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Romesh Dodangoda

Romesh Dodangoda

Last updated: 06 May 2010

Romesh Dodangoda is a Welsh record producer who's worked with many of Wales' new rock bands. Before the broadcast of Bethan Elfyn's Radio 1 Documentary Start Something; The Story of South Wales Rock we caught up with him to talk about his career.

Introduce yourself Romesh.

I'm Romesh Dodangoda. I am a record producer and also own Long Wave Recording Studio, in Cardiff.

Can you explain what production actually entails? Is it simply a matter of recording music or do you get involved in song construction?

A producer's role covers a lot of areas really. It's everything from making sure the songs are as good as they can be, helping rewriting sections if needed to make them better, making sure the record sounds the way it needs to be sonically and lots of other things really. The other side of the job is details like getting the album done on budget and delivered to the label on time, booking the studios that we need to use on so on.

How did you get into production?

I started pretty young; I used to play in a band and very quickly realised it wasn't what I wanted to do. I was more interested in the way songs were put together and being in the studio. I got into bands like Oasis who then got me into The Beatles and I suddenly realised how simple a great song can be. I guess it all happened from there!

What bands have you worked with?

A lot! Bands such as Motorhead, Funeral For A Friend, Bullet For My Valentine, Kids In Glass Houses, The Blackout, Twin Atlantic, Attack Attack, Cerys Matthews: quite a lot of artists. It's been incredible to work with such talented people!

What are you most proud to have worked on?

Working with Kids In Glass Houses has always been very special to me because they are five of my best friends. It's a band I was involved with from the very start, from getting them into the studio to do their first tracks, to seeing where they are now makes me very proud to know that I have helped in some way.

I'm also really stoked to be able to work so closely with Funeral For A Friend. They are a band I was listening to when I was younger so getting a call from them asking me to produce their record was a pretty proud moment!

How have you been able to build up a profile and a reputation?

I always put a lot of care and effort into the records I make. You're only as good as your last record in this game! I think bands seem to enjoy the process of working with me; I try and bring a lot of ideas to the table and it's always a pretty fun and relaxed experience.

There's a lot of people calling themselves producers and just working on bands as if they were on a conveyor belt. I don't like to work that way and I think bands appreciate that. You have to understand what a band is trying to do and help them make it work! I think my profile built up because I was producing bands such as Kids In Glass Houses, The Blackout, Twin Atlantic etc and they are doing so well now and have got pretty big.

What are you working on at the moment?

I'm currently working on the new Motorhead album which is pretty surreal. I am tracking guitars for the record which is going great. Its a real honour to be working on it and I get to hear lots of cool Motorhead stories!

What plans do you have for the future?

Just to take everything as it comes really. Im having such a great time at the moment, I just want to keep making good records with good people, and if people enjoy listening to it, then thats rad! Apart from that, Long Wave is 10 years old next year so I am planning a big party!


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