Making music under the Goldie Fish

Shannon Bowman, co-founder of Studio 23, a newly opened recording studio on Shandon Street, is upbeat about the music scene in Cork and the studios chances.

Poster for Studio 23, designed by Silvio Severino.

“It’s a brilliant time to be opening” says Shannon Bowman, audio engineer and co-founder of Studio 23, a newly built recording studio hidden away in an unassuming building near the top of Shandon Street. 

Not that you would know it from looking at the double doors on the outside, but this privately owned building has been used for many years by a number of visual artists as studio space and now it has yet another creative occupant.

Bowman first heard of a space becoming available in the building through a friend, who had spoken to the owner, who had told them he didn’t want any part of the building to be empty.

A conversation with John Dwyer of Bunker Vinyl followed shortly after and suddenly an idea was beginning to develop.

“I’ve known John from Bunker Vinyl for a very long time. He used to have a recording studio in the shop, but he always wanted a recording studio that had live tracking and he knew that’s something I wanted to do as well, because that’s what the Cork scene has been missing.”

“I’d been doing audio engineering for ten years and working out of different spaces but getting inconsistent sounds. So I wanted to create a space where people can be more open and are able to relax and give a more genuine performance”

“There are a lot of really amazing bands starting up in Cork, but they’re fed up with the kind of clinical recording that’s been around for the last twenty years, basically since the end of grunge.”

Shannon Bowman of Studio 23 in Shandon Street.

With the full support of Dwyer, Bowman set about getting the space into shape and making the studio a reality.

“It was a lot of work to get to where we are now. The previous tenants had been a bit destructive and there was a huge pile of rubble and old furniture in the space. It was just being used for storage and as a skip.”

“We had to go out and buy the gear we needed to start recording, but we were able to keep a good budget on the building because we recycled as much material as possible.”

“Cork International Hotel gave us a load of old carpet and underlay, which saved them a trip to the recycling centre and helped us keep our costs down, so it was a win-win for both parties.”

“The underlay helped with the lining of the floor and the carpet was used for the walls.”

Musicians recording at Studio 23. Left: Jason Butler. Center and Right: Jamie Conway and Adam Walsh, both of Fugue State. Photo Credit: Shannon Bowman

Getting the place up and running was a feat in itself and although it took the most of a year to do so, Bowman believes it’s been worth it and that bands will be able to hear the difference in the recording process.

“I was used to standard recording where I’d track the drums, the bass and vocals separately but it always lacked in the energy department, which is like the standard modern way to do it but humans are flawed and you need things to be slightly out.”

“That’s what separates 80’s recordings from tracks recorded nowadays that are forgotten about in a year’s time.”

“Most of our gear is from the seventies and eighties. The Regal Model piano is one hundred and twenty years old, so we try to get as natural and organic a sound as possible.”

“I can do all the digital processing as well if needs be, but I’d prefer to get life out of a band and keep a proper live energy.”

Bowman has already recorded some songs for local Cork bands Fugue State and Mirrors as well as solo artist Jason Butler.

“We had our first recording in August, which was a test, but we’ve been officially open since September.”

“From talking with other sound engineers around the city who started off in a space the size of a bedroom, I feel lucky because it’s a really good starter studio.”

“And the current setup is perfect for live tracking because there is almost zero bleed of instruments into each other.”

It’s been a long journey for Bowman, who was born in the United States and grew up in “rural rural Ohio” but moved to north Cork in 2012.

“My Dad’s a drug addiction therapist and that’s why we moved here. Someone had told him it’s a really bad situation in Ireland, suicide is through the roof and he thought that’s somewhere I need to go. I was 15 at the time so didn’t really have any say in the matter.”

“A studio just wouldn’t have worked out for me in the States. The music scene is kind of gentrified and I know a lot of people who have tried to do it over there but failed.” 

“You need a lot of money to make it work, whereas Ireland is more of an artistic country and they are more open to different interpretations of things here.”

As for what the future holds for Studio 23, it sounds like this is just the beginning.

“We’re in discussions with a very prominent Cork band about doing some recording here soon, which would be great because we need to get more clients in to get more gear.”

“I would eventually like to build it up to a multimedia recording studio in a full building, but what we’ve got here is really good for now.”

If you’re interesting in recording at Studio 23 or would like to find about more information about the space, you can find out more on Studio 23’s Instagram and Facebook.

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