Dean St view: (main image)
Dean St Studios’ control room and (L-R) Catherine Marks, Jasmin Lee and (below) Olga FitzRoy
staffing costs, but their lack of eligibility for the business rates holiday has left them struggling to secure access to other finance options such as loans and hardship funds.
According to the MPG survey, 37% felt the minimum interest-free period for a government Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL) to be useful would be 24 months. Only 13% felt the current interest-free period of 12 months would help them.
Studios would also struggle to operate effectively under social distancing measures once the lockdown had lifted. One studio boss speculated to Music
record world and a lot of film and television work. “Studios are the lifeblood of the music industry, whether it’s recording, mixing or mastering.” Alison Burton, manager of Air Studios in Hampstead, said the full impact on the sector remains to be seen. “It very much depends on how long the lockdown goes on for,” she said. “If it’s a couple of months, then most people should be able to come through that. “But if social distancing restrictions are in place for quite a long time, then that’s really going to affect what we can and can’t do with core work on film scores.” Restrictions on air travel will also hurt studios whose client base includes international artists and musicians. “That’s going to have a massive impact,” said Lee, who doesn’t expect the studio’s international clientele to return until 2021.
“A large portion of our work comes from the USA, because we specialise in film and TV and we get lot of big international artists as well,” said Burton. “We are set up to do remote recording, in the eventuality that we are able to operate again.”
Remote options are being explored, though FitzRoy stressed they would never replicate the studio experience. “It’s better nowadays, people can record themselves with just a laptop, an interface and a decent microphone for a solo instrument,” she said. “But so much music that we listen to is people playing together at the same time, and that’s something that can’t be done remotely at all.” Many commercial studios have furloughed staff and are unable to provide work for freelancers, who can apply for a government scheme to support self-employed workers.
Rodford said she is concerned about the effect on the network of freelance studio workers during a lockdown that “at the moment has no end date”. Studios have welcomed the furlough scheme to cover
Week on whether they would be forced to implement a Covid-19 testing procedure for anyone in the building. But FitzRoy said that studios could look to open their doors again under any easing of restrictions. “It’s possible to do some of it,” said FitzRoy. “I know that some of the bigger studios are drawing up plans as to how you might run an orchestral session – obviously you couldn’t fit 100 people into a room under social distancing, but perhaps you could fit 40.
“For the smaller studios, doing one person at a time, or people in different isolation booths, that could work. But we would need clearer messaging as to what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of going to work and travelling.” “We can operate smaller sessions,” added Lee. “Getting into the studios is fine, but we have narrow corridors – it’s a warren of studios.”
“We have two really large studios,” said Burton. “But if you’re socially distancing and restricting how people come in and out of the building, it severely affects how many people you can actually record at the same time.” Some producers and engineers are continuing to work in isolation. Catherine Marks has been mixing the new album from Manchester Orchestra.
“You work in isolation anyway when you’re mixing,” she said. “But productivity has been affected because it feels like there’s no deadline anymore, no one really knows when this is going to finish. It feels unusual, but I’m grateful to have something to do every day.” While studios expect business to return, there are concerns about labels looking to cut expenditure because of lost income during the pandemic.
“Recording budgets are a key part of how the recovery will take place,” said Lee. “But live revenue is going to be down, artists and labels are taking a hit on that.”
FitzRoy said that studios were already under pressure before the pandemic. “It shows that there aren’t any margins in studios,” she said. “Studio rates haven’t really gone up since the ’90s. The fact that there’s not so much resilience in the sector has been exposed by this crisis.” “Realistically, we’re looking at a very long time before anything goes back to what people classify as normal,” said Lee. “But the good thing is people always need to make music.”
I
own and manage Substation Studio in Rosyth, Fife. We also have six rehearsal rooms for bands to hone their creative skills, with four engineers, an assistant, a studio manager and intern.
“We’ve had many great bands record with us – The Jesus And Mary Chain, Mogwai, Primal Scream, Super Furry Animals, to name a few. “However, a huge part of our client base and income stream is the local music scene. There are many great young bands, and we strive to give them just as much production input and studio time as all the bigger signed bands we work with, regardless of their limited budget. “Last year we had 80 kids involved in a massive project running for six months, which culminated in the production of a 12-track CD and an incredible concert in the Carnegie Hall. This has obviously been cancelled for this year and is a real loss and concern.
“The impact on studios and the music industry has been devastating”
“Our income has ceased. We’ve had to reduce outgoing overheads as much as possible. “All our staff are self-employed, so they are either trying to get Universal Credit or wait on a payout in June from HMRC.
“We have managed to receive a grant from the government through our local council Covid-19 Small Business Grant, which is very welcome. But it will only cover the mortgage and insurance for three, maybe four months. “The music industry is going to be one of the very last business sectors to relaunch and recover after this pandemic. Social distancing is not conducive to musicians playing together in a room, never mind playing or going to a gig. “The impact on studios and the industry has been devastating financially and creatively. “I thrive on collaborating and social interaction, it is the essence of music – writing, recording and listening. I miss it greatly.”
musicweek.com 04.05.20 Music Week | 07
Station master
Michael Brennan of Substation studio on how life has changed under lockdown…
Listen up: Michael Brennan
PHOTO: Dean St/Mark Allan/Al Parker
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