Founded in the late seventies

Sound Factory, formerly Studio West, was founded in the late seventies by Gary West (original singer/songwriter of the band "Shooting Star"). The original studio was built just outside of Kansas City for the purpose of having a professional recording facility near home to do recordings for some of Shooting Star's five album releases on Virgin, Epic & Atlantic. Gary has worked with such famed producers as Ron Nevison (The Who, Led Zeppelin), Gus Dudgeon (Elton John, David Bowie), Kevin Elson (Lynard Skynard, Journey), and many others. The original studio was centered around an MCI 24 track tape machine and an unbelievable amount of vintage equipment. For many years, Studio West was the leading recording studio in the Midwest. A cooperative relationship under the name the Sound Factory emerged as a facility in the late 1980s and housed two 24 track machines and a Trident console. In the early ‘90's, Gary shut the doors at the studio. At that time, he moved the studio to a private operation focusing on more individualized productions rather than maintaining a studio for hire.

As Gary's son, Wes West grew up in and around the studio and became involved with studio operations and recording engineering at a very young age. During mentored experience with his father and other top engineers & producers he gained an insight to recording techniques and an understanding of recording equipment that is second to none.

Nearly 20 years of experience

Wes has engineered thousands of recording sessions. He has built a solid reputation as an outstanding record producer and one of the best recording engineers available.