able to tame their destiny. “To win those awards America and worked with Jermaine Dupris [Janet because it’s in a business suite,” Eve points out. “So,
at 21 for me is so unbelievable,” says Jessica with Jackson, Mariah Carey, Notorious B.I.G.] who did a we couldn’t use any concrete or breeze blocks. It
disbelief. “It gives you that little extra push you so remix for us. We toured with the Backstreet Boys had 40dB of reduction anyway; we ended up with
desperately need. I may still have a lot to learn but and Boyzone, and then even did Wembley in front 90dB reduction. We built a partition wall and layered
the point is that I have two awards under my belt of 30,000 people. I was only 17 at the time but it with a plasterboard backed with polystyrene; then
and no one can take that away from me. That’s the left soon after to get signed to EMI with a differ- had another layer of plasterboard staggered on top
important thing – for people to recognise that you’re ent group. We toured Asia, Japan and Europe. of that; a layer of thick carpet; a four inch gap; some
working really hard. Awards can put your struggle Soulshock [Whitney Houston, Pink, 702, Jamelia] MDF backed onto eight-by-four foot soundproof
into perspective. We nominated ourselves for the produced our album but eventually I left, came back panels with rockwool in; then some more plaster-
first one, which proves that things won’t fall into your home and went to uni!” board on top of that...”
lap and that you have to go out and grab them.”
Eve has achieved what most singers will never in a It’s safe to say that you aren’t going to hear
So, just how did Eve and Jessica manage to set-up lifetime. “I’ve basically travelled the world and been someone sneeze inside The Lab when standing
their own studio? “First of all we went to uni and in limousines and all that. I had a private jet once – outside. “We don’t use much hardware,” continues
learnt what we needed to,” Jessica recaps. sexy! I met a lot of people along the way, like Remy Jess, a self-confessed Pro Tools freak. “We run a
who wrote Jamelia’s ‘Superstar’, but now we’re using G5 with Pro Tools. We love Pro Tools for editing but
“Got qualified,” Eve nods. all these contacts for our studio project.” it’s not so good for making tracks. We actually do
the creative stuff inside Logic 7 and... Reason!” she
“Then we wrote a business plan,” Jessica continues. What about Jess? “I was born yesterday and I squeaks. “Which we’ve just started using.”
“We spent six months doing it, went to the Prince’s haven’t really done very much,” she says playfully.
Trust and got awarded £15,000 to set up.” “Seriously though – this is my life story and it’s really, “People were like, ‘hey look what I’ve brought
really, really short. I did my GCSEs and then I did my – I made this track on Reason – it’s wicked’,” Eve
“It was a 28-page business plan,” Eve recalls. A-Levels. Next I went to Kingston University to study impersonates one of their mouthier clients, “and we
sound recording, which is where I met Eve, and as wrongly thought it would be shit. We didn’t want to
It must have been watertight. “Yeah, it was,” she soon I left we started our business along with She learn the easy way at first, you know? But Reason
continues. “Not a lot of people get that much money Devil productions, Continuous Entertainment and actually makes our lives a lot easier,”
from the Prince’s Trust. We were told we got the Ruffnek Publishing. I’ve always had a passion for
highest amount they’d offer which is rare.” production – that’s where my heart is. So, running a “We have a Voicemaster Pro and a 24-track Yamaha
studio is perfect because I get to do loads of things desk too, but in truth we’re completely software-
The feisty females obviously have a solid back- I wouldn’t normally do, plus I meet tons of people based,” Jessica admits. “Plug-in wise it’s all about
ground in music. How else could they pull off such and do what I love every single day.” the Izotope Ozone for me – a finalising plug which
a coup? “I originated as a singer,” Eve fills us in. “I we love. We don’t know what we’d do without it
went to the BRIT School at 13 and from there I What does The Lab consist of in technical terms? – we use it to master our tracks [Sub Focus of Ram
went straight into a girl group that got signed to “We had to design it so that it could be taken away Records fame also uses Ozone]. Obviously we use
Polydor for about three or four years. We went to and easily put back together somewhere else, the EXS24 in Logic a lot, but we’re not really into
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