wait a minute you’re okay, slow and steady.”

BC: That’s awesome you’re able to balance each other out. Daniel, last question for you - do you have a message to anyone who wants to be apart of the music industry?

Martin: “Yeah, just roll with the punches, know that they are comin and be thick skinned. It’s not easy but if you’re an artist stick to the sound that you want to do. Just do what you do unapologetically. Be you and you’re gonna be okay. Don’t try and catch up to the current trends, don’t try and copy other peoples music. Just be you and eventually your wave will come and what you’re doing will be popular. You just have to be patient. If you’re always bouncing around you’ll never be in the right spot at the right time. For producers or musicians - just develop a network, go and meet people, talk, send e-mails. That’s the hustle, that’s what you have to do to start and see growth. When you build a community around you you just keep adding to the fire to make stuff easier. Just be patient overall and keep working hard.”

BC: Thank you so much for sharing with us Daniel! Bryan, what made you go into vlogging when you were passionate about music?

Lanning: “Vlogging is something that just accidentally found me. I was just looking for a way to express myself creatively. I had gone to college for photography, I did a little video. I just always have been fascinated with video and editing and the whole process of creating something that is so packaged and put together that people are going to be able to experience later. I kind of just accidentally found vlogging really. I started vlogging you know the experiences I was having with my wife, we were trying to start a family - we were just trying to educate people about what we were going through with starting a family. It then turned into this big, fun, experience that I never really planned for It kind of took over for awhile, but that’s ok cause I rolled with the punches and I’m a creative guy so I went with it. I knew in the back of my head that music was a huge passion for me. Everything that I learned, and experienced from the youtube world I kind of just applied it to the music world. I was always investing back into my music - that’s why I built this studio. I was investing in relationships like with Daniel and bringing people on my team. It was one of those things that I had to build for myself. You don’t just get thrown into the music industry, you have to create it for yourself.”

Bryan Lanning || Courtesy of Cali Co. Music Group

Martin: “You have to make a bunch of noise.”

Lanning: “Yeah, so that’s all I’ve been doing for the last couple years is just making a bunch of noise.”

BC: Expanding on this answer you gave, how has vlogging aspect of your career helped with the music aspect?

Lanning: “Music is just what I feel like I was put on this earth to do. At my core I just love telling stories, I love songwriting. When I discovered that’s who I was it was kind of a therapeutic thing.”

Martin: “And you have no choice now you’re in it,” Daniel comments.

Lanning: “And I have no choice now, yeah” Bryan laughs, “Making videos on Youtube felt very much like a mental creative thing. Music is more of an emotional creative thing for me. I’m an emotional dude, I really am I cry at some of the funniest commercials. But that’s really where my heart is is in songwriting and it’s something I’ve always gravitated too.”

BC: What’s your favorite part about being an artist and a songwriter?

Lanning: “I think just being able to harness an emotion or a memory and having someone relate to it. I love when I hear something on the radio that I’ve never heard before; like a line a certain way and I know what that lines means because I’ve said it my entire life but it’s never been presented in this way where it’s latched on to so many deep emotional memories. I love that relatability when it comes humans. Just being able to share my experiences and have people relate to them is huge.”

BC: Like I asked Daniel, since music is such a huge part of who you are, do your little ones gravitate towards music?

Lanning: “Uhm….not really, it’s funny because they love music, they love listening to the radio. Oliver has great key, he can hear songs and repeat them. I don’t really know what their future has in store for them, I’m always gonna support them to do whatever they want. Like Daniel said I don’t wanna push them anywhere because it just wouldn’t be right. They are definitely influenced by music; growing up in the studio is something that I wanted for them so it wouldn’t be intimidating if that’s something they wanted to do or maybe they’ll learn a couple things along the way while dad’s doing his thing.”

Martin: “Oh they’ve been in here a couple times, they’ve sang on some records".”

Lanning: “Yeah they have - they’ve been in the background and we’ve done creative little projects with them, just getting their feet wet and get them thinking about it. It’s not something I would really wanna force. Just them being around it is enough for me.”

BC: Do they think it’s weird to hear their dad on the radio?

Lanning: “They definitely don’t get as excited as other people would. They’re probably a little like, ‘oh yeah I heard it, no biggie.’ They’re humble boys, they really are. They really don’t know like the scene or the glam of it all. We keep them very humble and for good reason.”

BC: Your most recent EP, “Coming Home” where there is an overall theme for it?

Lanning: “Yeah, we wrote that record last year and we didn’t really know where I was gonna be at as an artist. Those four sons and the cover kind of really just found themselves. We didn’t write them with a solid theme in mind but we noticed that they were all really about me as a dad, me as a family man, where we were going to call home - it all seemed to come up naturally. In January we released the first single and we happened to sell our house. It was on a whim, it was anything we planned to do. It just felt right and it felt like a good time. We ended up leaving our house that we loved for five years and I didn’t realize but "‘Walls” was that song that helped me through it really. I needed that song before I wrote it really. At the same time Daniel was moving houses so we were all kind of thinking about legacy, family and home. They all just sort of found themselves.”

BC: You just announced your song, "'Slide into my GM” (OUT NOW!) What can you tell us about it?

Lanning: “Man, that song, I love it because it puts me right back to being a teenager in my first car. Driving through my hometown, going to McDonalds or going to the movies or picking up my friends. That’s the feeling we wanted to capture - that nostalgia. I hope when people listen to it if they are a little older like me they can remember that time and I hope if people who are getting their first car they can jam out to it driving around for the first time. It’s all about relatability. I hope people hear that song and remember that moment because I think we take that for granted. That first sense of freedom, that first sense of getting to be able to escape and go explore with your first car. That was huge for me at least.”

BC: And lastly Bryan, what do you want to say to upcoming artists?

Lanning: “I would say just follow your heart and educate yourself for sure. Educate yourself about lawyers, managers, labels, publishers. Know how the industry works and figure out what you’re good at. Keep growing at it. Keep pursuing it.”

To work with Cali Co. Music Group CLICK HERE. We want to thank the Cali Co. Music Group especially Daniel Martin and Bryan Lanning for sitting down and talking to us to be able to spread their outlet and all the amazing music it’s bringing to wherever you listen to music. Follow their socials down below!