Hayden Kind, 17, set up his own Record Label, Dynamic Recordingz

Birmingham is full of talented young people who can sing and rap, but have nowhere to practice but the street. A chance encounter with one such young person led Hayden Kind to do something about it. At 15 years old, he set up a recording studio in his bedroom and set out to make recording accessible to young people in Birmingham through his record label, Dynamic Recordingz. His aim was to get young people off the streets and help them find the means to express themselves through music.

In the beginning, Hayden didn’t know anything about recording, but he did recognise talent and wanted to do something to help aspiring young artists. He paid for recording equipment out of his own pocket and quickly taught himself how to use the software. In February 2007 he set up an open forum online inviting young people from all over Birmingham to record any type of music they wanted and express themselves musically without feeling intimidated for their lack of experience or level of skill. Sessions were free to begin but as popularity grew, he began charging £6 per hour to cover the costs of CDs and necessary equipment. Similar recording time can cost upwards of £22 per hour so Dynamic Recordingz made recording more accessible to a younger, wider audience.

Since its establishment, Hayden has recorded hundreds of tracks for aspiring artists whom he calls the Youth Talent Squad. One artist who had never recorded before recorded one track, posted it on her MySpace account, was discovered by a MySpace scout and later signed to Ecko Records. Beyond helping aspiring artists, he also invites everyone into the studio who might be interested in the recording process or learning to be a producer. They can join in, see what it involves and leave with a CD and tutorial pack he created to teach them the basics of being a music producer.

As Dynamic Recordingz began to grow, Hayden recognised a core group of individuals who had the potential to go far. He invited nine of the artists he thought had great talent, introduced them to each other and created the D.R. Camp. This core of artists has since recorded original tracks, put together two albums and performed together at under-18 clubs through Birmingham to audiences of more than 400 people. Their tracks are regularly played on NewStyle Radio, Silk City Radio and Galaxy and their MySpace pages get more than 150 plays a day. In addition to recording tracks, the DR Camp uses recording as a way of expressing themselves. They’ll record tracks to lyrically ‘fight’ with another individual instead of dealing with it physically. Though they record everything for expression, they only release tracks which are appropriate for larger audiences and deal with real teen issues. The latest project is writing and recording a song called ‘Hood Life’ to challenge the stereotype that young people in hoodies are antisocial with the slogan, ‘Don’t live it, Wear it!’

Now 17, Hayden has discovered a passion for recording and plans to continue helping young people discover their talents and express themselves through his bedroom studio. He plans to attend a local music college in Birmingham to further his skills and wants to continue in the music industry. In the short term, Dynamic Recordingz plans to set up its own club night for under-18s where the DR Camp will perform. In the long term, they aim to change the perception of rap music and the young people who listen to and perform it.

www.myspace.com/hayd1drcamp

Hayden was a finalist in the Performance category for the 2008 ChangeIt Awards.