Novotone

Novotone is a quality music rehearsal and tuition studio located in the Newcastle suburb of Carrington. We also offer instrument maintenance, hire and repair.
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Whether you're a full time professional fine tuning the set for that upcoming tour, an old soul getting the band back together or a new kid on the block jamming for the first time you need a space where you can make as much noise as you bloody well please without the distractions of the man telling you to turn it down and we got you covered. Novotone offers purpose built, acoustically treated rehe

arsal rooms equipped with good quality PA gear. Forget about loading in and take advantage of the amps and kits we have available here. We offer quality vocal, guitar, piano, bass and drum tuition for beginner to intermediate players. Book a casual lesson or enrol for a term. Whether you snapped that Les Paul headstock again or you just need some help changing your strings we can sort you out. For general enquiries and rates please visit our website or email [email protected]

21/05/2026

The official set list is here! Huge thanks to all the venues and awesome bands, it’s gonna be a good one! hotel bowlo

20/05/2026

The set list is here! Thanks to all the venues and artists, it’s going to be a big one!

16/05/2026

5th Anniversay Carro Crawl! Thanks so much to The Pavillion, The Carro Bowlo, The 7 Seas and Young Street Hotel. We have an amazing line up to be announced in a few days.

Love Sean

05/05/2026

Chapter 4: Baby on Board

Since the Bloody Hell boys left Novotone, my partner Anna and I had our first baby boy Sonny Cook. I really love this kid and am looking forward to training him up to cover a few shifts at the studio so I can chill...

Dad life is busy but I have stayed on task and have done some beautiful upgrades to the studio with the much appreciated help of my Dad. I’m very excited to share some photos of the studio in its final form ❤️

I’ve also nearly finished tracking a new Bloody album and have recorded bands like Talkhouse, Central, Moxey, Samual Thomas, and young guns like Pit, Stomp, Gauze and Arietta. Love you all.

And a special shout out to IV who are opening the show on Saturday. These dudes have recorded about 16 tracks here and spent numerous hours here drinking beer, eating w**d cookies and chewing copious amounts of ni****ne gum. Thank you boys so much for your support since I took over. Some of my most cherished times in the studio have been spent with you. Get there early to watch them!

Well that’s it...

10 years has flown by and I am excited for the next 10. I have recorded over 100 songs at the studio, taught so many drum students and welcomed in countless artists for rehearsals like Ben Gillies, Dune Rats, The Waifs, Goanna and most importantly all the local legends.

I wish I could name all of you. To every local band that has walked through Novotone’s doors I love you so much and am beyond grateful for your support.

Cyas Saturday Tix in Bio love Sean

03/05/2026

Less than a week away from our birthday party! Come have a beer and enjoy some of newys finest bands. Link to tickets in the bio 🎉✨

30/04/2026

Chapter 3: Bloody Hell

One of the most important things for Ben and Ryan was that Novotone would be left in good hands. They put a lot of faith in me to take over the place and I was so stoked to have the rest of Bloody Hell step on board.

Our dynamic in Bloody Hell kind of just fused into Novotone. I would talk s**t and dream way too big, Gabe was extremely well connected in the music scene, Posto had the Greek energy that any striving business would be lucky to have and Pricey reigned all of our egos in.

We hit the ground running with a free beer and free gear deal for our customers. A fridge full of beer on arrival and a backline of legit professional drum kits and amps. Our customer base went through the roof.

Recording started to grow too with bands like Dust, The Cheaks, The Appointments, Slow Cinema, Blind Eye, The Pitts and heaps more utilising the space.

I think at this point I had about 30 drum students too, a peak moment and if anything too many.

Then covid shmovid happened and s**t got pretty boo-urns. We were officially closed and the business was once again on thin ice.

But enough of that.

Skip forward and things opened up and we were proud to bring The Carrington Crawl to the beautiful people of Newcastle. This event was a life line for us and I think the punters and local businesses too. Very keen to do it all again this year.

