Subfrantic

Capitalising on an unusual wealth of time during the lockdown, Subfrantic builds a new rehearsal, filming, and training space. Where London’s urban sprawl meets Kent’s beautiful countryside, the new space provides an environment to inspire and facilitate artists.

Subfrantic’s Steve Davies was supposed to be at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas looking after the British Music Embassy with Production Park when the COVID-19 crisis hit. As one of the first major casualties of the pandemic, the festival was cancelled and in the space of three days, the freelance touring professionals involved in proceedings witnessed their future work vanish – gig after gig, tour after tour.

“We had five tours that had just started, all of which were stopped in their tracks. We had big corporate events in advanced planning, which couldn’t go ahead. Optimistically, some shows have been re-scheduled for later in the year, but most have now moved to 2021 or cancelled,” Davies commented, going on to describe the pragmatic nature of touring crew. “That doesn’t mean we’ve been sitting around doing nothing.”

Ever the optimist, Davies recalled a small, silver lining of governmentmandated lockdown – the luxury of time. “Lockdown has allowed us to throw ourselves into the building project wholeheartedly in a way that wouldn’t have been possible before.”

Al though work on the studios had slowed to a snail’s pace in the wake of the lockdown, the Subfrantic team set about building the feature wall in its Live Room as the “centrepiece of the project”.

A small, socially distanced group of friends, family, and tradesmen safely spent the best part of three months building an 8m by 6m sound diffuser made up of over 4,500 4in by 4in wooden blocks, each of them individually cut, sanded, painted and fixed to the wall by hand to make a huge pixelated abstract mural.

“This was a mammoth task but, without lockdown and the complete evaporation of any work, there was no way that we would have been able to build it,” Davies enthused. “It’s testimony to the determination and belief in the project of those involved that it’s been done, and for that I am very grateful to everyone who got involved.” Well-equipped with PPE and safe working practises, Subfrantic’s new studio’s primary focus, during this strange time, is to ensure that visitors are safe, and to account for changes in often unclear government guidelines.

“We have several options to control the movement of people in the building, so the first thing we do is speak to the client and work out how to manage the human side of their session safely,” Davies said, adding that with outdoor spaces to hang out in and for eating, along with a CCTV system with screens throughout the building, it’s possible to keep a track of who is where easily to avoid too many people being in one space at the same time.

“As you might expect, we also have hand sanitiser everywhere!” he exclaimed. “In every bathroom, by every door, by every sink, our sanitisation stations are clearly marked. We also offer people free masks and gloves. We clean everything thoroughly and religiously and that isn’t just the bathrooms, sofas, door handles and the kitchens – it’s the mics, mic stands, consoles and other equipment too.”

According to Davies, the design process for the new space involved a slow and organic development of ideas. “It started when some of our clients couldn’t find any rehearsal spaces for the pre-festival season in 2018, and asked if they could use our warehouse, so we set about transforming a part of it into a temporary black box rehearsal space.”

The following month saw numerous rehearsals and video or photo shoots, during which the team watched how different guests used spaces in the warehouse as mix rooms, dressing rooms and green rooms.

After that followed a lengthy research phase where Davies and the team asked a lot of people what they wanted from a rehearsal facility. “Most people felt unlimited free parking with no traffic wardens waiting to pounce

was more important than a central London location. For others, their response was simply, ‘not a shithole’,” he laughed.

At a difficult time when neighbouring businesses folded, Subfrantic was inspired to keep business in the Bromley community thriving. “We took on the empty space, effectively doubling the size of our warehouse,” Davies explained. “This meant that we could start work on our own studios from the empty shell of a warehouse, allowing us to design and build exactly what we wanted.”

By now, the plan was to offer a lot more than just a black box rehearsal space. “We’ve spent the past year and a bit designing and building a facility that we feel encompasses every need of the touring industry – especially technicians and managers, not just artists,” Davies said. “Our designs have also had to work for filming and photography for showcases, training, product demos, and community or charity projects, and of course now live streaming is essential. We’re always open to discuss alternative uses, too, which so far have included private parties and TV shows.”

Subfrantic’s suitably socially distanced soft opening over the past few weeks saw Afterlive Music take over the space to shoot promos with a range of bands. “It’s been a hugely positive and encouraging experience with feedback from everyone involved,” he reported. “We’re currently working on our reception space, which has now had a 4m by 3m LED wall installed on the ceiling, and when the final few fixings arrive, we will have the disabled friendly bathroom finished, too.”

From day one, the team have set out to do things differently. Case in point, the décor and vibe of each room. The other three walls in our main room are clad in sanded scaffold boards stained different whites, greys and blacks, with a polished concrete floor that can be covered in carpet, rugs, or even AstroTurf. “We have a house lighting rig made of 16 RGBW cobs with some pre-programmed presets to give the room a selection of different feels, and there’s or a DMX merge unit if you want to do your own thing with them too,” Davies quipped during this virtual tour of his facilities.

Th e Mix Room is designed to pander to visiting audio engineers. “It’s just over 50 sq m, which allows us to handle any size of console with ease, leaving plenty of space for a decent-sized PA. There are comfy sofas and a plush carpet, slightly spangly wallpaper, and we have a similar lighting system to the Live Room, but with 20 RGBW fixtures allowing you complete creative control over your working environment.”

Da vies described the largest and most social space in the building: “The Green Room has a high purple draped ceiling with modern large filament LED lamps hanging from it, a big kitchen with an American fridge freezer

plumbed in for filtered water and ice on demand, lots of huge sofas, three large TVs, as well as a selection of vintage keyboard instruments – including a harmonium from the late 19th Century.”

Key to the design of the space, Davies said, was to think about the project as technicians, tour or production managers, and putting in what he’d want to see – from huge doors to get set in and out easily to situating the production office close, but not too close to the Live Room.

“We ’ve put a lot of thought and effort into workflow and facilities for the people who need the most out of our spaces,” he said. “We’d rather not have clients in for one session, we want to build relationships with production teams and artists. It’s the best way to get good results and a positive working environment.”

He employs the same ethos with equipment manufacturers. “Our industry is heavily technologically led and it’s only going to become more so in the future. We want to be able to offer our clients the latest, best, and most appropriate kit for their shows, so it’s paramount to have a good relationship with manufacturers to stay on top of the market can offer,” Davies noted. “I’m lucky that my team has good relationships with many of the leading brands – we either own or have played with and are familiar with a lot of their products and enjoy hanging out with some of their teams at tradeshows and industry events.”

With a full touring schedule due to return in January 2020, Davies looked to the uncertain future. “Like the majority of the industry, I’ve not done any gigs since March, but I’ve not stopped working 14-hour days, six days a week trying to improve the business, learn new skills, and push our building project forward whilst keeping our head above water,” he commented. “We’re now seasoned professionals at things we’ve been flirting with for a while – such as livestreaming and automated multicam environments. At the same time, I’m now the go-to-guy if you want to know the best tips and tricks for using a three-phase belt sander to shape angles on small blocks of wood!”

To c lose, Davies shared further plans for Subfrantic in 2021, including getting heavily involved in immersive audio, but before then he and the team are focused on expanding the facility’s arsenal – repurposing the Live Room as a Green Screen studio, which will go well with the PTZ camera rig that Subfrantic has just invested in. And at the heart of it all, Davies said, “We believe that creative people deserve creative spaces.” TPi Photos: Subfrantic www.subfrantic.com