In what has become an official annual tradition of ARIA week celebrations, the 2018 Producer & Engineer’s BBQ was held this year on Thursday the 22nd of November in the lead up to the ARIA Awards. Gathering at our new Studios 301 facility, the night brought together a mix of some of the industry’s legendary producers and engineers, up and coming engineers, artists and studio folk to honour the legendary Martin Benge with an Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award, in partnership with Audio Technology Magazine. The award was presented on the night by Studios 301 owner Tom Misner, Audio Technology editor and chief Mark Davie and Studios 301 General Manager Ron Haryanto.
Later in the evening ARIA “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” Nominee Alex Lahey performed a live acoustic set which wowed attendees after which Mansionair partied the night away with a DJ set.
On arrival, guests were treated with flaming cheese wheel pasta and pizza by Salt Meats Cheese, beers and ciders by Young Henrys, Sailor Jerry cocktails and wines from our friends at Cake Wines.
A special thank you to our amazing sponsors and partners who made this event possible:
ARIA “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” Nominee Alex Lahey
flaming cheese wheel pasta and pizza by Salt Meats Cheese
wines from our friends at Cake Wines
Sailor Jerry cocktails
Martin Benge and Tom Misner at the 2018 Producer & Engineer’s BBQ
Leon Zervos has been mastering new releases for GLADES, Mitch James (NZ), a live album for Vance Joy, JEFFE, Alison Wonderland (Remixes), Slum Sociable, ASTA, Stan Walker, Hugh Sheridan, Hillsong, Fergus James, Trent Bell and Benny Black. Leons work was nominated for a stack of ARIA Awards this year. Works by Amy Shark, Esoterik, Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont, Jessica Mauboy.
Steve Smart has worked on music for Aydan, The Bennies, The Money War, Taj Ralph, GIVERNY, Estella Dawn, Not A Boys Name, Kyle Lionhart and the Turner Brown Band. Steve has also worked on the 2018 Vodafone Single of the Year Nominee: Mitch James – ’21’.
Ben Feggans has been working on music for Neon Cassettes, Suburban Dark EP, Eves Karydas remix, Yoste, MAS1A (Singapore).
Andrew Edgson has mastered releases for Little May, Jackie Brown Jnr., Elizabeth Hughes, Goodnight Japan, Lady King, Sam Perry, Gooch Palms, Los Leo and Feelds.
Harvey O’Sullivan has mastered tracks for Karise Eden, Edan Visser, St. Vincent de Paul Society compilation album, Aria Wood and Dean Lewis (Acoustic).
Congratulations to all of this year’s ARIA nominees, with a special shout out to our incredible clients and their teams that have been nominated including Amy Shark, Esoterik, Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont, Jessica Mauboy and Jimmy Barnes. Additional kudos to our Studios 301 team who have worked on their releases.
Our Nominated Clients And Works As Follows:
https://studios301.com/our-work/love-monster/
Apple Music Album Of The Year / Best Female Artist / Best Pop Release Wonderlick Recording Company Mastered by Leon Zervos
https://studios301.com/our-work/my-astral-plane/
Best Urban Release Flight Deck/Mushroom Group Mastered by Leon Zervos
https://studios301.com/our-work/adam-brooke/
Best Country Album Lost Highway Australia / Universal Music Australia Mastered by Leon Zervos “Be like you” and “Awake” vocal engineered by Stefan Du Randt
Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album “Texas Girl At the Funeral of Her Father”recorded at Studios 301 Engineered by Owen Butcher, Assistant Engineer Tom Garnett
Highlights include US Billboard chart topping rapper A$AP Rocky, english grime artist Skepta and the self labeled “hardest working boyband in show business” Brockhampton. Brockhampton leaked their ASAP Rocky collab a few days later online.
Sony band CLEWS also locked out Studio 1 for 10 days with ARIA winning engineer Adrian Breakspear and Grammy Award winning engineer/producer Nick Didia.
Other notable sessions include a continuation for Chong Lim and David Campbell with Jack Prest mixing full band, string section and orchestra, LDRU, Glades, Australia’s got talent winner Fletcher Pilon with Tim Carr, Stefan Du Randt mixing Karise Eden’s new live EP, Joe Moore, Blessed, Manu Crooks, Genesis Owusu, Elephant tracks listening party for B-Wise, a film shoot for The Presets, recording Bigsound podcasts with themusic.com.au and more.
