NORTH CANTON − Sitting in a dimly lit recording studio, Franklin Stewart eyed a computer monitor and audio controls as he worked on a song blending hip-hop beats with acoustic guitar.
From outside the studio, along a bustling stretch of South Main Street, passersby would be oblivious to the fact Stewart, whose music producer name is Franky Wahoo, is a sonic maestro at work.
Crafting a track in the stylish and cozy studio, Stewart was poised and at ease.
Making beats and incorporating them into songs started in Stewart's northeast Canton bedroom when he was a teenager making music with his brothers, James, Tommy and Alex. Now he owns 1838 Recordings, a music production recording studio specializing in hip-hop music.
"Since I was a kid, me and my brothers always had a home studio thing, and all of our friends would come and record with us," said the 2011 McKinley High School graduate.
The 29-year-old has evolved from those formative days to working full-time as a producer and studio engineer.
Highlights in his young career include collaborating with major hip-hop and pop artists like Machine Gun Kelly. Stewart contributed to MGK's song, "Home" from the 2017 Will Smith Netflix movie, "Bright." The song was certified platinum.
Franky Wahoo worked with Machine Gun Kelly before he was a superstar
Earlier this month, Machine Gun Kelly, a Cleveland area native, headlined a concert drawing an estimated 50,000 people at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
Around 2010 to 2012, Machine Gun Kelly "was still local and kind of big, but he wasn't a big national act, and he was still reachable on the local level," Stewart said.
Stewart had some beats in mind for MGK. Eventually, the two connected at Spider Studios in the Cleveland area, and Stewart's production work was featured on the track, "Her Song."
Their studio sessions led to "Home," which also features X Ambassadors and Bebe Rexha.
"He's a very talented person," Stewart said of Machine Gun Kelly, who has ventured into pop-punk in more recent years. "He has an ear for what he knows, what sounds good, and he's not scared to push something to the limit. He'll stay (in the studio) all night."
"Home" has yielded financial rewards and perks for Stewart, including a free Netflix subscription for life.
He said he also received monthly payments totaling around $6,000 after taxes, as well as other financial compensation. Earlier this year, Stewart received a platinum record plaque for his role in the Machine Gun Kelly song.
Platinum success also has helped draw more studio clients, including from the Youngstown area and the West Coast, Stewart said.
But "my form of success is just doing what I do every day," he said. "It's not accolades, it's doing what I love every day instead of a 9 to 5 job."
'He wasn't famous at that point'
MGK was approachable and personable in the studio, Stewart recalled.
"He wasn't famous to us at that point," Stewart said. "He was Colson (Baker) back then."
Later on, "MGK had a sample of a singer with piano, and we ran with that and just structured the whole song with that," Stewart said of "Home."
"And MGK listened to it ... and he said, 'It sounds really good,' and he rewrote the verses ... and worked on it again," Stewart said. Some lyrics also were changed later to fit the movie, he added.
More tweaks followed. "There were a lot of people involved," said Stewart, who sharpened his music production skills while living in Los Angeles for about three years before returning to Stark County in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Stewart said he last worked with Machine Gun Kelly in 2020 on the song, "In These Walls (My House)," earning postproduction credits.
Recording and polishing tracks with established artists is a collective effort involving a host of engineers, technicians and producers, he explained.
"There's so many moving parts," Stewart said, citing "Home" as an example.
Franky Wahoo contributed to a rap song featuring LeBron and KD
Machine Gun Kelly isn't the only superstar he's worked with on rap music.
Stewart said he was in an Ohio studio around 10 years ago when LeBron James and fellow NBA star Kevin Durant recorded a song.
About six years passed before a snippet of the track was posted online and later picked up by DJs who played it in clubs, Stewart said. Talks with James' representative Rich Paul about potentially using the song in an NBA video game stalled, he said.
Additionally, TMZ, a popular tabloid news website, became interested in the rap song, Stewart said.
Concerned the full song would leak online or be released without crediting him for his studio contribution, Stewart posted "It Ain't Easy" for free on SoundCloud in 2018. The song immediately caused a stir online and garnered interest from sports media. Stewart, under the name Franky Wahoo, was even mentioned by famous sports pundit Skip Bayless on the Fox Sports 1 talk show "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed."
"It was literally everywhere," Stewart recalled. "It broke the internet. Anything with LeBron gets crazy."
Recording beats and rhymes with the sports icon was surreal, he admitted.
"LeBron was very coachable on something he doesn't know," Stewart said. "He's a very go with the flow type and just tries to give his best effort."
Stewart also has worked with Canton native and breakthrough hip-hop artist Trippie Redd, who first gained prominence in the SoundCloud rap scene and now has 13 million Instagram followers. Production credits also include Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
Stewart and his brother, Alex Stewart, co-produced the song, "I got cash," featuring Trippie Redd. Franklin Stewart, meanwhile, said he's working with another brother, James Stewart, a local hip-hop artist known as J-Stew, on an album scheduled for release next year.
Asked about his goals, Stewart said ultimately he would like to launch a record label and break an artist nationally.
The North Canton resident is open to all genres, including country and hard rock. "I want to have a range," he said. "Just a very open palette."
'We like to think of songs as a house full of furniture.'
Stewart uses music samples, session musicians, vocals and audio techniques when honing and creating songs. Production tools also include a MacBook Pro laptop computer and gear from Apogee Electronics, as well as equipment once used in a studio by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
"Some of the real big songs you've ever heard on the radio, you think it takes a lot of equipment and it really didn't," he said. "I think it takes an ear."
"We like to think of songs as a house full of furniture," Stewart said. "And every piece has a place like every part of a song."
Stewart also works with local musical artists.
After taking an extended break from music, 34-year-old Eric Strata of Alliance started recording cover songs and releasing them online, some of which have attracted thousands of listeners. Then he learned of Franky Wahoo.
Stewart has gotten Strata excited about music again.
"He's absolutely amazing," Strata said. "He makes me feel extremely comfortable with the music I want to do."
Strata is working on an EP with Stewart, who is serving as producer and co-lyricist. The record is scheduled for release early next year on streaming platforms. Original songs and a few covers will be featured, including "Rain When I Die" by Alice in Chains and "Let You Down" by rapper NF.
Music will include hip-hop, rap and heavy metal. "Nigh of Silence Cover" was released recently, a song showcasing Stewart's knack for mixing contrasting genres as it shifts between heavy metal and guttural screams and gentler, modern melodies.
"The response for it was unbelievable," Strata said the song. "A band in Pittsburgh asked me to move out ... and live and tour with them."
Strata said he's been overwhelmed by the caliber of Stewart's work.
"When I was on the way there, I thought, this guy has worked with some of the biggest artists in the world, and he has an appointment with me today," Strata said. "And he's in (North Canton) in a small studio."
'Superstars aren't built in a day, bro.'
Strata said Stewart is a motivator, reminding him that anything is possible. He told Strata about the days when Machine Gun Kelly was a virtual unknown.
"That's one of his favorite sayings: 'Just imagine,'" Strata said. "I hear him say it multiple times to me. Like I've complained a couple of times in the studio. I've missed a line ... and he says relax, he says, 'Superstars aren't built in a day, bro.'"
Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@abedoya
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