This time last year, Mark Nikolich [pictured right] and his recording studio Atomic Audio were already well-entrenched in the Bay area original-music scene. Nikolich was 10 years into a side career tracking more than 100 acts, from obscure, short-lived locals to nationally recognized names like Kylesa and Pseudo Heroes. He'd taken Atomic Audio from a seedy storage-rental facility off East Hillsborough Avenue to its own comfortable headquarters in West Tampa's Drew Park, and was known by punk vets and singer-songwriters alike as a mellow and accommodating yet passionate engineer who simply loved recording music — any music.
But he was also working full-time as a parts and service director for a local auto dealership in order to support his family, spending his workdays looking forward to the next session, and putting money away here and there in anticipation of a time when he might make a living doing what he loved.
That time came in March of this year, when Nikolich rented 4,100 square feet of warehouse space on 40th Street — not far from the storage place where Atomic Audio got its start — and began building out his dream.
"I thought, 'Either I'm going to die early from stress, or I'm gonna go ahead and do something I really enjoy,'" he says of the decision.