Marc Lewis

Hi John,

I have been a massive fan of Joy division ever since moving up to Manchester 6 years ago when the band quickly began to soundtrack my life the way great bands do. Just recently I stumbled into the Chameleons when they were played on the ever brilliant BBC radio 6 music. The track was Second Skin and I was immediately blown away by the sound of the production so I went off and purchased a vinyl copy of ‘Script of the Bridge’…

The album has grown on me massively as has the production. I’m a freelance live sound engineer by trade working on all the major festivals in the UK and also running a small studio (more in a bit…). As people like me tend to do nowadays I started to trawl the Internet for info on the band and came across their excellent website. Whilst reading through the info and anecdotes I came across Cargo studios and being a recording buff myself thought I’d Google it…

Imaging my surprise then when up popped your great website full of quality pics, articles and to my (sad, nerdy) delight, a section on the gear used. What can I say, great job man. To find a site like this giving an incite into the recordings and bands showing a period in time frozen that relates to so many great bands, albums and recordings is a joy to me and I thank you for it.

The site is of particular interest to me as I ran a small, budget studio (all analog) in the midlands before I moved to Manchester. Earlier this year I started looking for a venue in my beloved Manchester area in which to build my dream studio where I can hopefully extend some of my work on the road by recording some great local talent.

I eventually found a fantastic mill space in Rochdale with all the right features and at a price that will allow me to offer a service similar to what you offered in the Cargo days… an affordable (NOT cheap!) studio built around solid gear (in my case all vintage analog and recording to a variety of analog, tape based multitrack machines) where talent can come and record creatively without the pressures of budgets eating at their mind.

As you probably well know, this is more important than ever as studios find it increasingly difficult to turn a profit as home recording becomes more common. What I would like to see is a studio that can follow proudly in the footsteps of studios back in the day such as the great Cargo and hopefully one that could eventually and in many years to come spawn a retrospective website such as yours… before music temples such as the Cargo building vanish forever!

I have no idea how well the studio will do, whether ANYONE will come to record nowadays or if I’ll EVER turn a profit and to be honest I couldn’t care less. I have a dream, the gear and a room and I intend to spend the next 6 months hand building what will become my studio. Inspired by your story and the magnificent bands you recorded and produced and the legend of Cargo studios I go forth… Wish me luck.

Marc Lewis (Jan 09)