Our featured release of the month was Thundamentals album “I Love Songs” which debuted at #1 on the ARIA Charts and was vocal produced by 301 engineer Simon Cohen.
https://studios301.com/our-work/i-love-songs/
Mastering Engineer Highlights
Steve Smartmastered this year’s triple j Like A Version compilation, along with releases for Julia Jacklin (Liberation Music), Alex The Astronaut (Minkowski Records), Winterbourne (UMA), The Money War, Morning Harvey, Eden Mulholland, and Sister Peach.
Ben Feggans has been working on music for Bek Jensen, Sanctuary Lakes (Cut Copy), Luboku, Xmpla, Neon Cassettes, MAS1A (Singapore), Kid Fiction, Swaine Delgado,Pacific Avenueand E.T Le Créateur.
Andrew Edgson has worked on a new album for Little May (Dew Process), and tracks for Courtney Barnett (Milk! Records/Remote Control), Thelma Plum (Warner), The Tambourine Girls andRACKETT.
Harvey O’Sullivan has mastered projects for Karise Eden (UMA), Gordi (Jagjaguwar), Irrelevant and a Young, Black & Deadlycompilation (Koori Radio).
In this exclusive for Australian Music Week on Saturday, 10 November 2018 in Cronulla, Studios 301 & AMW present a live session with Diesel and Hawksley Workman recorded live by our Studios 301 team. Tickets are $65.30 and are available from: https://australianmusicweek.oztix.com.au/
While still in his teens, American born guitarist/singer Mark Lizotte was snatched from his bar band in Perth and launched on to the Australian charts as the leader of Johnny Diesel and the Injectors. A career was born and now some 30 years later Diesel is still rocking Saturday nights around the nation. Johnny Diesel and the Injectors moved from Perth to establish themselves in Sydney in 1987. They quickly became known for Diesel’s extraordinary versatility on the guitar and his rich, soulful voice. The debut album shipped platinum and entered the charts at #2. It was the biggest-selling album of 1989. ‘Hepfidelity’, Diesel’s first album under his own name in 1992 was a mega-platinum smash and earned him ARIAs for Best Album and Best Male Talent. He is one of only a select few Artists to win a Best Male Talent ARIA three times (along with John Farnham, Alex Lloyd and Gotye). The next albums – ‘The Lobbyist’ and ‘Solid State Rhyme’ confirmed his status as one of Australia’s most significant recording artists. A non-stop six years that included extensive touring, recording and starting a family was capped in 1996 with the ‘Short Cool Ones’ project that he cut with blues harp player Chris Wilson.
“We made a run for it,” he says with a laugh. Diesel and his young family relocated to New York where he started from scratch. “I just needed to wipe the slate clean. I didn’t want to be around familiar things. I went to New York with nothing, I didn’t even have one song.” Diesel scored a residency at the prestigious club Arlene’s Grocery. He was discovered all over again, this time by Mammoth Records who teamed Diesel with legendary producers Jerry Harrison and Gavin Mackillop for the ‘Lost Soul Companion’ album. In 2002, Diesel and family moved back to Australia. He assembled a band and also began gigging as a solo artist. The nakedness of performing with nothing more than an acoustic guitar helped him to re-examine his own work and take a fresh perspective. The 2005 album ‘Singled Out’ put Diesel back on the radio and gave him a hankering to pump up the volume again. It also marked a new phase in Diesel’s career, and time for a new album. 2006’s ‘Coathanger Antennae’ was recorded in two months with Diesel backed by bassist Richie Vez and drummer Lee Moloney. “I want to make records where I can play with other people and just have fun” says Diesel.
Back in Australia, and back on a roll, the albums and the tours kept coming – original albums adorned with radio hits followed with ‘Days Like These’ in 2008 and ‘Let It Fly’ in 2013 interspersed with his now signature original and masterful renditions of rock, soul and blues classics via the themed albums ‘Saturday Suffering Fools’ in 2009, ‘Under The Influence’ in 2011, and the triumphant ‘Americana’ album in 2016. Diesel is one of those rare talents who has immense popular appeal and is also a musician’s musician. His guitar playing is always tasteful and inventive. It’s based around the rock and soul that he heard growing up as the son of a saxophonist.
However steeped in the classics he may be, Diesel is not afraid to experiment either. “I always wanted to be an electric guitar player, I always wanted to be in front of an amp,” he says. “I enjoy the economy of the solo acoustic work as it gives you a really good sense of reality, but I can’t wait to light up Saturday nights right across Australia on this very special 30th Anniversary Tour”.
In celebration of the new album, Diesel and his band will be heading out on the Give Me Saturday Night national tour in 2018 to perform a ‘best of’ collection of tracks from the upcoming album, ‘Diesel 30 The Greatest Hits’ due for release in May.
