On Track with Long Track

The music scene in Colchester is the envy of many a town, and new city, in the area, with an ever-growing number of artists and venues for lucky music lovers to choose from every night of the week. But it’s not all about the gigs, with many artists taking to the studio to record EPs and albums for their fans and to push their music farther afield. I recently for together for a chat with husband and wife team Nathan and Sarah Wacey of Long Track Studios in Marks Tey who work hard behind the scenes producing the amazing recorded sounds of artists from Colchester and beyond.

Photograph by jjdoyle.com

When did you open the studio and why? What was/is your vision for the studio?

Nathan: Our production company and the studio officially opened in January 2009. I had previously been working out of a unit on an industrial estate in Witham, but as we were looking to move house it made sense to find somewhere with space for a studio that could be built to my specifications using the best parts of the many big and small studios I’ve been in over the years. My vision was to create a pro-level place which could rival the London studios in quality of output, technical spec and creative atmosphere, but that was still accessible to independent and local musicians.

How many people work at Long Track?

Sarah: Long Track Studios is a partnership - therefore the studio building is effectively our home office, and it’s just me and Nathan - we don’t have any employees. Nathan is the producer and engineer and I manage the business side, bookings, accounts website etc. I do occasionally get involved in the creative process as I’m also a musician, but it’s very much Nathan’s studio!

Nathan and Sarah Wacey

What is your background in music? What training and experience do you have as an engineer and producer?

Nathan: I’ve been playing guitar since I was 12 or 13. I joined my first band and started recording and gigging at 15 so I’ve been engineering sound for 18 years! At 16 I did a music course in Cambridge, and in between studying and gigging in the evenings, I helped out at a venue called The Boat Race where I worked with many now large bands such as Oasis and Snow Patrol. I dabbled in many different areas of the music business, but recording became my main focus, and playing my outlet for fun. Later on I studied at SAE London. I set up my first proper studio with my friend, Ben Cahill, who is now an acoustics consultant with some very impressive projects under his belt. He also co-designed the acoustics for the Long Track studio building. I’ve now lost track of the number of albums and EPs I’ve worked on, but I’m pretty sure I’ve worked on most music genres.

Is there an area you specialise in/excel at?

Nathan:  I consider my job as an engineer to be to provide the musician with the sound they want, in the way they want, and most importantly being the person thinking five steps ahead so as to avoid problems later on in the process. That can often be highly demanding, so I’d say I excel at being flexible. At Long Track we have covered most genres, and ways of working. I really enjoyed all of them, but as a producer I do prefer to work on anything adventurous that pushes the boundaries of sound and genre.

Do you play in a band yourself? What kind of music do you play?

Nathan: I play guitar in an indie band called Manic Minor - we’re a three piece and mainly play gigs locally. We’ve been playing together for a long time now and it’s become my way to relax. Producing your own albums and EPs can be a challenge although I’m excited about our upcoming EP - it’s a totally different approach than anything we have done before, and may surprise a few people. I am also part of a production duo with Greg Blackman called P.O.G. and we have loads of releases coming up this year, one single or album a month, provisionally called project 2012.

Which artists have you worked with at Long Track?

Nathan: I’m bound to leave someone important out here, but the list includes New Town Kings, DJ Vadim, Greg Blackman, Ady Johnson, Sanctorum, Housework, Surfquake, The 633, ICH, The Faceless Dolls, RedKites, Her Majesty’s Request, Bridalveil, Batman Bigshot, Stuart Moffat, BOF!, Crownstreet, Kegs, and more. I’ve also done mastering for lots of other bands and artists.

Photograph by jjdoyle.com

What part of the process do you enjoy the most?

Nathan: There is nothing like getting handed a final pressed copy of something you’ve put your heart and soul into for months, so that’s great, but I also really love a traditional recording session - always unpredictable, I’m constantly having to adjust and fit what I need to do around the artists so those sessions are full of adrenaline. I also really love the final mastering stage – mastering is a bit of a dark art , many people don’t really know or understand what you can do, its pretty much the most scientific, precise and frankly geeky part of making a record, but you can take something a band thought was great and make something totally amazing .

What do you believe Long Track's USP is?

Sarah: Well, when we first started we thought this was going to be the quality of the acoustics and the equipment we have for the prices we charge - i.e. good value for money. The studio was very carefully acoustically designed and the live room sounds great, and we’re also very proud of the Neve desk and Apogee converters - both being something you don’t often find outside London. However, I’m told time and time again by returning clients that above and beyond the great results they get, people come back for the relaxed atmosphere. We try and make people feel at home in the studio and maybe it helps that it actually IS our home and our house is 100 yards away, I don’t know, but people seem to feel comfortable with us, which is really great to know.

Describe a typical day

Nathan: There is no such thing as a typical day and that’s what I love about my job! One day I could be recording vocals for a few hours, or midi programming, another day could be a mammoth drum tracking session or a live full band recording. It’s never predictable, and much harder work than you’d imagine - especially listening to the same thing over and over - but it’s also very rewarding.

So there you have it. Not only is Colchester at the forefront of the area's live music scene, at Long Track studios in Marks Tey Nathan and Sarah are working hard behind the scenes to make our hardworking local bands sound as good on in your car and on your iPod as they do when you catch them live around Colchester, and beyond.

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