BY MICHAEL KNOX
SALISBURY POST

SPENCER – Hidden away in a nondescript building on Fifth Street is an anything but bland recording studio called Hit Music Inc.

Not many people even realize it’s there.

Without any signs to indicate its presence or any music escaping the soundproof building, no one would guess at the excitement inside, behind a pair of plain red doors.

With some of the industry’s most advanced equipment, owners Jimm Mosher, 33, and Alan Grossman, 42, are constantly updating, which is probably why they’re always so busy and have built a reputation for producing good music.

Working for 107.9, the LINK, one of Charlotte’s hottest radio stations, Mosher and Grossman already have produced a parody of the Shawn Mullins’ song ‘‘Lullaby’’ which was used to promote a video tape contest for the ‘‘Bob and Sheri Show,’’ which itself is syndicated across the country.

Along with producing that show’s promo, Mosher and Grossman also wrote brand new incidental music for WBT-TV, Channel 3, and WBT-Radio, 1110-AM, of Charlotte.

‘‘We’re responsible for their total change of the way they sound on the air for doing news, music, traffic and weather,’’ Mosher said.

Written, recorded and produced at Hit Music, the tracks for WBT can be heard on the AM station 32 times a day, and after 6 p.m., the AM signal bounces from Canada to Florida.

‘‘My mother in St. Petersburg, Fla., hears it late at night and misses me,’’ Mosher says with a laugh.

Mosher is from St. Petersburg, and Grossman moved there from Long Island, N.Y. They met because of their love of music.

‘‘My brother and I had a band,’’ Mosher said. ‘‘And next door was a band called Eternity. Alan would hang out and play there. And one day he heard me playing, came over and checked it out.

‘‘From there he’d come over all the time. He’d play drums and we’d jam together. And that began our lifelong friendship.’’

That friendship soon grew into a partnership. In 1984, they opened their first recording studio in St. Petersburg. But for personal reasons, Mosher moved in 1990 to North Carolina. His brother, Marvin Mosher, 37, still runs the original studio, Dream Window.

Mosher worked with his dad, Marvin Mosher, who owns a roofing company and buys houses to fix up. At the same time, he began working on a new recording studio in an empty commercial building at 121 Fifth St.

Staying in Florida, Grossman worked for The Paint Scheme, a painting business, until Mosher finished the studio in 1992. With the studio complete, the Hit Music team united again.

Now living in Kannapolis, Mosher makes the drive to the studio in Spencer to meet Grossman, who lives in town.

And with almost 15 years of experience together, the two have learned what keeps them together.

‘‘What keeps us together is the lead crow bar that I keep in the back to crack Jimm over the skull with,’’ Grossman jokes.

Then, still smiling, both men say respect and honesty have kept them together.

‘‘I think the key to our relationship is that we are both man enough to realize that we can be wrong,’’ Mosher says.

‘‘And we back off when it comes to artistic differences,’’ Grossman adds.

Despite any differences, they both share common ground in their love for music, including the Beatles, RUSH, YES, Frank Zappa and Lou Christie.

Christie, who was responsible for such songs as ‘‘Lightening Strikes,’’ ‘‘The Gypsy Cry,’’ ‘‘Rhapsody in the Rain’’ and ‘‘Beyond the Blue Horizon,’’ also influenced Mosher’s and Grossman’s own music.

So when they had a chance to produce Christie’s next album, they took it on as a dream project.

Learning that Christie was still performing 150 shows a year, Mosher and Grossman contacted his manager to set up a meeting, then dropped everything to drive straight to New York.

That obviously impressed the singer.

‘‘He had actually been approached by Don Was, who is a big-time producer, who’s produced Bonnie Raitt and all sorts of successful acts,’’ Mosher said. ‘‘But Lou chose us because of our passion for music, and we didn’t care about the money. Our main goal was to produce a great album.’’

The industry obviously agrees. Billboard Magazine named it Best Comeback Album of the Year.

Mosher and Grossman still consider it some of their best work.

‘‘The best album we ever produced, getting everything right, was Lou Christie’s,’’ Mosher said. ‘‘We spent two years on that album, so everything was right.’’

The two are already hard at work on their next album; they’ve produced more than 30 already.

Along with 107.9 the LINK and WBT, the Hit Music team has often worked with WWGL, Lexington’s Christian rock station. And there, they found Archdale’s Christy Brewer, the recording talent for their latest album.

‘‘We where judging this contest for 94.1,’’ Mosher said. ‘‘One day we were on our way out of the station and Frankie Morea (of 94.1) said, ‘Wait a minute, I got this cassette for you guys. You might want to hear it.’ As soon as he played it, Alan and I looked at each other and said, ‘Good grief! This is your winner!’|’’

Currently producing Brewer’s album, they already have finished six songs.

They are also in negotiations with Jeff Fuller of Musician Magazine, an international distributor interested in Brewer’s music.

‘‘Jeff’s already said Christy’s a done deal,’’ Grossman said. ‘‘We’re just waiting on the right record deal that best promotes Christy.’’

And gives Hit Music Inc. another great record.