Meet Curran Murphy of Custom Audio Mutation

Today we’d like to introduce you to Curran Murphy. 

Hi Curran, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I started playing guitar professionally in 1997 for a band called Nevermore (Seattle), then moved over to another band called Annihilator (Canada), and toured the world for many years. I started recording bands in a storage shed in Seattle in 2000. I relocated to Ohio about in 2004 or 05(not sure it’s all a blur sometimes). Set up my studio, started a new band called Shatter Messiah, and then started touring and making records again. My guitar amplifier company, Custom Audio Mutatin, comes from my frustration with recording. I have 20-30 high-end amps in my studio, and they all have faults or problems, so I decided to figure out how to make them sound the way I needed them to sound. I found it easier to just build my own amps than to modify existing gear. From there, clients in the studio started asking for me to build my amps for them, and being a kind of famous guitar player guy, I was getting emails from clients all over the earth asking about buying my amps. I started repairing music equipment for musicians locally because they are all a bunch of broke goofs and need the help. The guitar repair work springs from the fact that I started building guitar as an apprentice luthier for Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Body guitars out in Seattle. Again, these things are all learned from my frustration of amps, studios, and guitars not being right for me or not sounding how they need to sound for my musical vision. I also decided to open a high-end retail guitar map store to expand the business AND to make super rare and awesome amps available for OH, MI, PA, KY, WV, and IN players. The amps I carry are rare and hard to actually find and play in the cracker box music stores because they are crazy expensive. That pretty much covers all the ins and outs of my business, production, and performance career! 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
NOTHING is ever smooth in my business; getting back from my 1st European tour to find out I was homeless, broke, and stranded at the airport by the band I had just finished a month-long tour with. Living in a storage shed because I was broke but wanting to make records for bands. Having my car repossessed, and my home go into foreclosure TWICE while working to build a new guitar company. Mental breakdowns that jeopardized my marriage and life till I found therapy and got square with my soul and mind. Constant rejection of my music and always struggling to figure out how to make my amps better and to make better sounding records. What I do is an ENDLESS challenge, to my mind, my soul, my business, and my life. I wouldn’t change anything for anything; it has all been perfect and correct to get me right to this moment! 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Custom Audio Mutation LLC?
Custom Audio Mutation is a recording/production facility located in Kenmore/Akron. It is also where I build my hand-made high gain tube guitar amps. I also build guitars from time to time and perform repairs on guitar amps and guitars. I just recently opened up a high-end tube amp guitar store here as well which features some of the most sought-after tube amps of the modern era. 

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I don’t know if I have anything surprising to offer; I am a creature that wears my emotions and smile on my sleeve. I am very straight forward about who I am and what I do. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.customaudiomutation.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/custom_audio_mutation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CustomAudioMutation
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3xOVhAwLaLtjs12khrIv_Q

Image Credits
James Cooper