Having a commercial studio space that's running Pro Tools – like my studio where all the freelancers and everybody works – if Pro Tools is not up to date, we can be in trouble.
You've got them coming in and wanting it to be on a certain version. I see. I'm fundamentally antisocial and no one else is allowed to come in my studio, so it's okay. [laughs] I was actually astonished the other day to find out – I don't know if it's like this in the States – but we were getting a few quotes to do something over here, and some larger studios charge to use the Pro Tools rig! I was like, "Are you joking? I'll just bring my own and I can run that." It was just unreal the amount. It was an extra charge on top.
To just use Pro Tools?
Yeah. It was like a line on the quote. It was obviously the dry hire, whether you want an assistant or not, and then for the Pro Tools rig, there's another fee on top. It was unreal. I couldn't believe that. That doesn't happen, I'm guessing, in the States.
Not that I've heard of. Do you call your personal studio Black Lodge?
Yeah, this is Black Lodge. I've had that opportunity to build it, and that makes me quite self-sufficient, and I can therefore bring the cost down of making a record. The new record I kind of made across three spaces. A lot of it was done here, and then Door to the River, the Manic Street Preachers' studio. Pretty much all of the drums were done there. They've obviously been very generous with me in terms of helping out where they can. One of the things that they said was, "If you need to, come and use it." So, I have made quite good use of it. [laughs] And obviously James Dean Bradfield's got an amazing collection of guitars and amps. I can't even count them. I don't know that he would want me to say how many he has. I've done all my re-amping there as well. They've got a beautiful little upright piano that they rescued from a school. I did quite a lot of the piano here, and then I did some there because I wanted different sort of palettes and flavors of piano, because obviously you get a bit bored. I've got a couple of Challen pianos here. I've got a baby grand and an upright, which is obviously that classic Beatles-y sound. But I wanted something a little bit wonky, and they've got this beautiful, characterful one. As I say, it was just a school piano that they rescued.
I remember hearing one piano on the album and I was like, "Wow, that's a unique sounding piano."
Yeah. Well, it's the one that they play on. James really got into the piano. I think it's on "International Blue" and loads of big hits. I don't play anything like he does, but I've got my own way of doing it. But yeah, it's sort of their piano. And then there's Townshend Studios, which is where all of Pete Townshend's synths are. I'm sure you've had a chance to have a look at just how bloody amazing that space is. I was just like, "Whoa," like a kid in a candy shop.
I'm amazed he's still got so much of his home studio gear and all of his stuff for decades, right?
He's basically donated all of his synths, especially the rare ones, to this purpose-built space. Rather than just keep them for himself or put them in a museum or let a rich collector buy them he wanted musicians to have access to them. He's created this space called the Townshend Studios at the University of West London, which is the site of where he went to art college, Ealing Art College, as it was. He's got a personal connection with the space. He's created these four artist-in-residencies across the year that he's generously providing the stipend for. I didn't do one of those, but you can apply for them, and then you can go for like three months and spend every day there. They'll pay a living stipend. So, it covers your living costs, your travel, et cetera, so you can just go and create. Such an amazing space; such an amazing project. And obviously, the instruments are out of this world, and they're all maintained. Some of these instruments are very old and very specialized. I think it's also that the preservation of the instruments themselves is important. I couldn't go for three months because I have a young child, but I did it in dribs and drabs, which is pretty similar to how it's all been made anyway.
Can you just rent it for like the day or the hour?
When I was there they had all sorts of folk coming in. I don't know what the arrangements are, like whether people can pay to go in. But Mark Ronson [Tape Op #105] came in for a day and did some stuff. I imagine that it will turn into some sort of semi-commercial hire as well. But I think Pete donated the synths with the view that they should be there for educational access. I couldn't have paid to have hired these instruments! I think I love the ethos of it; that it's about open access. And especially the artist-in-residencies are aimed specifically at people that wouldn't normally be able to do this. There's been a lot of women and people of color going through the program. That's good to see.
That's nice.
