Connect with us

Hardcore

South London Punk Collective: An Interview with John Youens of SLPC Recording / Mixing / Mastering

slpc-interview-header

slpc-interview-header

With the advent of affordable digital recording it is possible for any band to record themselves, but not everyone has the technical know-how or good enough equipment to produce something that captures the full energy of their live performance. John Youens from South London Punk Collective and the band Slow Faction has been recording bands […]

The post South London Punk Collective: An Interview with John Youens of SLPC Recording / Mixing / Mastering first appeared on DIY Conspiracy – International Zine in the Spirit of DIY Hardcore Punk!

Published

on

With the advent of affordable digital recording it is possible for any band to record themselves, but not everyone has the technical know-how or good enough equipment to produce something that captures the full energy of their live performance.

John Youens from South London Punk Collective and the band Slow Faction has been recording bands over the last couple of years with results of high enough quality to be released as CDs and records. Some would argue these recordings are better than what you might get from a more expensive studio that doesn’t understand the punk sound. I’ve said in the past that professional producers can flatten out all the energy so sometimes the only way to get good punk music out of a studio is to make sure punks are at the controls. While there are some excellent punk-run professional studios (e.g. Bri Doom’s Studio Black Cloud, Southsea Sound, Pumpkin Records), what the SLPC Recording project is doing is slightly different, capturing the DIY punk scene from a distinct geographic area.

As an extension of what Do It Together culture can achieve, we thought it would be interesting to find out more and hopefully inspire others who want to set up something similar.

slpc-studio

As you are heavily involved in South London Punk Collective and SLPC Recording / Mixing / Mastering is an offshoot of it, it probably makes sense to tell readers about SLPC to give a little context. E.g. How many people are involved, how long have you been arranging gigs, and is there any underlying ethos or shared values? It would be nice to know a little bit about your personal involvement in the DIY punk scene—including your band Slow Faction. How long have you been actively involved in playing in bands and organising gigs and in what sort of roles?

The South London Punk Collective started by accident rather than design. After one particularly bad promoter gig in November 2014 I thought that I could do better myself so I set up a FB group South London DIY Punk Gigs. Within a few hours we had hundreds of new members and within a week or so someone had suggested calling ourselves the South London Punk Collective.

Now, as everyone knows, there are people who will say they will do and people who actually do… so within a matter of time we had established the core of doers, i.e. SLPC founding members—myself, Fleagle (Stone Heroes, Mad Inc, Red Anger) and Ollie (Mindframe). The aim was simple—to use venues at our disposal and the gear we had to set up our own DIY gigs and support DIY causes. Originally, we were based loosely at The Hand in Hand Brixton but also organised gigs at the New Cross Inn, The Gunners, The Unicorn, The Mau Mau Bar, The Cavendish Arms, The Veg Bar and The Amersham Arms. I also started organising HIV fundraisers with Fleagle and Mat Sargent from Chelsea.

In recent years and pre- & post-Covid many venues have closed down and our base, The Hand in Hand, changed ownership and management so we moved to The Queen’s Head in Brixton in summer 2019 where Manny (Emmanuel Owusu) and his team have been so supportive. We get free gear storage (we have full backline and vocal PA) and free gig space. We do what we do for free and any door money is split with the bands. The SLPC is self-funded, i.e. we handle gear and repairs out of our own pockets but in future it would be good to do an SLPC benefit once a year to put some cash in the kitty. In the intervening years we have been joined by Michael Howe (Dinosaur Skull), Alex Lyng & Paul Maybin (Rites of Hadda and Punk 4 The Homeless) and Arnas Ivanauskus (Contract Killer and Panic Attack Promotions). The original idea of the SLPC was to work with other groups/promoters and to cross-pollinate with other DIY causes so having Alex, Paul and Arnas join has helped that to come to fruition. Since forming in 2014 we have hosted or co-hosted over 140 gigs and are busier than ever. We try our best to help touring bands and hosted three pre-Rebellion gigs for bands from Brazil and the USA.

It’s taken a long time to get really established and there have been many frustrations along the way but eight years down the line we are in better shape than ever and with a wider team to share the load we are able to accommodate more gigs and bands than ever before.

Having been an active band in the 1990s, I got Slow Faction back together with Umbi, the original bassist in 2012 after a 13 year hiatus. In that time I had continued to write songs and invest in recording gear and had a new crop of songs. We had split up due to irreconcilable differences with the singer & lyricist so, to avoid that all over again, I write the lyrics and handle vocals. Slow Faction has always been about offering a different viewpoint and being a political band and recent years have offered plenty of source material. We record all our own releases which has helped me to develop my own recording techniques. We play old-school 77-style punk but don’t belong to any particular clique or ‘family’ which is the way I like it. We do our own thing. We don’t kiss arse to get gigs and tend to have an ‘up the hill backwards’ attitude but that’s the way I like it. Independent and beholden to no-one.

john-youens-slow-faction
John Youens with Slow Faction

What prompted you to start the recording project?

