|
|
About Enrec Studios
Vision
The vision for ENREC STUDIOS is to
provide a production facility with a creative
environment to record and preserve musical works
with a high standard of quality and technological
sophistication to support the needs of artists,
musician and customers in the 21st century.
|
| Enrec
Studios is a sound recording studio that has
been running since 1983. It was an idea held
by Eric Newton, a musician and radio
announcer from Tamworth NSW and Steve Newton
(brother) also a musician from Tamworth.
They are the sons of Slim Newton of “The
Redback On The Toilet Seat” fame. In 1981
Eric was tragically killed in a car crash
and so he was never able to realise the
brothers' dream of building a recording
studio. In 1983, Steve teamed up with Ed
Matzenik and formed Enrec Studios (Enrec
stands for Eric Newton |
 |
| RECording). Steve found a
hand drawn “ENREC” on an old tape box (see
picture) after Eric’s death and realised it
must have been one of Eric’s ideas for a
possible studio name, so this was the name
Steve and Ed agreed would be the name for
the studio. It is ironic that Eric was to
name the business even after his death. So,
Enrec Studios is a memorial in some respects
to Eric himself but it goes much further.
After more than 23 years, Enrec has recorded
more than 150 albums and numerous singles,
jingles, demos and tapes for more than 150
artists and bands. Some projects have won
awards from the CMAA including; |
Vocal Group or Duo
c1991 – Michael Roycroft/Jan Cooper
Bush Ballad of The Year 2002 – John Williamson
Top Selling Album Of The Year 1998, 2006 – John
Williamson
Album Of The Year 2006
Plus numerous nominations from 1984-2007
About STEVE NEWTON,
engineer/producer
By Steve Newton
I first became interested in tape recorders as a kid
in the late 60’s. My father had a reel to reel tape
recorder for recording demos to try to get a
recording contract with a record label. This he
succeeded in doing and the first EP became one of
the biggest hits ever in this country. “The Redback
On The Toilet Seat” made Slim Newton a household
name. I saw this as a child and grew up immersed in
song writing, performing, recording and touring. By
the mid 70’s I was recording the show whilst on tour
with my folks on “The Rick & Thel Show”.
In 1978, I
began a career as a musician touring
throughout Australia and New Zealand with a
number of touring shows. This was largely
due to my brother Eric encouraging me to
quit my day job and to come and tour as a
rhythm guitar player. Eric and I often
talked about one day having a studio of our
own and so he purchased a brand new 4 track
reel to reel and an 8 channel mixing desk.
Tragically, Eric died in 1981 and I decided
to go ahead and try to fulfill the dream.
 |
In 1983, Ed
Matzenik and I formed ENREC STUDIOS in
Tamworth and together recorded and released around
180 titles just on the Enrec label alone. In 1992 I
toured with Johnny Chester on the Tammy Wynette
Australian National Tour and then in 1993 I moved
ENREC STUDIOS to a new location just outside of
Newcastle. Here I had two of the busiest years of
recording ever. One artist that I had started to
record was John Williamson. After some talks with
John and Phil Mathews (John’s manager), I returned
to touring full time, with John, as the Production
Manager and Tour Manager and continued to record |
| John’s albums for the
next decade and a half with the most recent
being “Chandelier Of Stars”, CMAA
Album Of The Year 2006. By the end of 2005 I decided to get back to
recording full time and take a break from touring
once again. So far, I have worked on a number of new
titles for release including another for my dad,
Slim Newton. I began my career just after the
transistor was invented and now work in a digital
programmable world. I have seen a lot of changes in
technology style and ideas. I have learnt that there
are no rules and no formula that works for everyone.
There is however three ingredients that are
important if you want a good recording. 1) A good
song. 2) A good arrangement and 3) Good quality
performances. I believe that if you get these three
things in place, you will have a good quality,
successful recording!
Steve. |
|
|
