Otherkin band member and producer David Anthony Curley has opened a new premium recording studio in Dublin called ‘The Clinic’. Situated only 5 mins from Dublin City Centre, the studio specialises in recording, mixing, production and songwriting services with a focus on analogue electronics.
I caught up with David to talk about his new venture, why the studio has already attracted the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, Sorcha Richardson, Royal Yellow, Denise Chaila and Blood Donor and how he decided on the name ‘The Clinic’.
“I’m good, tired, it’s my first day off in eight days so just relaxing. It’s been super busy. August was fully booked and this month is pretty much fully booked now. So, yeah. It’s going great. I mean I had Alex Gough in the last four days and before that I had Mark O’Brien, Royal Yellow in for a day and then James Vincent McMorrow, Sorcha Richardson and a few other people were in. It’s been crazy.”
“I studied in Royal College of Surgeons, my degree is in medicine and I was going to go back to that and I was like, I’m sure my folks would be happy if I worked at a clinic or had my own clinic and one day I just thought, The Clinic.“
One of the most exciting live bands in the country, OTHERKIN’s debut album ‘OK’ was one of the most hotly anticipated Irish rock albums of the year and hit Number 2 in the Official Irish Charts in 2017 – alongside being nominated for Choice Prize Album of the Year. Channelling the ferocity of their music into their shows, the band performed at some of the biggest festivals across Europe including Download, Reading/Leeds Festival, Electric Picnic as well as supporting Guns N’ Roses at Slane Castle. Their six-track mini-album called ‘Electric Dream’ would be their parting release for fans in 2019. I found out it is the experience David had recording the bands tracks which sparked his decision to start up his own studio
“When we were in Otherkin, we were recording the last songs that would become ‘Electric Dream’. We were in this place called The Toy Rooms in Brighton with a producer called Steve Dub. Steve Dub was the mixer for The Chemical Brothers so he produced our first couple of albums. We were in this studio called The Toy Rooms with the guy who owned it. It’s this guy Pablo, he is in a UK dance act called, Uncle and they call the studio “shabby road” because it’s like in bits, but it’s got loads of vintage and bespoke synths and drum machines and some crazy stuff, so the whole time we were there it just set off this thing in me. I just found what it was that I’ve always been looking for in terms of sound and making music and was reflective in the more electronic stuff that ended up on our last few songs.”
“I fell down a rabbit hole then and I thought ‘God I’d love to have access to these kind of synths and drum machines’ and wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a space in Dublin, that just had these sort of things that are prohibitively expensive for anyone to ever personally own but if a business owed them, and then they were run like a studio then, anyone can have access to this sound. Basically that’s what got me into it. That’s how it all began. Just the idea of making a space that’s friendly for any sort of home producer or band to come in and it doesn’t look too alien to them… you want to be able to go into a place and use the gear they have be it like outboard, enhancers and different things like compressors and hardware, the hardware versions of the software they’re using anyway, and then synths and drum machines.”
“It just went from there. It’s aimed at the producer, but I’ve recorded a lot of bands in here and you can just come in and beef up your sounds and just take it to the next level. So many people self-record and self-release and it’s great that people are able to do that but a lot of the time it means that the quality of what they’re doing is just less, it’s not competing with stuff on Radio One but let’s say, Royal Yellow – Mark O’Brien. One of the first big things I did in studio. It was myself and a guy called James Eager we produced Mark O’Brien’s last single which is called ‘May the First’ and we got that premiered on Annie Mac on Radio One on the BBC in the UK and that was for the premiere of the track!, which is you know, that’s as big a premiere as you can get in Ireland or the UK. That was a great first thing to get but we’ve got a lot of stuff with Mark coming out. The COVID thing has pushed back a lot. People are rethinking when they’re gonna release stuff. So there’s big releases like that, coming up, that would have been done in the studio. We did a lot of stuff with Luke from Blood Donor and we’re doing more of that later in the year.”
“James Vincent McMorrow has been in loads. He’s a big supporter of the studio, he gave me a big shout out on Instagram even just saying it’s the only place he uses in the city now. Sorcha Richardson has been in, Denise Chaila, Connor (Adams) from All Tvvins, some of the guys from Kodaline. So, it has just been great to get really good early support from people who spent time in massive studios. James Vincent McMorrow would spend his time in studios in LA, and there’s certain bits of equipment that I would have that they don’t. Recording is now all about chains. So if you want to record vocals you need a certain mic, a certain compressor and that’d be the chain like a vocal chain and let’s say the CL1 B, tube tech compressor, but I just did my research on it to get that. The LA vocal chain is a certain mic on that, but I think I’m the only studio in the country that has it.”
