Meet Rob Burn | Social entrepreneur – Founder Ten87 Studios.
We had the good fortune of connecting with Rob Burn and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Rob, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I was a producer/engineer, working freelance across studios in London. I was spending a lot on hiring facilities by the day or half day, I even rented a space monthly myself as a private studio, however the space wasn’t ideal. I needed an affordable, functional set of spaces that myself and my musical network could call home. Where we could share facilities equipment and our connections. I was convinced I could build something better.
What should our readers know about your business?
Ten87 represents one of the largest clusters of recording studios in the UK. We provide spaces that record producers, engineers and artists can call home long term. We have a range of different size spaces that cater for a range of different creators, ranging from bedroom producers; making their fist steps in the industry, to fully fledged artists working on the world stage. There is a number of things that set us apart from other studio operators, for example, we zone our studios, matching creators in similar fields. We find this helps to boost collaboration and build community. We also program events working together with some of the most respected brands and cultural organisations in the uk music industry to keep our community engaged and connected.
it’s been a long journey to get to where we are today. We are fiercely independent, and to date we are completely publicly funded. I started out as a record producer, the catalyst for starting the business was my won need for affordable creative space. the growth of the business has lead me to put my own career on pause, at least whist the Ten87 story continues to unfold anyway.
We recently launched a new large scale commercial (day hire) facility. The space was originally a night club which was operated by a separate company, but housed in our main studio building. Unfortunately the business closed during covid, and we were handed back the keys. We went through a lengthly design and construction process and eventually this resulted in one of the most exciting new tracing and mix rooms in London. We are offering discounts to the Ten87 Community and the local community of Tottenham. The space required us to completely rethink the structure of the business and has added another great service to our business, and is already paving to be a success.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Ive recently moved to Enfield and live right on the doorstep of this great creative space out in the countryside of North London – Birch community. Its a great place to visit for the day and has a pool and awesome restaurant. They program incredible live music, so would be a fun to start the day off here.
For lunch It would have to be a visit to my favourite spot in town right now – Sessions Arts Club. The food, drink, and Art and Vibe is like nowhere else I’ve been too. They host incredible events to play intimate live sessions to its been such a cool journey seeing the transformation of the space. Its built within an old court house in Farringdon, in the centre of the City. Russel Potter and Jonny Gent are the founders, Jonny is an incredible modern artist, his studio is based there and his art is everywhere, and really represents the essence of Sessions. Russell is an incredible architect and has managed to preserve the original character of the space whilst bringing an otherworldly charm. Im lucky enough to help program the playlists there with Russell, its been a super fun process, which we are repeating with their new venture: Boath house – a hotel in the highlands in Scotland.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to shoutout Tony Nwachukwu and CDR. Before I started Ten87 I was in a band called Lore. CDR showed us incredible support, putting us on at their last ever event at the legendary Plastic People in Shoreditch here in London. Alas, the band is no more, however since then we’ve worked together at various points in my journey with Ten87, Tony has run collaborative workshops and talks and is also a member of our advisory board on our social impact work. We’ve got a super exciting project planned which will be based in our new day hire studio – ‘The Club’.
Website: https://ten87.studio
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robten87/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ten87studios/
Image Credits
Mike Banks 2022
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutMiami is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