August was our biggest month this year in the studios!
Katy Perry at Studios 301 Sydney
Zedd at Studios 301 Sydney
We were visited by global pop sensation Katy Perry and renowned DJ/Producer Zedd on the Australian leg of Katy’s ‘Witness World Tour.’ Katyand Zedd locked out Studios 1 and 2 for 10 days, recording some new material and working with our senior engineer, Simon Cohen and assistant team. Both artists got to hang out with our new studio puppy, what a treat!
While on tour, Katy Perry’s band members Tony Royster Jr & Chris Paytonhit a midnight session with MXXWLL and Deutsch Duke. Our engineers Stefan Du Randt and Jack Garzonio say it’s one of the best sessions they’ve ever been a part of.
US R&B artist Pleasure P (Pretty Ricky) hit the studio with producer Willstah to work on music for the upcoming season of VH1 TV series Love & Hip Hop.
Guy Sebastian and Jess Mauboy hung out in the studio with over 10 local and international songwriters and producers for a 4 day writing camp. Other writers and artists included Graace, The Orphanage, Thief, Tushar and JOY.
Jess Mauboy
Delta Goodrem with studio puppy @sircharlesbarkley_
Australian songstress Delta Goodrem locked out our flagship room studio 1 for 3 days, bringing her whole band for a jam session! Delta invited some lucky fans to come and watch her rehearse in the studio, and laid down some tracks for a new release with our engineer Stefan Du Randt.
David Campbell and Chong Lim have been busy recording a project with our very own engineer, Jack Prest. Stay tuned for more updates on this new project.
ARIA Award Winning singer-songwriters Amy Shark and Samantha Jade spent the day writing and collaborating in Studio 1, with the help of our engineer Jack Garzonio.
Leon Zervos mastered Amy’s most recent album ‘Love Monster’ which debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts.
Amy Shark and Samantha Jade
Masterclasses
Anna Laverty Masterclass
August saw the launch of our masterclass brand with two great sessions. Anna Laverty and Simon Cohen ran masterclasses on production and mixing, both of which sold out within days. We had a huge waiting list of applicants eager to attend, so due to popular demand we will be running a series of future masterclasses.
Steve Smart mastered soundtracks for the original animated Netflix series Beat Bugs 2 and Motown Magic, featuring music from The Beatles & Motown catalogue. He also mastered live albums for Gang of Youths MTV Unplugged, and Paul Kelly Live at the Opera House.
Leon Zervos has been working on releases for Starley (Central Station Records), GLADES (Warner), Owl Eyes (Liberation), ALTA (Soothsayer), Harper Finn (NZ) and Cyrus (Sony).
Andrew Edgson mastered music for The Kite String Tangle (Warner) and Thelma Plum (Warner)
Ben Feggans worked on tracks for SAATSUMA (Grenadilla Sounds) and Jordi Ireland (Casablanca Records).
Recently the Studios 301 team, headed by engineer Owen Butcher, piled in a van with our good buddies at TheMusic.com.au to make the drive to Byron Bay and help them record backstage interviews from this year’s Splendour In The Grass.
Catching up with some of Splendour’s most loved artists, the interviews were packaged into podcasts and presented as “The Splendour In The Grass Series” powered by Studios 301.
We had the pleasure of recording interviews with some of our favourites including Amy Shark, Angus & Julia Stone, DMA’S, James Bay, The Wombats, Stella Donnelly, Henry Rollins, The Presets, PNAU, Hilltop Hoods, Dean Lewis, Angie McMahon, The Bronx, Safia And WAAX.
Check out the first interview with Amy Shark about her debut record and getting a #1 album, plus Angus & Julia Stone below:
Looking for the best space to film a music video, project or something even bigger? We’ve got you covered!
Our studios have recently been used for projects big and small including the following:
ABC filming for their TV show “What is Music?”, Jimmy Barnes and the Australian Chamber Orchestra filming parts of Jimmy’s upcoming “Working Class Boy” documentary, Channel 7 filming a comedy TV show, X-Factor Season 8 winner Isaiah Firebrace music video, BBC to film a portion of their TV show ‘All Together Now, Nando’s Music Exchange, TheMusic.com.au’s live at 301 with Josh Radnor & Ben Lee, artists L-Fresh The Lion, Amy Vee, Matt Gresham, Nick Broadhurst, Daniel March, AViVA and a number and various other projects in our Studios and overall facility.
