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Unit 37 16-track StudioArticle from Home & Studio Recording, September 1986 |
Unit 37 describe their uphill struggle to establish a viable 16-track studio on a very tight budget.
Nick, Blane and Fiona are the partners in what is probably the newest and in some ways the most unusual recording studio in the South-East. In its first few weeks it has already raised eyebrows due to the quality of the results obtained with only a limited array of toys. It's essentially an extension of a home studio; a full 16-track, 2" multitrack offering a very impressive range of add-on services.
Of the three partners, Blane Turner has the majority of the musical and recording skills and is not only the engineer but has also become producer and adviser to the many young musicians who have already used the facilities. His professional musical career spans some ten years as a songwriter, guitarist, solo artist and recording engineer, with experience drawn from both live and studio work. To add to this Blane has always understood the importance of good presentation including the use of photographs, portfolios, videos, professional stage make-up and so on.
Blane has done extensive home recording over the years, initially by bouncing on a simple 2-track reel-to-reel and a basic cassette recorder achieving quite reasonable results, usually in his bedroom. Now his efforts have been rewarded, benefiting both himself and the musicians he records. Now he has a full 16-track facility with professional effects at his disposal.
Fiona looks after the day-to-day running of the studio: bookings, enquiries, finance, keeping the books and more. The third partner Nick, is the marketing man and it is his responsibility to attract custom.
The longest single job during the last year was spent setting up the studio and raising sufficient finance for the venture. This was finally achieved by assistance from the family and a small overdraft facility from Blane and Fionas' bank manager. Along the way the trio had to approach 22 bank managers (approx 35 appointments), seven finance companies, three private investors and a handful of government schemes, trust funds and even a county council enterprise loan scheme. All this amounted to four months full time work and actually provided very little money indeed. The main thing that came out of their efforts was the demonstration of their determination to their families who eventually made it possible.
Once the money was raised then the manual work began. Working on such a tight budget meant that Blane, Fiona, Nick and his wife Caroline had to physically build the studio, with the help of a friend fortuitously experienced in building studios. The main structural alterations to the premises involved demolishing most of one wall, creating a double doorway and constructing a complete control room from 9" concrete blocks, fitting a 4" thick concrete ceiling and cladding throughout. The work lasted some six weeks and the four learnt a little about many aspects of the building industry along the way.
While the studio was being constructed ideas came to the team as to possible uses for the remaining part of the building. Originally it was to be a rehearsal room to allow both rehearsals and recording to take place during the day and separate rehearsals during the evening.
This was all to change when Fiona recognised the potential income that could result from installing a sunbed, and from there thoughts grew into a complete beauty salon that would compliment the studio but still remain essentially independent. Opening the salon now known as Beauty in the Beast was an obvious move as Fiona is a fully trained beauty adviser. Furthermore the whole music scene is dependent on good images, so a beauty salon is not as incongruous as it might at first seem.
At the time of writing, stage and photographic services are on offer as is hairdressing. The team have taken on Tracy West, a full time hair stylist who is equally capable of either doing a perm for an O.A.P. or helping to create an image for a budding pop star. This point of the service at Unit 37 is almost unique amongst recording studios. In the studio there are four input boxes and one wandering box, providing 24 signal inputs and four headphone foldback outputs. The P.A. speakers provide the talkback.
Additional services include high quality videos from £50 and P.A. hire for live work. Future developments in the pipeline are a gig guide for West Kent, a musicians agency and promotion of live gigs.
In January Blane is having one of his songs released in America on RCA and a recording deal has been procured for one of the bands now under management. The most striking aspect of the studio is the warm, friendly atmosphere that is in abundance. Bands call in for coffee to book rather than phone up and the trio always make time available to give advice to existing and potential customers on all aspects of recording, stage act and general presentation.
Throughout the setting up, building and running of our business we have found that maintaining a positive mental attitude is of foremost importance. This is sometimes very difficult to achieve, but is vital if success is to be assured.
Further information can be obtained from: (Contact Details).
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Studio DIY |
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Hometaping - Patrick Wilson |
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