Good Vibrations: Addi Road Opens New Community-Access Recording Studio

Addi Road Community Organisation have opened a new community-access recording studio dubbed ‘Addi Sounds’.

Launched in partnership with Australian National University (ANU), the Addi Sounds project offers training and hands-on experience recording podcasts, spoken word and all
genres of music.

Hip hop artist Cocoa the Conscious is Addi Sounds Youth Coordinator. “The essence of hip hop involves social justice, consciousness, making change happens,” he says. “It’s a vessel for those bigger ideas and feelings. That deeper frequency is what really interests me – whether it’s rap, indie rock, electronic music or folk singing.”

ANU have provided studio equipment and a collaborative vision with Addi Road to research how free access to a high-level recording environment can affect everything from community vitality to artistic innovation and even mental health.

A grant from State Street Foundation has given Addi Sounds a huge boost in resources for further training and pathways to employment. Cocoa has been working with Amal Dib, Addi Road’s Community Development Officer, to bring in experienced figures like Chantel (workshops on singing in the studio and managing early exposure to the music industry) and Otis James (teaching a production class in using Logic Pro).

Starting from 30 July, Addi Sounds will be the venue for a TAFE Cert II in Music in partnership with Mission Australia and Addi Road. This free accredited course will also offer additional casework and support with housing, Centrelink and counselling where needed.

Dr Pat O’Grady, a senior lecturer in music technology at ANU, is overeeing the Addi Sounds project and has run a songwriting workshop himself.

He admits to being astounded by the progress Cocoa and Amal have made. Even more so that the Addi Sounds Fest has so quickly evolved out of the recording program, 40 bands and solo artists performing short sets on Sunday 10 August.

Home recording technology tends to mean creativity taking place in isolation. The nature of that – along with prohibitive equipment costs and uncertainty about how to take the next steps professionally – are all in need of assistance. 

“Addi Sounds is aiming to connect community music-making with broader industry networks, helping artists develop skills and access opportunities,” he says. 

Participants are already taking their introductory training into the industry. One of the early Addi Sounds trainees, Alex (AKA ‘Knxyy’), has recorded his poetry and raps, gained confidence to perform in public and will be starting his own program at Radio Skid Row. 

During a visit to pick-up emergency hampers for flood-affected communities in in northern NSW, Milan Dhiiyaan’s Fleur Magick Dennis brought an elder’s life experience powerfully to the Addi Sounds mic at the height of NAIDOC2025. 

Her reading of poem about being “a pale-skinned blackfella” and the racism she has endured from all sides remains an early Addi Sounds highlight.

Cocoa is ecstatic about that moment and many others. “We’re at the inception stage. Laying down the foundations. My job is to pioneer it so that it lasts longer than me, longer than any of us.’

Amal Dib says these first six months of Addi Sounds have been a powerful thing to witness.

“It’s unique. The studio and the festival are entirely run by young people. But it’s reaching out from that to everyone. It’s a privilege. We’re overwhelmed by the interest and the variety of artists coming to us.”

Addi Sounds Youth Music Festival happens in Marrickville on Sunday 10 August, 10am till late. You can find tickets at Eventbrite here.

Find out more about Addi Road on Facebook, Instagram and at AddiRoad.org.au.