“When you are running a business that’s got high setup costs you don’t want to be replacing your gear all the time. So a lot of other studios, what they have is just what they’ve had for the last 15/20 years. I think I’m just coming at it with a different approach and I’m lucky enough that I’ve been in Otherkin, working in various studios throughout Ireland and the UK and some in Germany and I just have a network of people and friends now, who I’ve been able to call on for advice and setting this whole thing up which just led me to do it at the highest possible level. So rather than spending like 200 grand on a desk, a mixing desk. I’ve spent the money on everything else that you need, so you don’t need the desk anymore, in my mind. It would be amazing if I had a world class studio but obviously, you’d love to have that but you don’t need it to produce and bring things to the highest quality anymore, especially the way people make music nowadays so it’s just the new approach.I don’t think it’s that revolutionary. I think it’s just a new, more focused approach to help people make music.”
David has essentially set up a business due to following his passion for production and creating music. I wondered was it daunting taking on the business aspects or did he always have a business head.
“Yeah, I’d say I definitely have, Connor from Otherkin always said I should definitely just get into business if we packed it in. But it’s one of those things where I didn’t realize until I was in way too deep. You know, it only seemed to be daunting when it was too late. So at that point, it’s just like, ‘Well, I better just get on with it’. I definitely have days where I’m just looking at the calendar or I’ve had times when it was getting put together and I was like ‘oh shit! I hope this all works out’ but it’s been amazing to do it and it’s definitely been daunting, it’s been really challenging but it hasn’t really felt like work, you know. Today’s my first day off in eight days. I woke up and I went straight back to sleep, I passed out because I’m just exhausted but it’s been amazing to be able to do what I want to do.”
“There was a point last year where the section of the roof opened up and I had to replace the roof. So, that was pretty terrifying but otherwise, the structure is sound as can be now everything’s built to the highest standards of soundproofing so I don’t think any sort of, well unless there’s some crazy act of God, I don’t think that’s going to happen again. It’s hard enough to make a living in the music industry but it’s been amazing to try and give it a go and like I said hasn’t felt like work. Although there has been times where it’s felt really full on I just remind myself that I’m lucky enough to have a job even at the moment, considering the economy. But yeah, I just got on with it. “
When David planned to open The Clinic the country went into lockdown and the whole world did also. I thought the COVID ordeal would have halted the launch. However David saw this as a brilliant opportunity.
“Yeah, well I actually had everything ready to go, originally for a release or for a launch in March and then Covid was a blessing in disguise because I ended up changing a lot of things in the studio and if I hadn’t made those changes I don’t think I would have had early supporters like James (Vincent McMorrow). I don’t think the studio would have had the same impact on these people, as it ended up having.”
“But yeah it’s been good that it just let me have better control on the comings and goings of it because it is a small business and it’s still, teething, trying to figure out how its all going to run. So the fact that I have to take time between the sessions to to clean it and I’ve had to invest into different cleaning technologies and UVC light, there are these little machines we used to clean the microphones and it’s just allowed, maybe more focused care on it, or reinforced the fact that you have to be more focused in your care between these things.”
“Like any other business that’s still able to operate it’s just following to the letter of the law, and reminding people when they come in. I have some sort of hospitality document, and it’s just ensuring that everyone reads it, and is comfortable with our practices. My main thing is just to make sure that everyone coming in is comfortable with our practices you know, that they’re aware of what I need them to do and what they have to do themselves.”
“Because my background is in medicine I definitely have a better understanding of the risks than the average person although at this stage in the world we are all pretty aware of viral transmission and cleaning and this kind of carry on. So, yeah, its definitely a scary time to be opening a business…so, all we can do is follow things to the letter of the law and exercise as much caution as we can until, hopefully next year, things are a bit more normal and we can have some big celebration in the studio or something.”
“I’ve had a lot of support from other independent businesses like The Porterhouse brewery. So we’re hoping to link up and do something next year but at the moment we’re running like a charity initiative together. So they’ve given stock and a fridge that they’ve set up in the studio, and then the bands that come in can just have a beer and then make a donation and every time we raise like 500 Euro or 1000 Euro we’re going to give it to a charity of the band’s choosing. We will just get recommendations from everyone, and then say okay like this is MASI or some sort of Dublin homeless charity, because we are like a Northside Dublin business and the homelessness crisis in the cities is pretty outrageous so we’re just trying to work with bands and other people to raise awareness for these things and as two independent businesses, myself and Porterhouse brewing. So, yeah, it’s just trying to get on with it as well until things can, you know, turn to normal.”
Starting up a business in these times can be very challenging and David has no team with him. When you book with The Clinic, or look for songwriting sessions or production it is all David at the helm
“It’s just myself. I’ve had a lot of support, my brother is an architect, he helped me with all the design and that kind of thing. Rob from Otherkin did the logo and the website and then another pal of mine is another designer, Aaron McGrath is his name he used to be in a band called Wounds years ago, they’re like a hardcore punk band. He’s helped out with the design as well so had a lot of support in that sense but no it’s just one of those things where, even as I was crunching the numbers like myself and Luke ( Reilly) talked about doing a little bit of work and it was still just coming together, before it was a business and before I had invested too much in it and it was just not going to be viable and make a viable income for a team. I’m at a disadvantage there in that the buck stops with me. There’s positives and negatives to that, if I’m like, ‘oh who messed this up’, well, the answer is ‘me’. But it also means I can do things my way… but I’ve had amazing help from friends and family to get it this far.”
