The IMC Magazine Issue 17/July 2016 | Page 18

Kirsten Orsborn at Shabbey Road

There was no need for Kirsten to ‘come in through the bathroom window’ as the door is always open at Shabbey Road Studios!

Top young Welsh singer and entertainer Kirsten Orsborn co-writes her new single at Shabbey Road Studios in South Wales.

Shabbey Road Studios was opened in 1999 by multi-instrumentalist Al Steele and keyboardist Nigel Hart.

Al and Nigel are both composers/songwriters, so the studio is ideally suited to helping songwriters and composers take their work to a release standard. This applies to a songwriter who arrives with a guitar and an idea, and all the way through to composers who want to finish their work with a full orchestra.

Arrangements are all completed in-house. Sometimes that might be ‘by ear’, or in the case of orchestral works, very complex scores are written to the artistes spec.

Al Steele: Gavin came to us with a lyric that he had written, from an original idea by the talented young singer, Kirsten Orsborn. This was called ‘Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool’. We knew Kirsten was a big fan of Motown, so we based the tune and production on those Motor City classics. Al put a guide vocal down in Kirsten’s key (hopefully never to be heard in public!), and when she heard the song, she loved it.

In May Kirsten put down a fantastic vocal. We recorded 3 takes, but what you hear on the single is pretty much the third take all the way through.

Kirsten worked on the new single with Gavin Clifton who is a talented lyricist and songwriter and runs Clifton Music. He was born with cerebral palsy, and also has a speech impediment, but never lets his condition stop him from writing great music!

Through song writing, Gavin hopes to show and encourage other people with disabilities, that despite everything, if you put to mind to it, you can achieve your goals.

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