Two-Man Band Across The Room

Two-man band Across The Room began recording their second CD November 22, and they didn't have to go further than across the hall to do so. Steven Cox and Enrique Platas plan on recording their entire new CD in a spare bedroom of Cox's Mission Beach home.

The duo estimates their costs will be about 15 percent of the studio fees they paid in 2003 for their self-titled debut. "That was $100 an hour. We already have our own instruments, amps, and a computer, so the only cost was going to eBay and buying some professional recording software and mics."

Platas (whose brother Fernando won the silver medal in the men's springboard competition for Mexico at the 2000 Sydney Olympics) says, "Half the fun will be training our ears to get the sound we are looking for."

In September, a visitor poll at GarageBand.com ranked Across The Room's song "Take That Road" at number 26 out of 1184 (on September 27) in the category "Best Drums - Rock/Pop." The band will be performing today on KKSM AM 1320 radio at 5 p.m., and December 4 at Cafe Crema in Pacific Beach (a free, all-ages show).