Tip Toe Studio
Two people, three bands, thirty AI workflows, and a fictional tech company
Impact Snapshot
Studio lead and systems designer with Phil Ferrari
Music listeners, AI-curious creatives, and creative technologists
Claude Skills, OpenRouter, Suno, Cloudflare Pages, DistroKid, Content Foundry pipeline
Outcomes
- Three genre-specific music projects (l0b0t, Dots & Boxes, Moss Circuits) from a two-person studio.
- 30+ custom Claude Skills encoding creative workflows as reusable, version-controlled artifacts.
Measured Signals
- 3 active music projects across new wave, indie, and ambient.
- 30+ AI workflow definitions in production use.
- Multi-model LLM routing with fallback chains via OpenRouter.
Description
Tip Toe is the music studio I run with Phil Ferrari. We make genre-specific music across three distinct projects — a satirical new wave band, a confessional indie-rock act, and an ambient electronic experiment — using AI as production infrastructure rather than novelty. The studio runs on 30+ custom Claude Skills, a multi-model LLM routing system, and a content pipeline that takes raw generated material all the way to distribution. We wanted to find out what two people could actually build if they treated generative AI the way a studio treats a mixing board: as a tool you learn deeply, not a trick you use once.
Concept
The studio operates as a three-layer content pipeline called the Content Foundry. Layer 1 is generation — raw creative material produced through Claude Skills encoding specific creative processes. Layer 2 is formatting — adapting material for platforms and contexts. Layer 3 is distribution across DistroKid, Cloudflare Pages, and social channels. Underneath is a multi-model LLM routing system built on OpenRouter where any workflow can dispatch to any language model. The studio's real product isn't any individual song or image — it's the 30+ Claude Skills that encode creative processes as designed, iterable artifacts. The three projects: l0b0t is a fictional five-piece band critiquing surveillance capitalism by pretending to be its marketing department — new wave, Roland Juno pads, TR-808 drums, vocals delivered with the emotional range of a terms-of-service agreement. Dots & Boxes is sincerity where l0b0t is satire — confessional lyrics, conversational intimacy, the tension between saying too much and not enough. Moss Circuits lives in the space between natural and synthetic sound, built around a converted greenhouse studio concept where synthesizer cables become vines and recordings follow a circadian rhythm.
Technical Details
- 30+ custom Claude Skills encoding creative workflows
- Multi-model LLM routing via OpenRouter with fallback chains
- Three-layer Content Foundry pipeline (generation, formatting, distribution)
- Suno prompt architecture with genre-specific tuning
- Phone-as-Viewport album cover framework
- Circadian theme system for Moss Circuits website
- AI-optimized photoshoot and music video prompt packages
Team
- Justin West Studio Lead / Systems Designer
- Phil Ferrari Co-founder / Producer
Capabilities
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