Parachute Music
Parachute Music is a not-for-profit music organisation from New Zealand. It was formed in 1989 and runs a hub of studio facilities and artist/producer support programmes in Kingsland, Auckland. From 1992 to 2014, the organisation ran the annual Parachute Festival, which grew to become the largest Christian music festival in the Southern Hemisphere, regularly attracting an audience of 25,000+ to the four-day event. It also previously provided Artist Management services including: Parachute Records, Parachute Publishing, and artist training.
Discontinuing the festival in 2014, the organisation now runs an artist and producer community in their Kingsland HQ which includes 12 music studios and various support programmes.
Background
Parachute Music was originally formed as Parachute Productions in 1989 with the goal of creating opportunities for young Christian musicians in the New Zealand music industry. Today, Parachute Music is the trading name for Parachute Arts Trust, a charitable trust registered in New Zealand since 1990.The organisation was founded by Mark de Jong, and is overseen by a board.
Studio Facilities
Parachute Studios provide a one-stop shop for musicians, with a hub of studios and songwriting spaces.Their main studio features a control room, live room, and recording booth that can host anything from large-scale recording projects to live video sessions. This studio features the latest Pro Tools HDX system with Apogee converters, API 1608 console, Genelec monitoring and an extensive selection of instruments, microphones and the latest plugins.
Parachute also has 11 producer studios, which have basic recording setups for songwriting and smaller recording sessions. Most of these studios are tenanted out long-term to local music producers, and some are kept available as day-hire studios.
As a charitable trust, Parachute's studios are community-supported facilities. Their main studio was built after a fundraising effort from the artist community in 2012. Their studios are offered at a subsidised rate, with many of them tenanted by notable New Zealand producers and songwriters.