Jon Craig – Courthouse Studio

Meet Jon Craig, works on Cream Classical and Gatecrasher Classical and has helped make them universally acclaimed thanks to his production and engineering work. Spending months on each show, Jon is also a DJ, producer and remixer who has had plenty of his own house hits and runs his own high end Courthouse Studio. Here we talk to him about all this and more.

 

How did you start out working in the music industry?

Music has always been a massive part of my life from being a small child, my brother Stuart has been a guitarist since I was very small, so naturally I always looked up to him. I knew from quite young I always wanted to do something in music, which manifested itself in to being a house DJ around the UK & Ibiza. From there I suppose I made the natural progression in to the studio side of things.

What advice would you give to aspiring mixing and mastering engineers?

Work hard, and never give up! I see lots of people who want the success but don’t really want to put in the hard work, or just give up. If you have the drive and commitment you never know where you will end up! I was told after I had been a bedroom DJ for a while and I wanted to start getting gigs in clubs/bars that I should give up and not even bother, as it too saturated! I will never even get 1 gig! 10-15 years later, I have worked with some of the biggest clubbing brands and DJs in the world.

What do you look for when choosing tracks to recreate for a live classical dance show?

It’s actually not myself who selects the tracks. For instance, on Cream Classical we have K-Klass who are the curators for the shows, they work very closely with Cream to pick which tracks go in the shows.

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What are the biggest challenges you face when reproducing dance music with an orchestra?

The biggest challenge I face when recreating the tracks for Cream, Gatecrasher & Colours Classical’s is myself! I feel like I have very big boots to fill recreating the biggest tracks of all time. ie. what if people aren’t feeling my work, it definitely keeps me on my toes……

Have you got any more dates lined up for these shows this year?

That’s down to the brands to decide and release dates. Keep an eye on their social media, as dates already released seem to sell out very quickly.

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Tell us a bit about Courthouse Studio, what made you want to open your own studios?

Courthouse Studio is based in Manchester (UK). We offer high quality production, mixing, mastering & recording services mainly focused around electronic music. I absolutely love the sound of analog gear, it has a vibe and sound that even the best plugins out there can not replicate. So I wanted to make a truly hybrid studio, offering some of the best analog Equipment out there, including vintage SSL EQ’s out of a ‘80’s desk in a custom rack, 1176’s, outboard synths etc. etc. then combine that will all the modern benefits you get from the workflow of working in the box. For as long as I’ve been working on music, I always wanted my own commercial studio. It’s taken a huge amount of planning, as well as working in and around studios for 10+ years to see what worked for what I wanted to do, and what didn’t. The main focus for me was clean crisp monitoring / sound, and having great workflow whilst using analog!

Feel free to check out my studio here:

www.courthousestudio.com

Who are the most exciting artists you have worked with and why?

Technically it’s not an artist, but without a shadow of a doubt the most exciting projects I have ever worked on are the dance classical shows.  I love how we are bringing all ages together in one venue! We have 18 year olds who are getting introduced to old skool dance that they may never have got in to otherwise. And we have 50+ year olds who are getting to witness their favourite tracks from their youth played by an orchestra in a way that they probably never dreamed of. Combine this with the spectacular venues they’re hosted in, it really is accessible to anyone. My 70 year old parents even come to the shows and love it as much as the most die hard ravers.So yes I’d definitely say they’re the most exciting projects I have worked on to date.

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Name one plugin or piece of hardware you couldn’t live without when engineering music?

That’s a tough question. There are so many pieces of amazing kit I use. Plugin wise though would be my Sonnox EQ. I use it in every mix. Analog would be my vintage SSL EQ’s. Again, they’re my go to EQ’s and are used in everything I work on without fail.

https://www.facebook.com/CourthouseStudio/