Behind the Board: Black Lounge on Capturing Imperfection, Instinct and Energy in the Studio

Essex indie-rock band Black Lounge are preparing to release their debut EP through Right Tracks, the label started by Chrysalis founder Chris Wright. Formed by George Grant in 2024, the band have recently released “Welcome Home” and follow-up single “Roommate”, both of which will appear on the forthcoming EP.

Both “Welcome Home” and “Roommate” were recorded at London’s RAK Studios with producer Danton Supple, whose credits include Coldplay and Suede. The current Black Lounge line-up features Grant alongside guitarist Ben Gulik, bassist James Ladds and drummer Jack Cassidy. The band have sold out headline shows in London and Essex, received airplay from BBC Introducing and played alongside The Molotovs and The Clause.

In this edition of Behind the Board, Black Lounge discuss their experiences in the studio, including the challenges of recording “Roommate”, allowing mistakes and imperfections to remain in finished takes and balancing technical skill with creative instinct. They also share their thoughts on artificial intelligence in music production, dealing with creative blocks and why their golden rule is never to lose sight of the song while trying to improve the recording.

Describe your most chaotic studio session ever.

“I think the most chaotic sessions are usually the ones where you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing when you walk into the room. There have definitely been sessions where we’ve gone in with a plan, completely ignored it within about an hour and somehow ended up with something better than what we originally intended.

With Black Lounge, I actually quite like a bit of chaos. Some of our best moments have come from everyone being in a room together, playing something slightly differently to how we rehearsed it and just going, “Wait, that was actually fucking good.”

I think there’s a danger with recording when everything becomes too controlled. Sometimes you need the mistakes, the little imperfections and the moments where everyone is slightly panicking. That’s where some of the character comes from.”

Which song was unexpectedly challenging to produce, and why?

“‘Roommate’ was probably one of the more interesting ones because the song itself feels quite simple on the surface, but getting the recording to actually capture what I liked about it was much harder. I think that’s something I’ve learnt over time, a song can sound great when you’re playing it in a room, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to translate perfectly into a recording.

We’ve also had the opposite experience, where something we weren’t particularly confident about initially suddenly comes alive once you start recording it. That’s one of my favourite things about being in a studio. You’re not just documenting the song, you’re almost discovering what the song actually is.”

Black Lounge Behind The Board, photo by Artist

Share a recording fail that ended up being a surprising win.

“I actually think some of the best moments are when someone makes a mistake, and everyone initially stops because they think they’ve ruined the take. There’s a tendency when recording to immediately want to fix everything. Someone plays something slightly differently, a vocal isn’t perfect, a guitar comes in a fraction late, and your first instinct is to do another take. But sometimes you listen back and realise that mistake is exactly what makes the take feel human. That’s something I’ve become much more comfortable with. I’d much rather have a take with a bit of personality than something technically perfect that sounds completely lifeless.”

What do you do when you’re stuck creatively in the studio?

“Usually I stop trying to force it.

I think one of the worst things you can do when you’re stuck is sit there staring at a screen trying to convince yourself that you’re being creative. Sometimes you just need to leave the room, go for a walk, have a conversation, listen to something completely unrelated or just do something stupid.

I also like going back to the most basic version of whatever we’re working on. Strip everything away and ask, Is the actual song any good? If it isn’t, no amount of plugins, production tricks or clever sounds are going to save it. Sometimes you just have to accept that you’ve had a shit day and go home. There’s always tomorrow.”

How do you feel about artificial intelligence in music production?

“I think AI is going to be a massive part of music, whether people like it or not. But I don’t think it replaces the human part of making music. For me, the most interesting thing about music is the story behind it, why someone made a particular decision, why a singer delivered a line that way, why a band played something slightly wrong, why a particular sound ended up on the record.

I’m not against using technology to make the process easier or to experiment with ideas. I just wouldn’t want music to become completely sanitised and generated by algorithms. The imperfections are often the best bits. I’d hate to make a record that was technically flawless but had absolutely nothing human about it.”

What’s something you believe about recording that most people disagree with?

“I think a technically perfect recording is often worse than an imperfect one with personality. There’s so much obsession with getting everything completely right now, perfect timing, perfect vocals, perfect tuning, perfect performances. Obviously those things have their place, but I think you can take it too far.

Some of my favourite records sound like a group of people actually playing together. You can hear the room, you can hear the energy, and sometimes you can hear things that probably shouldn’t technically be there. That’s what makes a record exciting to me.

I’d rather hear a band absolutely fucking going for it than hear five musicians playing their parts perfectly to a click and sounding like they’re recording in five different rooms.”

Black Lounge Behind The Board, photo by Artist

How much of producing music is technical skill vs. intuition?

“I’d say it’s probably 50/50, although I think the balance changes depending on what you’re doing. Obviously you need the technical knowledge. You need to understand microphones, recording, mixing, arrangement and all the boring stuff that allows you to actually turn an idea into a finished record. But I think intuition is what separates a technically good recording from something that actually makes you feel something.

You need to know when to leave something alone. You need to know when a mistake is actually better than the perfect take. You need to know when a song needs another guitar part and, probably more importantly, when it absolutely doesn’t. The best producers I’ve worked with have that instinct. They aren’t just thinking about whether something sounds good, they’re thinking about whether it makes the song better.”

Finally, what’s the absolute golden rule of music production in your book?

“Don’t lose the song trying to make the recording better. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learnt. You can spend hours changing sounds, moving microphones, adding plugins and obsessing over tiny details, but at the end of the day, if the song isn’t good, none of that matters. I think the best production should make you forget about the production. You should hear a song and just want to turn it up. For Black Lounge, I always want the record to feel like a band. I want it to have energy, imperfections, personality and a reason for you to listen to it again.

If you ever get to a point where you’re making something technically better but emotionally worse, stop.”

Black Lounge Behind The Board, photo by Artist