Morgan Blain-Crehan | being an Audio Engineer & Podcast Producer in Belfast
Morgan Blain-Crehan: 12 Years of Sound, One Studio Built to Do It Properly
If you've booked a session at Spinners Mill Podcast Studio in Banana Block in East Belfast, there's a good chance you've spoken to me. My name is Morgan Blain-Crehan, and sound has been my trade for the better part of 12 years; first as an audio engineer, then as a music and podcast producer, then as a vinyl DJ and eventually as the person running events in Belfast who kept getting asked the same question: why isn't there anywhere to record, edit, market and distribution a podcast properly in this city?
Spinning Records and Spinning Yarns…
My background sits somewhere between the technical and the cultural. As an audio engineer, my job is knowing why a room needs treatment, why a mic choice changes a voice, why a mix that works on headphones falls apart on a phone speaker. As someone who believes in storytelling and giving people, especially in Northern Ireland, a platform to be heard, that’s where the cultural element comes in.
DJing and producing since 2014 has introduced me to a world of different genres, being able to platform other musicians and selectors is such a gift and something we value highly at The Spinners Mill Studio.
Where the Arts Criticism Comes In…
Alongside the technical side, I hold a degree in Arts Criticism, Policy and Narrativity from the University of Groningen. It's an unusual pairing for an audio engineer, but it's proven to be the most useful thing in the building. Podcasting isn't just a simple recording most times; it's storytelling and an element of sensitivity with people’s lives. Understanding narrative structure, cultural context, and how audiences critically engage with media means I'm not just capturing a conversation, I'm helping shape one that holds together as a piece of work.
It's also why marketing and PR conversations come naturally here. Positioning a show, understanding a press angle, knowing how a podcast fits into a wider media strategy, that is integral to studying how narratives are built and received by each audience.
Why The Spinners Mill Studio Exists
After years of producing music, running events, and DJing across different cities, the gap was obvious: Belfast had no single space where podcast hosts, musicians, and video creators could get proper audio engineering, real production input, and studio hire under one roof. So my business partner Conor Patterson and I built one, inside the Portview Trade Centre, in Banana Block, East Belfast.
The Spinners Mill Studio offers full-scale video podcast packages, audio podcasting, music production, DJ sessions, and podcast studio hire plus a free 20-minute consultation if you want to talk through what you actually need before committing to anything.
If you're thinking about starting a podcast, or your current one isn't sounding the way it should, that's the conversation worth having first.
