By Deandra Daniels
The small but mighty Onetym Recordz has a vision for the future that is embedded in its motto – One Moment. One Sound. One Legacy. Located at the front of the Rodney residence in Section D, Sophia, and owned by Michael Rodney and Brian Gonsalves, the studio has grown from just two young men on a mission with an old laptop, an earpiece, and a backstep.
The team at Onetym Recordz
The studio began as an old storeroom, which the two young men emptied to create a turntable-style setting. It was then sand-filled, and finally a cement floor was laid. The studio is now a solid structure with sound and lighting equipment, far more established than in its earlier years.
The co-founders were artistes trying to make it big in Guyana’s music industry – Michael under the name Teleios, and Brian as Negus Antho. They faced many difficulties due to a lack of resources and invested their time and energy into making music on their own.
“We started out with an old DELL laptop and a wire earpiece, on a backstep with mosquitos, we used the old Audacity software. That was in 2019 and we continued building and falling back from music and started helping other artists like Tonio GY and SOHYPE,” Teleios explained.
(From Left) Tonio GY and SOHYPE at the Soca Monarch 2025.
With a vision to bring music alive, they started the studio with the aim of creating music with underprivileged youth in the community. Onetym’s studio location somewhat limits their ability to attract artistes from outside the community due to safety concerns. However, Teleios is thankful for the unwavering family and community support he receives, which drives him and his partner to continue their work in music.
Onetym Recordz artistes Tonio GY and SOHYPE performed in the 2025 Soca and Calypso Monarchs, walking away with third place and Best Newcomers awards. In addition to these recent accolades, they were also finalists in the Jamzone Competition 2024 and secured first place in The Red Room competition.
Antonio Griffith aka Tonio GY artist of Onetym Recordz with his Best New Comer Award for the Soca Monarch Competition 2025.
“We’re very creative but we focus on dancehall, hip hop, soca and calypso and whatever we can create, when we sit in the studio and create a vibe we just let the universe put it together for us and we run with it,” Teleios stated.
Teleios also describes the team at Onetym as a family unit and refers to their two artistes fondly as “sons”, acknowledging the time and effort it took to study and understand the young men in order to help improve their craft.
“Music lives forever, our emotions can live forever, we wanna leave something for our children to carry on, for the world to hear, not just locally. We wanna take our culture and our country on a level which lasts forever, we wanna go down in the Guinness Book of World Records,” Teleios stated confidently when asked about Onetym Recordz’s legacy.
Shannon Roach artist of Onetym Recordz with his Third Place Trophy for the Soca Monarch Competition 2025.
The post One Sound, One Legacy: The rise of Onetym Recordz in Sophia appeared first on News Room Guyana.