This era is where my fondest memories of Novotone live. Parties at the studio till 4am and our land lord almost killing us, weekly meetings with three of the best friends I’ve ever had and just all in all a real collaborative passion for Newcastle music. We really gave it everything we had, making Novotone the best place it could be for our bands rehearsing, producing tracks to help bands get noticed and putting on a stack of awesome events.

Posto, Pricey and Gabe...I love you like brothers and am so proud of everything each of you did for Novotone.

21/04/2026

Chapter 2: Then There Were Three

Around 2018, Ben and Ryan made me a partner of Novotone and built a control room for me to record bands out of. In this era I was ridiculously shy to hit up bands to record (still am) but managed to score a few jobs.

My first job was with Voodoo Youth. Hunter had such a cool presence and it was actually his vote of confidence that lead to Josh from New Dark and previously The Owls to hit me up to produce, record and mix a full album for him. I’m pretty sure my mixing was like a 5/10 on this record but I dunno...there was something special about this project and even when I listen back now I get tingles of nostalgia. My favourite thing about making music with bands is the friendship that slowly evolves and this one was special...Josh, Ryan, Gabe, bloody Wes...are you still in Hong Kong?, I love you all a lot.

My confidence began to grow and I was happy to score jobs with Megan Core, The Hamilton Alpine Club, Ben Leece and Left of the Dial and also record and mix Bloody Hell’s first album.

Although I was getting somewhere and bringing in some additional income, the business was actually struggling a lot at this point. Ben and Ryan were still working their day jobs and we were yet to make a profit.

The partnership seemed to end as quick as it started and soon in, Ryan and Ben decided to opt out of Novotone.

This era, Chapter 2, is kind of bitter-sweet. Becoming partner of Novotone was easily the most life changing event in my life so far, but seeing Ben and Ryan leave was really hard to deal with.

I had a lot of anxiety at this time. I was so worried that this beautiful place was going to stop existing. I scrambled, desperately trying to figure out a way to keep the doors open.

This is when I approached the other members of Bloody Hell to see if they were interested in buying in... link to bday party tix in bio!

15/04/2026

Chapter 1: Ben and Ryan

Ben and Ryan bulit Novotone. They poured their money and time into the place and created a legacy that is now 10 years strong. Ryan was a boss on the tools and had a lot of great music gear and Ben loved a spreadsheet and was well connected with a great hammo scene. Bands like The Deadwalk, Crucial Times, Thems Fighting Words, Taken By Force, Rage and Hack The Mainframe. A huge shout out to this crew, Feffy, Biggie and all the bands in the early days. They kept the doors open and I know Ben and Ryan were proud to support such a bunch of legends.

Rehearsals were slowly growing and to make ends meet they started a small tuition business. They hired Ryan’s sister Katie teaching singing, Donovan teaching guitar and myself teaching drums. This team was honestly a highlight of my experience here and bonding with Katie before lessons started was such a vibe. Such a privilege teaching aside such a warm hearted woman. Donovan was a metal lord and still is. Respect.

This was the O.G. era. Punk skateboards on the walls, afternoon beers with the SLD surfboard crew and a humble dream to serve the music community of Newcastle. I admired Ben and Ryan from the get go and always will. They were tough, hard-working, no bulls**t Newcastle dudes and as a young kid with a big dream, I was lucky to be taken under their wing.

The only way to end Chapter 1 now is with the most sincere thank you I can voice.

Ben and Ryan...you are the heart and soul of this place, Novotone. Your faith and kindness to me from the moment I walked through that door and introduced myself will never be forgotten.

From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of everyone that has been a part of the journey, I thank you both.

Love Sean

14/04/2026

Leading up to this very special night I am gonna do a series of posts detailing 10 years of Novotone. It has been a beautiful journey and some of the best years of my life.

For now, I would just like to thank everyone that has been a part of Novotone from the bottom of my heart. Tickets are on sale now. Come have a hug, a drink and watch some of Newcastle’s finest

Love, Sean

13/12/2023

This Sunday 🔥

Address

Cnr Elizabeth & Young Streets
Carrington, NSW
2294

Telephone

0415884532

Website

https://novotonenewcastle.com/

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