Chris Inumerable of Classick Studios and Michael Kolar of Soundscape Studios Credit: Courtesy of Chris Inumerable
Last week, Classick Studios founder Chris Inumerable signed paperwork to buy the East Humboldt Park building occupied by the recently shuttered Soundscape Studios. Soundscape founder Michael Kolar had announced in late December that he was closing his studio after a 26-year run that’d made it a hub for the local hip-hop scene. Since late summer, he and Inumerable had been discussing the future of the Soundscape space.
Their talks began in August, when the Classick Studios Instagram posted a photo celebrating its tenth anniversary at its current headquarters (2950 W. Chicago), which is around half a mile west of Soundscape (2510 W. Chicago). “I love fucking with people, so I texted Chris, ‘Congrats on ten years,’” Kolar says. “He hit back and said, ‘Thanks, neighbor.’ I was like, ‘How would you like to not be my neighbor anymore?’”
“When this happened, I was flabbergasted, to say the least,” Inumerable says. For about five years, he’d been looking to expand Classick by adding a second location. In 2020, he made an offer for a building at Grand and Western, but someone else bought the place first. He kept looking, but he knew that even if he found a place he could afford, he’d still have to spend time and money building out a studio. Kolar didn’t just have a stand-alone building but also a fully operational top-line studio. “Building a studio of the caliber where Soundscape is right now, it takes time,” Inumerable says.
Soundscape’s building also comes with history and prestige that can’t be bought. “I started my studio in the corner of my parents’ garage, with foam fingers glued up to the wall, cutting records on cassette tape,” Kolar says. “We’re fucking bootstraps DIY motherfuckers here.” After those humble beginnings in 1997, he moved Soundscape to two other locations—first to a factory on Fulton Street, then to a spot on South Wabash—before settling at the Humboldt Park spot.
In the late 2000s, Soundscape became a hub for MCs throughout Chicago and beyond, in part due to a partnership Kolar developed with Chicago hip-hop blog Ruby Hornet. In 2009, that partnership birthed a more-or-less monthly series of recordings called Closed Sessions, which in turn evolved into one of the best indie labels in the city. And Soundscape’s Rolodex includes lots of locals who’ve shaped Chicago hip-hop, including King Louie, Kidz in the Hall, Crucial Conflict, Chance the Rapper, and Vic Mensa. Several of those artists have also worked with Classick Studios.
Inumerable first crossed paths with Kolar at a late-2000s GLC listening party at Chicago Recording Company, where Inumerable was then interning. “I heard a lot about Mike,” Inumerable says. “[He] kind of paved the way for a lot of people in my generation who really wanted to get into the music game.”
Like Kolar, Inumerable founded his recording empire on his own. He started Classick in 2005, building out a studio in his childhood bedroom. Two years later, he moved the studio into the basement of that home. In 2010, he installed Classick’s headquarters in a different house, this time taking over the whole thing; the basement became the studio, and the living quarters housed collaborators. By the time Classick put down roots on Chicago Avenue in 2012, Innumerable and his studio were integral parts of the local hip-hop scene. He also developed a tight bond with a talented rapper-singer from Saint Louis named Smino, who recruited Inumerable to be his manager. Inumerable also began managing a frequent Smino collaborator, arty producer Monte Booker.
“Working with [Smino and Monte] for the last nine years, I’ve learned the ins and outs of the music business,” Inumerable says. “I feel like I want to give my own take and own perspective on how I can guide the next generation.” And Inumerable is doing that work. He’s president of Managers’ Special, a nonprofit collective aimed at helping Chicagoans who manage artists get a better foothold in the industry. A couple years ago, he began inviting local acts to perform on the rooftop of Classick’s Humboldt loft space for a YouTube series called 1Takes. And he hopes that expanding into Soundscape’s space will help him do more to build a supportive infrastructure for Chicago artists.
“I want to be a little more intentional—a little more forward—about what I’m trying to accomplish here in Chicago, which is really build that guidance,” Inumerable says. “I want Classick Studios to basically be the studio-slash-management-slash-label in the city that people can really rely on.”
What Inumerable is doing is just the sort of thing Kolar had hoped would happen to his old studio space. “I wanted to make sure it stayed open,” he says. “The most important thing to me is elevating the music community.” Kolar’s former engineers will continue working under Inumerable, who aims to start sessions in the Soundscape space within a week or two. It’ll be the next step toward a grander goal that Inumerable has been pursuing for his entire time in the industry: to develop a local infrastructure and support network for musicians that rivals the biggest music cities in the country.
“Everything that I do, I’m working with people in the city,” Inumerable says. “I’m not just doing it as Classick Studios. I’m trying to show people we can work together.”