Get in contact to film your next project or for studios space hire, film and audio record packages and more:
Jimmy Barnes – Texas Girl At The Funeral Of Her Father
How do you write a hit song? | What is Music
Daniel March – Fallin (Recorded Live At Studios 301)
TheMusic.com Presents Radnor & Lee – Live at 301
Contact us today to find out how we can help you with your project
Studios 301 continues to be central in shaping the future sound of music for the Australian and international music communities by awarding a $5,000 “Future Generation Scholarship” to Abbey Road Institute students.
We have already experienced Abbey Road Institute graduates and are so incredibly impressed that this was an easy decision for us at Studios 301 to make.
The Future Generation Scholarship will be awarded to students who demonstrate a commitment and passion to music and illustrate their goals and objectives as future music producers and engineers. The potential to be an industry ambassador is also part of the selection process.
THE STUDIOS 301 SCHOLARSHIP MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR THE FUTURE PRODUCERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY TO STUDY WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY ANY COURSE FEES UP FRONT. THIS IS THEIR DIRECT INVESTMENT TO ASSIST THE NEXT GENERATION OF MUSIC MAKERS AND AMBASSADORS.
Abbey Road Institute’s objective is to provide our students with the highest standard of industry training mixed with our unique approach to studio and music production education. Applications for this scholarship close on October 5th.
Want more information?
Abbey Road Institute is holding an Open Day at our Melbourne Campus 1/135 Sturt St Melbourne on 25th August. Gianni Michelini, Director of Studios 301 will be there on the day to speak about this investment into the future of the Australian music industry. More information on the open day available here.
For more information regarding the Studios 301 Future Generation Scholarship please contact Abbey Road Institute by calling 1800 274 338 or email us at Melbourne@abbeyroadinstitute.com
Saturday 5th May marked the first and only time that we hosted a public Open Day at our brand new multi-million dollar recording facility. We opened the doors to the general public for an exclusive behind the scenes look inside our new recording complex, which is not only the largest and longest running studio in the Southern Hemisphere but has been recently crowned one of the 5 best facilities across the globe.
We had an abundant response to our invitation with over 450+ RSVP’s and 2 sold-out masterclasses presented by our owner, Tom Misner.
Music industry experts, professional audiophiles, producers, up and coming artists, students and longstanding fans of 301 packed the hallways for a once in a lifetime chance to explore the latest offering from the lifeblood of the Australian recording industry, Studios 301.
The massive success of our Open Day solidified our presence in the Australian music ecosystem, and further reaffirmed our commitment to building the next generation of musical talent.
With more submissions than we have ever received, Studios 301 would like to extend a big thank you to all of our applicants for their participation in the ALL ACCESS music competition. We were truly blown away by the calibre of entrants and the songs that were sent in. Unfortunately in this instance we can choose only one winner, but with so many upcoming singers, songwriters, bands, artists and music makers applying, we are really looking forward to hearing what comes next! This brings us to our announcement…
Studios 301 and theMusic.com.au are proud to announce the winner of the 2018 All Access Competition:
AMY VEE
Amy is talented singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Newcastle, NSW who has established herself as seasoned Australian songstress in the art-folk world. Not only will Amy be one of the first artists to record in the new Studios 301 facility, she will receive a mix and master package, in addition to a national advertising and editorial campaign from theMusic.com.au to the value of AU$15,000.
We caught up with Amy briefly after winning the competition and she had the following to say:
301: Amy, Congratulations!!! How does it feel to win?
Amy: So amazing! Getting recognition for the track from the judges was incredible in the first instance. The song comes from a really vulnerable place and to know it connects with others is reward in itself. But then seeing how much my fans got behind it in the final was truly overwhelming.
301: What impact has being involved in the competition had on you?
Amy: Well, firstly it’s made me realise how much I’m not alone on this path – so many people stood behind me to get the track heard and I spoke to literally hundreds of people about getting their support and they were all 100% with me. I can’t even tell you how that feels.
Secondly, actually winning this prize will have a major impact on my next release. It puts a whole series of things in place that I wouldn’t have been able to achieve otherwise, and hopefully opens up my music to new audiences previously out of my reach.
301: What’s next for you, and how do you plan to utilize the prize package?
Amy: I’ve been demoing some new stuff with my producer Gareth Hudson and we already have some great ideas about how we can most effectively use the space and all the tools that will now be available to us. There is still some work to do but I can say without doubt that we will have some exciting new work to share really soon and we’re so thrilled to see where the partnership with 301 will take us.
