DIY bedroom studios help Welsh artists take control of their sound

Amelia Jones

With Grammy-nominated artists like Sombr admitting to starting out in their bedrooms on Garage Band, the DIY music approach is back in the spotlight.

From bedroom setups to self-taught production, a new generation of musicians is proving that you don’t need a professional studio to make music that resonates.

Meet the artists  

LICO is a five-piece band taking the home studio route with a hands-on, self-produced approach. Together, they’ve crafted a sound that feels deeply personal and entirely their own.

The lineup is Fin on vocals and production, Declan on vocals and lyrics, Sam on bass, Lloyd on guitar, and Cal on drums.

Big Red Car, another DIY collective, is equally inventive. The band consists of Lily on vocals, Josh on vocals and bass, Rowan E on guitar, James on keys, and Rowan H on drums.

Their approach to recording is a mix of chaos and creativity, often using household objects and homemade equipment to capture a distinctive sound.

Finally, solo artist Tom Parry began writing music at 13 and has spent years honing his self-production skills. From a humble Casio keyboard setup to a full Logic Pro-equipped home studio.

Tom embodies the solitary, experimental ethos of bedroom recording, blending technical improvisation with raw, expressive songwriting.

Why DIY? 

For LICO’s Fin, self-producing started out as a hobby led by curiosity. He wanted to understand how the artists he loved made their sounds, so he began trying to recreate them at home.

“I was intrigued by how different sounds were achieved and the techniques behind them,” he says. “It took years to become good at it, but once I did, we didn’t really see a reason to go to another producer.”

Recording at home also meant learning the hard way. “Our first few demos were awful,” he admitted. “Everything was quantised and it sounded robotic and almost not human,” he joked.

But those mistakes became stepping stones. Without studio clocks or hourly rates, they could take their time, refine their sound and build the confidence to trust their own instincts.

Cost, or the lack of it, is also what pushed Big Red Car into DIY territory. Their early demos were recorded in their college studio, simply because it was the only place they had access. But when they graduated, that was no longer an option.

“When it came to recording our album, we couldn’t afford a studio,” they said. “We were stupid enough to think we’d be good at doing it ourselves, plus we thought it would be more fun.”

The band now thrive on spontaneity and mess, their first recording session was so unplanned they played every song in a single take just to get it done. “It was chaos,” they admit. “But that’s exactly what Big Red Car is.”

Tom’s solo DIY production is all about freedom. Freedom from pressure, schedules and outside expectations.

As someone who’s never really conquered his battle with sleep, this habit has been amplified by working on his songs, when his family and the dogs are asleep. His vocal cords have had all day to warm up, and it’s the time he feels most creative

Recording in a professional studio with others around, he admits, would be intimidating, “their knowledge and skillsets would supersede mine tenfold,” he said.

In his bedroom, however, he is free to experiment, self-critique, and refine every detail at his own pace.

This freedom has shaped his sound, which has recently shifted from acoustic ballads to a Smashing Pumpkins-inspired garage/grunge style.

See how LICO create their songs: 

@wearelico

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♬ original sound – LICO

Equipment (or lack thereof)  

For these artists, makeshift setups and improvisations aren’t compromises, they are part of the music itself.

Big Red Car take improvisation to theatrical levels. They’ve built microphones out of car speakers, patched things together with tape, used a bandana as a pop filter, and even put a mic inside an acoustic guitar when they couldn’t capture the sound they wanted.

These improvised solutions have become part of the Big Red Car feel, even if they’re the only ones who know the keys were recorded under a blanket during a heatwave.

LICO’s process is shaped by thrift and independence. Cheap gear and home setups aren’t a problem, they’re part of the band’s instinctive, unfiltered approach to recording.

In their bedroom studio, they can take as many vocal or guitar takes as they like, tweak every detail, and trust their own instincts without outside interference.

Even when they decided to record single ‘Losing My Mind’ in a professional studio, Fin admitted that he still did all of the production himself in his ‘bedroom/studio/blah.’

Tom has his own approach to DIY. To manage room acoustics, he drapes a dressing gown over his head and microphone.

“I can’t see anything I’m doing,” he says, “so I leave the mouse cursor on the playhead and just hit Cmd-Z and R as I go. I’m sure Mark Ronson also has this problem.”

For these artists, DIY is as much about having control over their time as it is about the tools they use.

Tom said that with so many other responsibilities to juggle, the hours he can dedicate to music are limited and sacred, and repeating the same writing, melodic, or chord structures feels like wasted opportunity.

He feels as if every new project needs to be different, push his limits, and be treated as ‘the song to be heard by the many.’

Without luxury studio time, professional engineers, or even bandmates to support him. He says, all he has are his songs that are: “distinct and driven by a relentless pursuit of personal perfection.”