ABOUT US
Hey Folks,
My Name’s Dan Fern. I own Do It Ourselves Studios, Sister company to Jess’s Do It Ourselves Events.
I started my musical journey at an early age helping my Grandma set up her sound system and keyboard in community centres around Matlock in Derbyshire. I loved all the equipment and loved seeing people dancing and having fun whilst Grandma did her thing, either playing records or singing and playing keyboard. Needless to say I fell in love with music and started learning drums when I was 11 years old (currently 31 years ago!) and have never stopped since.
I first started recording and producing when I was around 14, on a cracked version of Fruity Loops (now called FL studio) and Pro Logic and Protools. I learned to sample on old hardware samplers and how to use midi at Access To Music in Beehive Mills, the home of legendary Sankey’s (soaps) nightclub, a 5 hour round trip on the only bus from Matlock to Manchester, 3 days a week in my late teens.
When I started working at the Fishpond music venue in my home town, my love for music really catapulted, I started putting on nights, gigging with tonnes of bands and doing sound for other bands until I studied professional musicianship at Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM before it became the British and Irish Institute of Modern Music) where I learned to play drums from Editors of Modern Drummer magazine and session players for the likes of Jamiroquai, Prodigy, Faithless, Skunk Anansie and many many more.
I moved to Manchester in 2005 as I felt it was where I wanted to pursue my career in music and quickly started volunteering for local music shops, record labels and sound companies while working in bars like the Mint Lounge. I quickly found jobs in 2 small labels and became the music booker at Matt & Phreds Jazz club, where I really found a love for Jazz music. I also enjoyed taking over the sound when the resident sound engineer was unavailable. During this time I was playing in a short lived band called Eskimo Cowboy with my friend JP Cooper on vocals, we enjoyed some success, and JP soon got snapped up by Island records to become the internationally famous artist he is today.
Between 2008 and 2010, life got in the way of music, I struggled with the breakdown of a relationship, the loss of a band I loved very much, and the seemingly stagnant progression in my music career. I was having to work 3 Jobs (teaching drums in schools, working for a fledgling record label and working late nights at the jazz club) to be able to pay the rent and so I had to get a “normal” job. Between 2010 and 2016 I barely listened to music because I was so burned out after what I perceived as a failed music career, but in 2016 I started producing and recording music again, and things have gone from strength to strength after then. I enjoyed music again, I felt like I’d found my calling as a creating facilitator, helping grass roots musicians with their compositions and producing and their music, with many releasing music we’d worked on. I built my home studio from a laptop and a microphone, adding more and more gear and knowledge over 8 years to finally realise my dream of building my own recording studio back in 2024 when I took a lease on a premise within South City Studios. All while I was still working a 9-5 as a relatively good data analyst.
In early 2025 I was made redundant from my 9-5 and I’ve taken that as an opportunity to really make a go of operating a recording, rehearsal and DJ studio, on my own terms.
Do It Ourselves has been born from a lifelong passion for music, and the ability to help others realise their potential through decades of knowledge and experience in almost all aspects of the music industry. Alongside Jess, I believe we have the best collection of skills and knowledge to help you Record, Produce, Perform and Sustain your music, too.