Sometimes when an artist approaches a studio or producer they can be afraid that they take over and not listen to the artists need. David described how The Clinic works and what he does according to the artists needs
“Yeah, so there is a couple of things that are going on with the studio, my main angle is to be producing with artists like in the case of Royal Yellow. Someone who’s coming in like that, I think the goal of the producer is to, create that person’s vision and to pull their best version of their vision out of their head.”
“The whole goal has to be, like you said, if someone shows me a song like ‘oh well what do you think of this’ and try and bounce back ideas and pull out what they want from it and then help them to get that, you know, to reach that goal. But if along that way, I make a suggestion that doesn’t fly, that’s of no loss to me whatsoever. I just want to get anyone coming in.. to the place that’s in their head. Reach their goal. So, yeah….you just have to leave your ego at the door, you know. We’re all here to help make this project, the best thing it can be and whoever comes in, whether that’s an electronic act or it’s a band or a pop singer, I think just parking your ego at the door is the most important thing in any creative process like that.“
“I’m sure there’ll be times where it’s gonna be difficult to know ‘oh shit hang on am I overstepping the line here’ but..if I’m showing a band something, or we’re working on something, I’m gonna, obviously have techniques and pieces of equipment I use because it’s the whole model of studio, it’s analog equipment. So I’m going to be way more up to speed with how that stuff works and then, because a lot of the pieces will have very distinct like harmonically rich character from it being analog, being full of valve tubes and specific transistors and stuff so I think eventually you know, even if I’m not trying to imprint a sound, the sound of the studio is going to hopefully become evident on tracks that come out from Irish artists who go through, but even if it’s not me, producing the track there’s certain sounds that are just gonna be like ‘oh there’s a depth to these releases that came from The Clinic’.”
So what would an artist have to do, or what do they need if they want to record in The Clinic?
“Just songs, That’s it, that’s the main thing. If you’re going to go into the studio, it’s just about making sure that you’re happy with the songs and they’re good and not rushing it. Because it is still expensive to go into studio I’m trying to make it not prohibitively expensive but studio time is still precious at the end of the day. If I’m working with an artist, we’re going to do pre-production we’ll do an evening, or a day of just going through the song and be like okay, ‘what’s this maybe can we chop this’. They just need to make sure that they’re coming at it with an open mind because if you’re presenting something to me, or presenting to a producer, the odds are they haven’t heard this art before even if you’ve spent three or four months working on this thing. It’s their first time hearing it.”
“So, yeah, if you come in to work at The Clinic or you’re presenting something to me specifically because obviously the facilities are available for hire to other acts and producers, I’m the only person running the facility so my aim is to be working with bands and acts in production all the time but a lot of the businesses also facilitate in assisting on other projects. So, if a band is coming to me personally I would say just park your ego at the door and come out with an open mind.”
“Because you can get attached to a song and demo – we definitely had that in Otherkin where you’d spent so long on it and as you go into work on it you’re like, oh, it doesn’t sound as good as the demo, but the demo doesn’t sound good you know, you just liked the demo.Your demo is super low fi and they’re not gonna play that on Radio One.”
“It’s meant to be an open creative space. That’s the whole idea behind it that it’s a positive open creative space where we can hopefully push the boundaries of good Irish music, because there’s a lot of really, really good acts in the country. I want to facilitate the creation and hopefully be a part of the creation of the next wave of really sick tunes.”
David has a few artists he’s looking forward to working with and some exciting things happening with The Clinic in the coming months. I wondered who he is most looking forward to working with.
“Happyalone are coming in, they’re great.They’re crazy I met them. They used to be in this band years ago called Blaming Hannah…they’re coming down later in the month, Sorcha Richardson and James Vincent McMorrow are coming back in. I like to work with Denise Chaila. I had Denise in for this songwriting camp with Faction Records and James Vincent McMorrow and we are working on some tunes. She’s just amazing. She’s gonna be an absolute star, so I’d love to work with Denise again.I like to work with up and coming artists to create something new and make something truly great between the relationship of me and the artist. So, yeah that’s it, just looking forward to discovering new music and hopefully just pushing it out there into the world and breathe new life into it”
The Clinic is looking like quite the exciting new addition to our Dublin studios and David’s ambition and goal to create and deliver a high quality service is admirable and already gaining attention from some amazing artists here in Ireland. I’m looking forward to hearing more of his work as the artists he works with releases their music. If you want to contact David, you can though his contact page on his website here https://www.theclinicrecordingstudios.com/
Author : Danu
