"Meet, talk, listen"

Creative platform, support in advancement and a wealth of ideas: Red Bull Studio supports local talent in realizing their musical concepts. In an interview its mastermind Luke Thompson provides a look behind the scenes of the New Zealand project, which is to be inspirational for studios all around the world.

Most people know where to find New Zealand on a conventional map, in the bottom right-hand corner. But where is it on the musical map?

Regardless of what continent you may visit, there seems to be a New Zealand band that’s being embraced. ‘Flight of the Conchords’, for example, recently managed to get to No. 3 in album sales in the US. This hasn’t ever been achieved by a New Zealand artist before. Hip Hop MC Savage was also tearing up the US urban charts with digital downloads on iTunes ...

Flight of the Conchords call their music style guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk. New Zealand seems to be quite open to a variety of genres ...

Our industry has strengthened immensely in all genres. Scribe is a well known Hip Hop MC who just recently recorded with Wyclef Jean; Fat Freddys Drop has a huge fan base in Europe; Liam Finn was voted Rolling Stone’s ‘Best breakthrough artist 2008’. Our electronic scene is also well developed. We now have a clan of DJs/Producers signed to Underwater records with our own godfather of the decks Greg Churchill. In the urban charts, P Money, DJCXL & D Form are world renowned Hip Hop DJs/Producers. Kiwi tunes are surely coming to takeover a local radio station near you ...

Which musicians does Red Bull Studio want to offer a platform to?

In the beginning the studio was simply a digital workstation, available for electronic artists and DJs to explore ideas on a basic Protools LE set-up with a few pieces of outboard gear, a ASR10 drum machine, Yamaha 01V mixer and a Roland keyboard. At that time we also had a school holiday program, ‘The Dept. of DJs’, which provided students with an interest in turntabilism, a hands-on introduction to the country’s top professional DJs, and a small glimpse into the world of DJing & music production.

But it developed further ...

With the expansion of the studio in 2005 and with a focus on working with more live local artists and musicians, it was only a short time before the inbox became jam-packed with new and well-accomplished artists of all genres wanting to utilize the studio. So, to answer your question, the facility is available to all artists, all genres and we try and cater to and assist the many requests we receive.

What vision did you have for Red Bull Studio at the beginning?

In 2002 I was invited to work with Red Bull and develop a DJ program for secondary school kids. My initial idea was to create a studio that included ‘state of the art equipment’ on an Apple-based system with Logic software, and an environment that could accommodate many diverse projects and musicians.

I would hope that the studio here in New Zealand, which is the first studio to be built in the Red Bull world, has set the benchmark for future Red Bull studios. Our approach of working with artists on projects that are innovative and also creative has allowed us to learn and develop techniques and explore what technologies producers and artists wish to work with.

What exactly is your task in this process?

We meet … we talk a lot ... we listen ...

Is there a creative exchange with the Red Bull Music Academy?

The Red Bull Music Academy is held in high regard amongst many New Zealand artists, DJs and producers. Many of the Academy participants and applicants have visited the studio or, after attending the Academy, have looked to utilize the Red Bull Studios with their own projects. Now with the expansion of the Red Bull Studios internationally, it will only be a matter of time before future collaborations with musicians and producers from all over the globe will be able to take place.

What do I have to do for Red Bull Studio to discover and support my talent?

We welcome all musicians and creative projects in need of our support to contact us via email redbullstudio@nz.redbull.com with details of their project. What it is, when, how long, their goals, and what they want to achieve. From there we’re able to ascertain if we can be involved.

And how am I, as a listener, able to enjoy the output of the Red Bull Studio?

Two clicks of the mouse: www.redbullstudio.co.nz.

Among other things, a weekly live show can also be found on the website, which has found a broad audience in the meantime. How did this come about?