With my own band, Slow Faction, I have always done our own recordings. Pre-Covid I had done a couple of sessions for other bands as favours but was mixing on an old Mackie desk and, apart from the Mindframe session, the results weren’t great. When Covid came, I took a complete break from music, read some books, recharged my batteries, etc. After the first lockdown, I felt it was time to relook at computer-based recording and have the time to learn something new. I sold a couple of items and gave the rest of my stuff away, funded a new laptop and taught myself Cubase (I say taught but recording & mixing are the definition of lifelong learning). I was contacted by the late Finn Panton to help bring his Seeds of 77 project to fruition. They had various songs recorded in a variety of ways that they wanted to complete and bring out an album. I worked on six or seven songs over a period of five or six months with regular communication with Finn and Richard Sheldrake. This was just the practical learning I needed and four of the songs ended up on their Lockdown Breakout album.

Following the end of the third lockdown I was contacted by Suresh from Swaraj Chronos to see if I could do a recording for them, knowing that I had recorded Mindframe and they had released the results. After The Hand in Hand was no longer at our disposal I had moved my recording gear to Overdrive Studios where John Clifford very kindly had offered storage. The deal was that I would record Swaraj Chronos for free but they would pay Overdrive for the studio time. While I was mixing the session we were all invited to dinner at Mike and Cil’s and Suresh played the rough mixes which sounded ok and Mike played us some of the songs that Dinosaur Skull were recording. It was a bit of South London meeting of minds—I loved the Dinosaur Skull songs that I heard and offered to do a test mix. They liked the sound I was getting for them and we went from there. Over the next 6 months we worked together on what became the Dinosaur Skull debut album.

It was at this point that I thought that maybe I could extend the SLPC concept into recording, mixing and mastering for DIY bands—set up a FB page and outlined what I describe as a Peel-style session—set up in the studio, record live, overdub vocals and anything else, take down, put the gear away and go home—all within a six hour window. I do various test mixes at home and when the sound is there or thereabouts, the band comes round and we do a group mix to finalise the project.

anymal-function-group-mix-session
Anymal Function group mix session

Do you have any specific aims for SLPC Recording / Mixing / Mastering like a number of recording sessions or releases, or is it just a case of ‘whatever happens happens’? What are your limitations?

I don’t have any fixed aims—the original aim was to give bands a free demo and how they use the end result is up to them. I figured that it would help them get gigs or a Bandcamp presence at the very least but it has snowballed in the last 12 months. The limitations are time—I have a full time job which involves a degree of travel. I do the sound at the majority of SLPC gigs plus I have gigging dates with Slow Faction. I am very fortunate that Kesi, my wife, works at weekends (and is incredibly supportive) and this affords me the time and opportunity to pursue my various musical activities.

Can you give us an overview of how many sessions you’ve recorded and releases that have resulted?

Here’s the full list—everything would be available as Bandcamp releases although some will have CDs or in the case of Dinosaur Skull as an album on Grow Your Own Records.

  • Mindframe – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Seeds of 77 – Mixing and mastering, 4 tracks on album;
  • Swaraj Chronos – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Goldsore – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Dinosaur Skull – Mixing;
  • Noose – Mastering, YT, single releases;
  • Mike McKinnon – Mastering;
  • P.I.G – Recording and mixing – work in progress;
  • Anymal Function – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Solus – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Slow Faction – Recording and mixing;
  • Silent Like A Bomb – Mastering, live album;
  • The Ugly Scenes – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Rites of Hadda – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Violation – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Rites of Hadda – Mastering live album;
  • Local Mad Man – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • The Ugly Scenes – Recording, mixing, mastering – session II;
  • Caution Elderly People – Recording, mixing, mastering;
  • Rites of Hadda – Recording, mixing, mastering – session II, new album;
  • Anymal Function – Recording, mixing, mastering – session II, new track EP/album.

Plus early 2023 sessions booked with T.R.E.S.T. and Girls Like Us.

What have been the highlights?

Not one thing—it really is a privilege to work with these bands and I am always amazed by the quality of both the songwriting and musicianship in these DIY bands. All of them deserve a wider audience and it is sad that we live in a time when it’s never been easier to record music, but never been so difficult to get heard. Of course I get a lift when they sign off on a project and are happy with the results. I am always pleased when a band trusts me to record for them and even more pleased when they get favourable reviews and the SLPC gets a mention.

slpc-hangout

Have there been any specific challenges like technical problems, or angry band members?

No, as with gigs and backline, so I use reliable, decent quality gear and check everything before a session. When bands come to play a gig or come to record they don’t need the hassle of faulty equipment, and as the person doing the recording I keep the session moving to time which I couldn’t do if I was having to worry about gear.

I am an easy-going type so run a very relaxed recording session—apart from being pleased with the end result, I am always delighted when band members say they actually enjoyed the recording process as this can be daunting even for experienced players.