We look forward to working with Amy in the studios and send a big thank you again to all of the finalists and entrants of the ALL ACCESS competition.
The relaunch of Australia’s oldest and largest commercial recording studios, Studios 301 took place on Thursday 22nd February. Industry guests were welcomed by 301 owner and CEO Dr. Tom Misner and special guest, six-time Grammy award winning UK producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, The Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel). Whilst being served a deluxe array of canapés and beverages from the team at Icebergs and sponsor Young Henry’s brewery, guests enjoyed the cocktail function before the official unveiling of the new 301 complex.
Designed by Dr Tom Misner, and master acoustician, Jochen Veith, the studio is the only tier one recording studio in Australia and un-arguably one of the world’s finest acoustically designed facilities. Recognising the ongoing need for a facility of this calibre in Australia – and the value of its legacy – Dr. Tom Misner committed to a multi-million dollar ground-up reconstruction and relocation project that took 16 months and an incredible 134,000 hours of labour to complete. The result is a no-compromise studio that now ranks as one of the top five studios in the world.
Dr. Misner had the following to say:
“In a time where large format studios are closing their doors around the world, the rebuild of the new Studios 301 complex reestablishes us as not just a leader in the Australian music industry, but one of the few top tier facilities of its kind in the world. Essentially philanthropic in nature, my aim with 301 is to create a platform for future engineers, producers and artists to be nurtured and flourish in world class facilities.”
The event brought together members from all walks of the industry. Performances in studio one featured classical crossover artist Van-Anh Nguyen and the Steve Barry Trio (with a guest appearance by Emma Pask). Attendees included members from The Preatures, DMA’S, The Jezabels, Coda Conduct, Rai Thistlethwayte (Thirsty Merc),Manu Crooks, BLESSED aka Miracle, Industry executives including Peter Karpin, MGM founder Sebastian Chase, Universal Music Australia Managing Director Michael Taylor, Sony Music’s Head of A&R, Paul Harris, APRA AMCOS’ Milly Petriella, plus an array of record producers, engineers and Studios 301 alumni.
Audio Technology tour of the new Studios 301 facility.
Studios 301 New Multi-Million Dollar Facility Grand Opening
To coincide with the multi million dollar relaunch of Australia’s largest and most renowned recording studio, the team at Studios 301 have partnered with theMusic.com.au to roll out the ‘ALL ACCESS’ music competition, and give one lucky winner a major kickstart to their career. This competition was a quest to find Australia’s best unsigned artists, bands and producers, and to provide them with the opportunity to record in our world class facility.
We have been inundated with hundreds of applications and had the pleasure of listening to so many outstanding songs throughout this process. Our judges were blown away with the quality of applicants, and have created a shortlist of 10 songs that are outstanding in their respective fields.
These 10 finalists will have their song posted on our Facebook page where it will be up to the artist to share, like and promote their material.
Whichever song has generated the most buzz will be crowned the winner of our All Access Competition, and take home a national advertising and editorial campaign by theMusic.com.au to the value of AU$15,000, in addition to being one of the first to record, mix and master in the brand new Studios 301 recording complex.
The winner will be announced on Friday, 9th March on our Facebook page. Thank you to everyone who submitted songs to us, and a big Congratulations and Good Luck to our finalists!
Just announced, one of the country’s most renowned singer-songwriters, multi-ARIA Award winner Josh Pyke has joined the judging panel for the ALL ACCESS music competition.
With five acclaimed top 10 albums, five ARIA Awards and countless sold-out tours to his name, Josh has firmly established himself as one of Australia’s most respected and beloved artists. Already championing initiatives such as The Josh Pyke Partnership with APRA AMCOS, Josh’s expert ears will now help choose a winner from our vast pool of ALL ACCESS entrants.
We caught up with Josh for a brief chat about it all.
What attracted you to be a part of the ALL ACCESS comp?
I’m a huge believer in initiatives like this. Any opportunity to give a leg up to an emerging artist is a great thing.
Are you excited to listen to the entrants?
Even after all these years, I still get really excited about listening to new music. It’s a timeless mystery to me that new music is being created every day, and I love being involved in that.
What are your thoughts on the winner’s prize package?
This is the sort of opportunity that can break an artist and get them the exposure that can lead to a career in music. Australia is a tough market, and money is always hard to come by, so this would help someone enormously.
Are you looking forward to the new Studios 301 multi-million dollar facility?
Studios and recording gear are a passion and obsession of mine so I’m always excited to see a new studio open up in Sydney. New facilities means new music gets made which is always a good thing.