Central Sound Studio was located at 401 Magnolia Avenue, in the east end of an unassuming strip mall on the south side of Highway 92 in Auburndale, Florida from 1972 until 1986. It was the heart and soul of the Central Florida country, bluegrass and gospel community for the most of those years. Try as I might, I have been unable to find any photos of the outside of the building. The exterior just wasn't much to look at. But, for a small studio (only 16 tracks at it's highest point), in a nowhere town in the middle of the endless fields of Central Florida sandspurs, Central Sound Studio became a true Polk County legend.

Central Sound's roots can be traced back to the Auburndale Church of God in 1971, when Len Walls decided to record some of the church's talented parishioners -- have an LP record pressed -- and sell it at their "Homecoming" celebration. The project was recorded on a monoural Ampex tape recorder and included, among others, The Southlan Trio, a southern gospel act that had had some national success some years earlier on the Starday/King label. The project was a resounding success and not only did they sell all or most of the records they had pressed but many other acts, on hearing the quality of the recording, were calling and wanting to know if Len could record their projects.

Hearing of a defunct studio going to waste in a Panama City storage warehouse, Len Walls, Vernon Smith and Louis Shumate decided to try their hand at the recording business and in 1972 (using a friendly time payment plan) purchased that equipment. Len and steel guitarist Danny Jones then made the trip up to North Florida to retrieve the 4-track Ampex recorder, a custom Gately console, a pair of Wurlitzer studio monitors, and a couple of outboard effects. They rented a store front on Highway 92 and the equipment was moved in.

By now they were hooked and in 1973 they upgraded the studio's recording potential by purchasing a brand new Ampex 8-track machine from an outfit in Cleveland, Tennessee. They picked it up with a pick-up truck (still wrapped in plastic) and brought it upright -- to it's new home in Florida. Jack Linneman (owner of Hilltop Studio in Nashville) came down and helped convert the 4-track board and electronics to accomodate the additional 4-tracks.

In the next 3 to 4 years the studio grew in technique and clientel. Len was the primary engineer and was gaining valuable knowledge with each passing project and the studio's reputation was spreading. The stable of able studio musicians was also growing the quality of the sessions was steadily improving. In 1976, Darrell Glenn joined the staff for a couple of years as an engineer and producer. Darrell had a whole new set of music biz contacts as well as bringing a wealth of experience to the young studio.

In 1978, Len wanted to expand the studio again and he and investor Leo Gilman bought out the other two partners. This time the studio was completely remodeled. They annexed the office space that adjoined the present studio and the front half of that space became the studio offices and the studio archives were warehoused in the back. While the studio was wired to accomodate a 24-track set-up, they had to settle for a 16-track MCI 2" tape machine and board for monetary reasons. Bob Sowell from Woodland Studio in Nashville brought down a Westlake Audio design and it was reproduced at Central Sound. The only major difference in the plan was that the control room console had to be turned sideways in order to fit the available space.

The main studio room was completely remodeled with a "live" end and a "dead" end with a drum booth. The front lounge was paneled with "pecky cedar" boards which also covered the plate glass windows that looked out on the highway. The place was comfortable and funtional. Extremely heavy 6" thick doors were hung between the lounge and control room and another going into the studio. The studio and control room were very quiet except occasionally during a heavy thunderstorm or if a semi-truck with bad mufflers down shifted as he approached the red-light a quarter block down the road. It wasn't perfect -- but it was close enough.

Just a few of the albums & singles recorded at CSS

The studio was now prepared to deliver professional quality recordings and deliver they did. The studio produced a seemingly endless stream of country, gospel and bluegrass acts, nursing most through the process of recording, mixing, publishing issues and in-house album cover design and layout -- then sending (or hand delivering) the projects off to Nashville for mastering and duplication. Mixed in between all of this were songwriters demos, lots of songwriter demos. Len always had a soft spot for songwriters and none were ever charged what it was worth for demo sessions (This writer knows first hand and owes much of what success I ever achieved to the generosity of Len Walls and the staff musicians at Central Sound).

By late 1985, the fact that the clients promised by Gilman when the deal was first struck never materialized -- coupled with a slowing economy and advances in technology that were just too expensive to keep up with -- hard times fell on the studio and in 1986, Len and Leo sold the equipment and Central Sound Studio was no more.

When the studio closed, Len went to work for the Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida for about five years, doing sound and recording in the churches' huge facility.

Len was also dabbling in show promotion having worked with promoter Glenn Reeves back in 1980, while Glenn was putting on a huge series of Country Music extravaganzas just north of the city. Len was gaining more and more experience in show production and promotion and worked in tandem with Reeves until 1991, when the two merged into one company - MelloJean Productions. The two were responsible for coming up with the idea for the "Family Reunion" promotions, the first sponsor driven radio station shows. After Reeves' death in November 1998, Len went out on his own and established 4Walls Entertainment, Inc., a full service show production company. Len has produced shows with just about every big name in country, pop and gospel music.

To see what Len's up to these days, check out