Owner of Ritter Music Company, Trace is a native of Huntington, West Virginia and moved to Los Angeles in 1988. He started at ground level working as a runner at the legendary Sound City Studios (in the center of beautiful Van Nuys, Ca). There he worked with producers and engineers such as Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool, Pennywise, Bad Religion, etc.), Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Johnny Cash, etc.), George Drakoulias (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Donnas, The Jayhawks, etc.), Brendan O'Brien, (Pearl Jam, The Black Crows, Train, etc.), Mike Stone (Journey, Y&T, Whitesnake, etc.), James Stroud (Boy Howdy, etc.), and artists such as Tom Petty, The Black Crows, Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Redd Cross, Masters of Reality. While at Sound City, he was shown better ways to mic amps, record vocals, and what microphones are best used for curtain recording situations. Joe Barresi was most monumental in helping him become aware of the importance of knowing how to be a great engineer. They became good friends and Trace continues learning from him.  He worked at Sound City Studios from 1989-1991. Then started working for legendary Producer Keith Olsen at his privately owned studio called Goodnight L. A.  Keith has produced some of the greatest records of all time: Fleetwood Mac, Santana, Rick Springfield, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne,and Emerson, Lake & Palmer just to name a few. While working for Keith, Trace wore many different hats. He teched guitar for George Lynch, Vivian Campbell and was the tech for Emerson, Lake & Palmer both in the studio and live performances. He  also worked next to Eddie Money, Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Ozzy Osbourne and the Scorpions. He would go in at 8:00am, clean the place, get breakfast for everyone, set-up mics, run cables, take calls, get lunch for the artist, take more calls, clean, get dinner, etc. Just do everything - except produce. But what he heard and observed was priceless. Trace apply all of those skills today at Ritter Music Company. It takes a lot more than being just good at one thing. To work with artists and bands you have to be on top of it all, keep your head on and still have rapport.

During this time, Trace was hitting the clubs, playing in bands, and writing songs. Playing at The Roxy, Whisky A Go Go, Troubadour, Café Largo, The Palomino, and Molly Malone’s.

He finally scored a record deal with his band “Chalk FarM” in 1996. The band was signed to a recording contract with Columbia Records. They recorded their debut record with producer Matt Hyde (Porn for Pyros, Ednaswap, Perry Farrell, Monster Magnet, etc.) and it was mixed by mixing great Tom Lord Alge. They toured with acts such as Dishwalla, Tonic, Better than Ezra, Matchbox 20, MarcyPlayground, Days of the New and many more. Trace said, “We did it all. Toured like mad dogs, did videos, TV shows, acoustic performances and in just about ever city we did live morning radio programs not to mention I think we even played at a puppet show?”

After touring the band came back to L.A. and wrote a good 40 songs for their next record. But, as occasionally happens in this business, there was a huge personnel turnover at the label and eventually, at the band’s request, they were let out of their contract. “We tried to shop the band around, but nothing panned out. So, a while later we disbanded”.

Soon after, a solo artist from DreamWorks records named Kina had guitar auditions. Trace soon found himself on tour with her for a year. Playing huge arenas, theaters and clubs. “Kina is an unbelievably talented singer.” Trace boasted. Time ran out on much needed album sales and the tour soon came back to L.A.

Since playing guitar live was his number one ambition at the time, he played out as much as possible in the L.A. club scene. “I actually hooked-up with a great singer songwriter, Hutch Walker, from a band on A&M called ‘Ten Speed’.” Ten Speed & Chalk Farm were both produced and mixed by Matt Hyde & Tom Lord Alge.

“We started playing every Thursday night at the Cat Club in Hollywood. We’d open for ‘The Star F*ckers’. It was a band made up of Glibly Clark (Guns and Roses), Traci Guns (L.A. Guns) and Slim Jim (The Stray Cats). It was a blast. That’s when Hutch and I started writing together. Some good songs started cooking. Writing as been a huge passion since Chalk Farm. Not that I didn’t like doing it before, but ideas never formed as fast and clear until then.”

It was during this period that Trace got a call from Kevin Martin (former lead singer of Candlebox). He asked Trace if he would like to join his new project and play on the record. The record was produced by Kelly Grey (he produced the first Candlebox record that went mulit-platnium). “We recorded the record at Can-Am studio in Reseda, CA for the record label Gold Circle.” The label also had on its roster Pat Benatar, John Waite, Meredith Brooks, etc. They toured to support the record with acts such as Kid Rock and Stone Temple Pilots.“I realized during this time that I had to start writing, producing, and working with more than one act at a time,” remembers Trace. So he decided to build a studio and start by writing with great writers he already knew and also finding new artists in the L.A. scene. Ritter Music Company, It’s all about the music and not anything else. The music business has changed since I started out here in L.A., but one thing is still the same - people like great songs. The industry wants great songs. And I’m working with my clients to create the best songs we can.”