I just want to make sure in the run-up to a session that the band are prepared, they know their parts, know which songs they want to record and know the starts and finishes of songs; also, the main thing on the session is to get a good performance of the songs and a tight drum track—anything else can be overdubbed but a good drum track is critical. I offer this service for free so am not going to spend hours and hours of my time editing drum tracks. Fortunately, the quality of drummers that I have worked with is truly astounding.

Any funny stories from recording sessions that you can share?

Sorry to disappoint—I am sure that if I was in the studio over a few days then I would have some fine stories to tell but this ‘Peel-style’ or ‘guerrilla’ recording session that I offer is condensed into such a tight six hour period from start to finish that there is no time for strops or tantrums… or any other behaviours which could lead to amusing anecdotes after the event… the sessions so far have been enjoyable and relaxed for all involved…

Tell us about the costs involved to you and the costs for bands for each session.

The cost to the band is hiring the big rehearsal room at Overdrive for a six hour recording session. The cost for me is time—preparation, driving to and from Deptford from Brixton and probably 20 hours mixing, including the group mix session. I do this for free but bands thank me in various ways and that is entirely up to them.

Obviously, I am always updating recording gear and plugins but I am doing this for myself and my own recordings with Slow Faction so I view this as a personal investment into something I love doing rather than a cost to be passed onto the bands.

What difference do you think providing this service has made to the individual bands and to the South London scene?

I view this as the natural extension to the South London Punk Collective and the gigs we host and co-host. The SLPC was started around the time that The Grosvenor was closing. The centre of gravity in the DIY punk scene had moved to T Chances and there was nothing going on in our part of SW London. Moving into recording has solidified the concept of our SLPC DIY community. The range of bands we put on and the range of bands I record is amazing—we are not sub-genre specific, not generation specific and are totally open to all ages and styles of DIY punk without favouring any particular style. I view our progress as still part of the journey and not a destination. In the future, I would love to broaden what we do to incorporate other DIY communities in South London—be it art, poetry, spoken word, etc. or in the recording project helping bands and local musicians who aren’t punk but still have something to contribute and important to say.

There’s also the politics (with a small p) of the situation. We live in a fucked-up world, in a fucked-up country and we are powerless to change that in the wider sense. The very least we can do is to put into action the ideas we espouse and the values we hold. The South London Punk Collective and the SLPC Recording Mixing Mastering sessions are my way of doing something that I believe in….

slpc-recording-session

You carry out your recording sessions at Overdrive Studios run by the lovely John and Sarah. For those who don’t know, can you give us a bit of background about the studio? How much difference does the physical environment make to your recording sessions?

Overdrive is a brilliant place and a haven for bands looking to rehearse or even host gigs in SE London. I feel a real connection to John and Sarah who are doing in Deptford what we are trying to do in Brixton. So many rehearsal spaces have closed down over the years (as have venues) and post-Covid, with an unsympathetic local council, Overdrive is under pressure, but we do what we can to support each other.

Hopefully, bringing in bands to record at Overdrive on a regular basis will help introduce bands to John and Sarah, if they don’t know them already and we, as the SLPC, have raised contributions separately to go to the Save Overdrive Studios fund. Apart from generously giving us storage space for the recording gear, having a regular space to record is immensely helpful—both in setting up quickly and getting the most out of a session but also in providing just the right setting and relaxed atmosphere. As I’ve stated previously, we work to a six hour session so you need everyone in the right frame of mind to get everything tracked within that time-frame and Overdrive is conducive to that end.

Did you learn everything by trial and error or have you had any formal training in recording techniques?

Everything is self-taught. I started with a Fostex X-15 4 track recorder in 1987 doing demos—got a reverb unit the following year and everything I did was awash with reverb. I graduated to an 8-track minidisk recorder then got my Alesis HD 24 Track Hard Disk Recorder 20 years ago. This is the unit I still use for tracking as it is solid as a rock and can record in 24-bit, 48kHz which is the sample rate I mix and master in.

Moving to Cubase for mixing in the summer of 2020 was the crucial step to being able to move forward into recording bands other than Slow Faction. I am still moving forward by trial and error—I watch loads of videos on YouTube, experiment with different techniques and am still learning—I don’t think you ever stop. I notice improvement every mix I do and am starting to develop a sound that is recognisable. I love it when bands ask for different things at the mixing stage as that pushes me to learn something new every time.

Is there any advice you would give people thinking of doing something similar in their area? E.g. should they prioritise their budget on any particular equipment to get better results?

Of course there is a cost to entry but this is coming down all the time. For the sort of projects I do even a second-hand laptop and cheap interface will be enough to get you started. The general advice would be to learn a DAW or a plugin or a piece of hardware thoroughly before you spend more money on shiny new gear or ‘must-have’ software. Before going to computer-based mixing, I already knew about signal flow and mixing desks so learn the basics well before you start to upgrade your gear.

For someone who is already recording and wants to do something locally—the first step is going to gigs—hear what bands are doing, introduce yourself to a few people, join a network of local musicians or create your own network. The important thing is to get out there and do something.

If you see value in the content we produce, please consider donating to help us keep the site running.

Donate (PayPal)

Source: diyconspiracy.net

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *