Nineteen Eighty Studios

06/10/2025

Take your songs from notebook to stage in our 3-part clinic:

✨ Writing & collaboration
✨ Co-writing & creative tools
✨ MTV Unplugged-style performance night

⚡ Supported by City Music with Zoom creator gear + exciting prizes!

Spots limited to 10.

📅 Oct 24, Oct 31 and Nov 1, Nineteen Eighty Studios
🎟️ Details & sign-up: link in bio

02/10/2025

🎚️ Dynamics Are Not Just About Volume

Loudness is easy. Dynamics take discipline. We push bands to rehearse with intention and perform with balance because great music isn’t just about being heard. It’s about being heard clearly.

Too often, musicians mistake dynamics for simply being loud. But true dynamics are about contrast and control. The difference between a performance that hits hard and one that just hits loud.

🥁 Rehearsal: Clarity Over Chaos

Rehearsals aren’t about volume wars. They’re about exposing flaws and tightening up. When bands rehearse too loud, mistakes get buried. Playing quieter forces precision and balance. Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged proved you don’t need volume to deliver intensity.

And yes, the classic excuse “we have to be loud because the drummer can’t play quieter” doesn’t hold up. Great drummers practice dynamic control; it’s part of their craft. John Bonham wasn’t always at full tilt, and modern drummers like Questlove prove how much power subtlety can carry.

🎛️ Live: Volume Kills Control

On stage, especially in smaller venues the louder the band, the less control the sound engineer has. Instead of sculpting a mix, they’re just fighting noise. Radiohead thrive by using quiet-loud contrasts, giving both the engineer and the audience space to breathe.

🎤 Monitors: “More Me” Doesn’t Work

Every musician can’t have themselves louder in the monitors. That mindset destroys the stage mix. The Grateful Dead learned to trust collective balance, letting each part breathe as part of a band, not an individual's instrument.

⚡ The Power of Not Always Loud

Volume has its place, but without contrast it loses impact. Led Zeppelin and Foo Fighters understood this. Quiet passages made their explosive moments unforgettable.

22/09/2025

Join us for an unforgettable night with two bands that’ll kick off your weekend right. The Krew, masters of groove, with a setlist that keeps the crowd moving and CheckHerBoard, an all-girl powerhouse bringing fierce energy and sharp style.

Both bands cut their teeth at Studio 72, and now they’re bringing their unique chemistry and love for music straight to you. Expect a high-octane mix of top 40 hits, rock anthems, pop favourites, and timeless classics, performed with fresh edge and undeniable passion.

Don’t miss this celebration of music, connection, and the beauty of two bands with different flavours meeting in one place.

Tickets on our website.

16/09/2025

🎤 The most dangerous sentence we hear from musicians:

“I not pro lah, so any sound can oreadi.”
This mindset is one of the biggest barriers to growth, not just for the individual, but for the entire live music ecosystem. The truth is, every artist who steps on a stage, whether for five people or five hundred, is representing themselves.

It's admitting that you don’t value your own craft enough to push it forward. That attitude doesn’t just stunt progress; it actively reinforces mediocrity.

This mentality kills growth. Caring about details - your setup, your sound, your presence - isn’t cosplaying as a “pro musician.” It’s about respecting your craft, the people who play with you, and the people who came to hear you.

Every pro started as an amateur who gave a damn, so don’t use “I’m not a pro” as an excuse to stop improving. It starts here, not "how did I do?" at the end of the evening.

02/09/2025

We're now a one-stop destination for recording, producing, and bringing music to life.

Whether you’re a band ready to capture your sound or a singer-songwriter looking to add full-band depth and dimension, we’ve got the space to make it happen.

World-class selection of equipment and amps, a network of versatile session players, and owners who have been immersed in music for over three decades.

Let your ideas become records here.

📍 DM us for a bespoke quote.

01/09/2025

🚨 Next Shophouse Sessions is locked in! 🚨
Hit the link in our bio to sign up + let us know what instrument you’re playing. It helps us line up the jams and keep the pairings tight.

👉 Bassists, take note: there’s always room for more low-end lords, so bring your rumble.

28/08/2025

Looking for some jam tune inspiration?

27/08/2025

This isn’t a cover band. It’s an experience.

Welcome To The Machine is a Pink Floyd tribute band dedicated to bringing The Wall to life the way it was meant to be heard. Every note, every soundscape, every haunting lyric is faithfully reproduced, not reimagined.

Sure, lots of bands cover Floyd's material, but if you want to step inside The Wall and see it rebuilt brick by brick, you'll want to be at the Esplanade on the 12th and 13th of September.

Experience Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ like never before—an electrifying tribute blending live music, orchestration, and immersive visuals.

23/08/2025

What happens when Harry Styles takes on a Toto twist? You get Plamboy's super-intelligent arrangement of "As It Was".

09/08/2025

Singapore sells the idea of “Passion Made Possible,” but the truth is, some passions are more welcome than others. Every National Day, we clap for the people who built the nation, but rarely do we ask what it’ll take to keep us going, and whether the path to success might lie outside the usual STEM-approved routes.

Around here, creativity is tolerated like stray cats, so long as it’s sterilised, controlled, and tucked away.

It’s not a lack of talent holding us back, it’s the way art gets treated as a hobby rather than a profession, welcome only if it fattens someone’s wallet. Zoning rules push grassroots spaces into extinction unless they’re tucked into sterile malls, which means independent creativity survives as fleeting “pop-ups” before someone shuts them down. And with grind culture baked into our DNA, the arts are expected to run on leftovers: leftover time, leftover energy, leftover respect.

When we started Nineteen Eighty Studios after COVID’s peak, it seemed insane. Back then, people were still measuring the gaps between chairs, and neighbours were snitching on each other out of envy more than concern. But lockdown also gave us time to think, and we realised there had to be a better way to live and create.

So we built a space where musicians could meet, rehearse, record, and actually connect. It wasn’t just about gear and walls. It became a hub for friendships, collaborations, and new bands. We learned quickly that people often confuse price with value, but our goal was never to squeeze every dollar. We don’t rely on the studio to feed ourselves; we want it to feed the scene. We’re not here to just survive. We want to thrive and bring others up with us.

This National Day, we're less interested in waving flags than in finding purpose. We want to celebrate the people who’ve shared our vision - partners like Retrobeats and BassFreq, venues like Phil's Studio, and the many bands who’ve brought our space to life. Because at the end of the day, we’re all we’ve got. And if we don’t fight to keep the good things alive, they’ll disappear before we even notice.

So if you're looking to host a gig, run an event, or record your EP, drop us a bell and let's make your passion possible.

Daniel Borces, guitarist and founder of indie-pop band Subsonic Eye, speaks on shaping Singapore for independent musicians to thrive.

05/08/2025

We’re going deep this August.

An immersive night of experimental electronic music and modular synthesis.
INSIDE – a sonic + visual descent into ambient, introspective terrain.

🎛️ Dad Bots Collective returns, evolving their modular installations into richer, more atmospheric territory.

🎸 Victor Chen (DeltaV) bends blues into new sonic shapes – slow-burning, reflective, and raw.

🎷 Andrew Yerkes weaves jazz-laced electronics into meditative textures.

🎨 Visuals by Kristian complete the experience – layered, hypnotic, immersive.

🔊 Opening set by George Chua – multidisciplinary artist blurring the lines between sound, body, and ritual.

Don’t expect a dancefloor. Expect a portal.