See you there!

There’s a rehearsal taking place as I type – the guys are getting ready for a gig next week – and we have some other exciting recording sessions coming up too.  We have young rappers and bands coming down here to access high quality recording facilities at accessible prices, and along with that they’re gaining industry insight from some highly experienced and professional staff.

We have more recently started offering recording ‘experiences’ for budding singers to come and see what it’s like to work in a recording studio.

We have the luxury of a big hall with a stage that we use for our live gigs and concerts, the next of which is on June 24th.  That Friday evening will see students from Mandeville School organise the opportunity for 3 local bands to perform in front of their peers.  These are great nights as these opportunities are quite rare, especially for under-18′s.  It’s a privilege to be able to facilitate these events for them.

Later this year we’ll be working in conjunction with Aylesbury Music Centre to host a performance by our good friend Clive Carroll at the Music Centre.  Clive’s regarded as one of the UK’s finest guitar players, and he’s a thoroughly nice bloke too!  The date is October 15th, so get it in your diaries!  There’s also a chance he’ll be doing a workshop during the day, so stay tuned for more on that!

If you’d like to know more about the studio you can visit the website at http://www.southcourtstudios.com.  There you can sign up to our mailing list to be the first to know about upcoming events and opportunities.

It’s a Pearl Forum, has seen some use, but is all set for some more action! I’ll also keep you posted on some more acquisitions as they come in!

Hope to see you at the studio soon!

As I type we have a great new band rehearsing – lovely melodic bass lines and thumping drums! The guitar’s good too…

So what will be new? Well, we’ll be having some new youth gigs – the first one looks set for late March, so watch this space. These will be organised by the young people themselves, so we’re excited to see them grow and take the responsibility of deciding when soundchecks will be, how many bands to have and the tuck shop prices etc.

More recently we’ve been running music and photography workshops with local schools in the Aylesbury Vale. These have been great – we’ve had year 6 students taking photos and editing them in industry-standard software, alongside guys programming the instruments and music to recreate their favourite songs! It’s been great. If you or your school are interested in finding out more, please email studio@southcourtstudios.com.

We’re also offering some new ‘experiences’. Come down and be a popstar for a couple of hours, singing your favourite songs and walking out with a CD with your name on it and the masterpieces you’ve created! You’ll find more information here: southcourtstudios.com/lessons_workshops.html

I’m not the only person here – loads of guys are helping out. The hall is ready…loads of chairs are out, the stage is set up and food’s for sale – it’s all looking great! Cd’s are also for sale at £10.

Kit will be playing 3 different guitars tonight…not sure what they are but will find out and tell you later!

This Friday 7th of May marks the start of something very exciting at Southcourt Studios. We’ll be welcoming virtuoso guitarist Clive Carroll, who will be performing a collection of tunes from his repertoire of contemporary acoustic guitar tunes.

Clive is described as “the best young acoustic guitar player and composer in Britain” by Acoustic Guitar magazine. He lives up to this reputation with his expert arrangements of Traditional Irish/Celtic tunes, as well as his construction of rich melody and harmony.

His latest release “Life in Colour” has been widely acclaimed by national press, and you can expect renditions of tunes from this collection and more at the gig on Friday.

Whether you are a guitarist or music lover, you will not fail to be impressed and inspired by this master of the instrument.

Tickets are £10 each and are available on the door, or online via the Southcourt Studios website at…

http://www.southcourtstudios.com

The night began with opportunities to mingle, network, and see a bit of the services we offer. We had stations around our main hall dedicated to each of our main activities – gigs, recording/rehearsals, photography and film making workshops. We had brochures for people to take away, as well as pieces of cake which was cut by local MP David Lidington.

We had speeches from the aforementioned Mr. Lidington, and CEO of Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust Matthew Applegate shared a few words, and also gave us a gift to reward us for the work done in our Youth Cafes. We were also able to say ‘Thank You’ to some wonderful people who have made some very special things happen – like building of stage areas, laying of carpet, and making of curtains.

Since the event we’ve had a deluge of people inquiring about recordings and rehearsals – which is excellent! We’ve made links with County Council organisations, and have some exciting plans to bring our services to people in satellite villages in the Vale.

Stay tuned for information about more workshops, and other events!

Master photographer Terry Lee conducted a portrait photo shoot, which was documented on film by Chris Mullins. They were also present at the Jazz Juice recording session and you can see some of their work on the Southcourt Studios websites (see below). Both of these guys have got upcoming workshops in February where you can learn some of the skills they employ in their day-to-day work.

We’ve had a lovely new sign installed at the studio – this was provided by the lovely people at Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust. You can’t miss us now!

Probably the most important thing to tell you about is the launch night for Southcourt Studios. It’s happening on February 26th at the studios between 7:30pm and 9pm, and we have local MP David Lidington officially opening the facility! We’d love it if you could join us – we’re going to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone who’s helped us get to where we are now, and also let you know where we’ve come from, and what we’ve got planned for the future. We’ll also have some competitions to get involved with to win studio time and other goodies!

Check out Southcourt Studios at http://www.southcourtstudios.com and http://www.myspace.com/southcourtstudios for more web-based content.

Look forward to seeing you soon!

Best wishes,

Gary Mullins – Studio Manager

Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting day. We’ll be having our first full band recording session – which Terry will be documenting with photos – and it’s with Aylesbury’s finest Jazz Quintet, Jazz Juice. They’re coming down to record tunes for their website and a new demo which will be given to people planning corporate events, weddings, and parties. The excellent Chris Mullins will also be making a music video in conjunction with the audio recordings, which will be found on the JAzz Juice website, again showcasing their performing wares. We’ll get this uploaded as well once it’s done.

After all that we have one of our regular bands coming in to rehearse into the evening!

And finally, exciting news…(drum roll)…THE SIGN IS UP! We now have our lovely new sign above our entrance doors which is a beacon for all to see! Lovely lovely.