Railway Studios
Name: Railway Studios
Business: Recording Studio
Address: 15 Wardsborough Road, Lisburn BT28 1XF
Telephone: 028 90 604 592
Website: www.myspace.com/railwaystudiosmusic
Railway Studios in Lisburn is located right in the heart of the city about five minutes walk from the train station. AU sat down with head engineer Ross to discuss life behind the mixing desk, being a phantom band member, and panic-inducing red lights.
What’s your opinion on the state of the current Irish music scene?
I’ve got a lot of faith in our current music scene, there’s an increasing trend in artists no longer looking for labels to sort everything out for them. They don’t need to wait to sign with a label to record a high-quality CD. It’s becoming more common to record your album, and then use it to get label attention, rather than previously waiting for the label to help them get going.
What is the atmosphere in your studio?
Some of the bigger Abbey Road-style studios can feel daunting and cold. We provide a really personal and homely feel. We used to have a red recording light, but bands fell to pieces from nerves when you turned it on, so we had to get rid of it. It’s important that people feel relaxed when they’re working here. The best sessions feel as if you’re working with friends. It reduces the risk of awkward situations, such as acts not being happy with how things sound. I’m keen to develop a relationship with bands, rather than a cold, over-professional feel. You get a more honest record that way.
What role do you have during sessions?
I’m reasonably active during recording in suggesting how things can be improved. It might not necessarily be a performance idea, even just a mixing one. Of course, you can’t be too intrusive, but to become essentially the invisible fifth member of a band is a cool thing. If you get a good idea and it works, it adds that something extra.
For instance, mastering is such an important final stage. It’s where you can totally change how a song will turn out. You can almost create ten different final songs out of one session in the mastering stage.
What styles of music do you prefer working with?
The traditional band set-up is most comfortable. Whether they play indie, metal, or even if they’re acoustic singer-songwriters, you find the best way to deal with them.
Does Railway Studios offer any other services besides recording?
We’re delving into lots of different aspects in terms of the service that we offer. We not only offer recording production, but also film live gigs, and have recently started guitar tutorials on DVD. We’ve been in talks over producing more music videos, but that requires quite a substantial budget. For example, The Beat Poets did theirs for about £4,000. Once your recording is ready for marketing, we have in-house CD duplication and replication, capable of turning out 100,000 discs a day. We also offer the live room as a rehearsal facility, which is a good way for us to get a grasp of what bands are around, and it is good for artists as it gets them used to a studio set-up.
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