As the pandemic drew musicians into home studios, Zoom and YouTube, Kyle Manship navigated his own sound studio enterprise from a room in his southeast hills home. The tricked-out studio presents the tools for mixes, masters and start-to-finish music production.

“This is a great space and a great place for someone to come in and have a good time,” he said. “When you hear the samples of what I’ve done, not to toot my own horn, but people say, ‘Wow, that sounds like what I hear from the record company.’ That’s why I started this — to get back to doing that quality of work.”

A defense contractor with a company based in Flagstaff, Arizona, his day job enables him to maintain his second career.

“It sometimes can be a lot of hours, but it’s a good balance,” he said.

Raised in Muncie, Indiana, his father owned a commercial recording studio.

“Growing up as a kid I was immersed in music,” Manship said. “He and his friends are all outstanding musicians and I started playing drums with them when I was about 14 or 15. I cut my teeth doing a lot of session work, getting countless session work and learning the ropes on how to record, mix and master.”

Manship grew up playing along with recordings from Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and other ’90s bands, but also became familiar with the ’70s and ’80s music of his father’s generation — Eric Clapton, Cream and Led Zeppelin.

In college, he would return home to work in the studio, where he became familiar with all kinds of music.

“I worked on everything from Christian rap to death metal and everything in between, which is a good thing,” he said. “It eliminates your bias towards certain music and you meet interesting people at the same time. You learn to make that genre sound the best that it possibly can.”

Manship earned a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering technology at Purdue University and a master of science degree in applied information management from the University of Oregon.

As a second lieutenant after Purdue with the ROTC, he spent two years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force before a career as a defense contractor.

He and his family lived in North Bend, Washington, and Scottsdale, Arizona, before moving to Seaside last year. His wife, Kate, is a special education teacher at Pacific Ridge Elementary; Miles, 12, attends Seaside Middle School and Isla, 9, attends Pacific Ridge. Kate’s parents live downstairs in a fully furnished basement.

His studio business saw a reboot in Seaside.

“Basically, the whole time we were in Arizona, I didn’t do anything,” Manship said. “I had drums, but never played them, or rarely. I prioritized family and work.”

The job here afforded him the opportunity to develop the studio.

“That was another fringe benefit,” he said. “It wasn’t in the forefront of my mind, but we saw this house and this space. This was perfect to start.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic has cut down on live studio recording, people are still coming in, he said, including guitarist Bruce Smith and Astoria-based singer-songwriter Segrid Coleman.

Manship plays drums behind Coleman and his father provides bass and guitar tracks from his studio in Colorado using a recording interface. When musicians record from their own home studios, they may not have the experience or the tools to mix and master their tracks, he said. They send their tracks to a studio like his.

“Essentially, I have an online store,” Manship said. “Somebody can send me their work, I can say, ‘Hey, here’s what it needs from my professional perspective. Here’s what it will take if you want it to be industry standard quality. Here’s what we need to do.’ And you can elect to do that.”

He said he is slowly getting the word out in Clatsop County, with his website seasidesoundstudios.myshopify.com, local social media sites and contacts with local businesses like Music 101 on Avenue S.

“Especially for local artists, my rates are very reasonable because I do this for more than the love of money,” he said. “Any money I make goes right back into the business. I think I’m unique in the position that nobody that I know of, unless you go to Portland, has the kind of equipment that I have. I can’t fit an orchestra in here, but any singer-songwriter, artist — I can certainly get you in here and we’re going to give you industry-standard quality.”

Coleman said “Kyle’s got this really amazing natural talent for taking any artist with any project, no matter what the level is, in just raising mediocrity and bringing it into a spectrum where it shines. He is a real gem to be found in Seaside.”

“I said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come in and check it out,” Manship said. “And here we are, about to release a seven-song CD next month.”