Music is renowned as being one of the toughest industries to crack – but at Glasgow Music Studios there’s every chance the next Lewis Capaldi, Amy Macdonald or Calvin Harris is making their first step.

Thanks to the community initiatives run by studio founder and director, Lynne Hendry, young people across the city are enjoying the opportunity to pick up a musical instrument, or sit in front of a mixing desk for the first time and explore their potential through music.

While the studio has its commercial interests and corporate bookings, its community initiatives allow Lynne to give back to the city and open doors to youngsters who may have no other avenue open to them in terms of accessing music for free.

Following the passing of her father 13 years ago, Lynne’s outlook on life changed and she decided to walk away from a career in marketing to return to college to study sound engineering.

Having set up Glasgow Music Studios in 2010, she received a call a couple of years later which would light the touchpaper for the run of community initiatives that have since followed.

Lynne explains: “At that time, Enable Scotland got in touch to say they worked with a young person with autism who wanted to get into music.

“We invited him along to the studio and partnered in a wee project together. It was quite a buzz helping someone through music and I thought I’d like to do more of this. I got in touch with different organisations across Scotland to get funding and more projects developed from there.”

Chris McShannon was the young man who stepped into the studio for that first time seven years ago. And as proof of how the experience changed his future, Chris, now 27, has remained at the studio since.

“It’s been great at the studio all these years,” says Chris. “I’m now the studio assistant, but known as a jack of all trades. I’m the one who gets the studio rooms prepared for projects and parties… I’m all about these types of jobs.”

In addition to offering his organisational skills to the studio, Chris has also picked up some musical skills along the way. “I’ve learned bass guitar and do a bit of singing sometimes,” he adds. “I love going our community events. I was involved in our Music Moments project which was on during the European Games last year working with Sunny Govan Radio.”

The studio’s annual Jam Project has been one community initiative, having run for the past seven years. Over the course of six months, up to 50 young people attend the studios every week as tutors mentor them to explore their musical interests and potential.

With the autonomy to choose the instruments they want to play and the songs they want to sing, the environment acts as the perfect place to flourish. Vital to the project, the young people have the chance to perform live outwith the studios during and near the end of project.

Jennifer Leitch, 24, was offered a job as a trainee tutor on the most recent Jam Project, having been a participant in previous initiatives at the studios. Sharing what she believes makes Glasgow Music Studios unique in developing young potential.

Jennifer says: “It’s definitely the first studio I’d ever heard of, and not even just within Glasgow, that runs community projects from the studio, as opposed to externally.

“There’s multitude of projects Lynne has ran here that’ve definitely helped a lot of people who wouldn’t have had the opportunity because they have learning disabilities or might think they’d never have a chance to get to learn music and... be in an environment where they’re comfortable.”

The Base Project is another community initiative that’s impacted the lives of young people in the city, as Lynne explains: “We also work with support needs schools who refer pupils who are maybe not engaging in class and are on the cusp of leaving education.

“They come along and we do one-to-one tuition with us in whatever they’re interested in. It can be anything from rap to playing drums to beatboxing. We try and engage them and help people’s confidence and we find that when they return to school they’re engaging a wee bit more in the class again.”

Erin Kelly, 23, is the production engineer at the studio and knows just how challenging it can be to get into that side of music.

“I studied audio production, and it’s a very hard industry to get into, says Erin. “It can be a bit of an old man’s club sometimes. Often it’s not the qualification you earned, but the experience you have. If I hadn’t ended up at the studio, I don’t know if I would’ve ended up in the recording side of things at all... but this is where I really wanted to be.”

In partnership with New College Lanarkshire, Lynne’s studios are offering an innovative, new part-time course, titled Access to the Music Industry. Currently open to applications, the course is open to young people over 16-years-old who aren’t in education or employment.

With Yvonne (Tippi) Tipping from Glasgow band, The Hedrons teaching the course, it’s a fantastic opportunity for new talents to be unearthed.

Darren Paramasivan, Curriculum and Quality Leader for New College Lanarkshire’s Music and Sound Production department says: The college recognises the importance and value of community education through partnership working with organisations such as Glasgow Music Studios.

The partnership helps to break down institutional barriers providing access to education to those, who could otherwise, be excluded. This part-time course offers successful applicants to achieve SQA accredited qualifications and allow for progression to Further Education and full-time courses.”

With music talent and development given every chance to flourish at Glasgow Music Studios, modestly Lynne says: “It’s just very rewarding to see all the people take part.”