English Touring Opera - Ariadne

I spent an inspiring week with ETO in summer 2021, making recordings for some of their ‘ETO at home’ series of films. This is an incredible piece of music by Russian-born British composer Elena Langer, with a text by Glynn Maxwell. It features soprano Francesca Chiejina and an oboe quartet led by Nicholas Daniel OBE. Because it involved Francesca moving around the space extensively while she sang, I recorded her voice using a high quality miniature microphone hidden in her hair - a technique with its roots in the world of the West End musical.

I worked closely with Elena to edit and mix the recording, and the final film brings together music, text and dance in a unique and refreshing way. Video is by my friends at Primo DV

Belle Chen - At That Moment, I Felt

An impressionistic film for a very impressionistic piece by Belle. The visuals were inspired by migraine auras, an old My Bloody Valentine video, and of course by Belle’s fluid, cascading piano.

It’s one of those rare times where I heard the piece for the first time, saw something in my mind’s eye immediately and then managed to recreate almost exactly what I’d envisaged. A clash of blurred visions, visual echoes and snow-blindness.

We shot three films in one session that day, each with a completely different set-up and look - I think this one is my favourite.

Drexler - The Confluence

Drexler is the alter-ego of composer Adrian Leung. I recorded, mixed and mastered this, his first record, in my studio in Bloomsbury, on my 1980s Challen upright piano. Adrian wanted an extremely mellow, intimate feel, so we put a layer of felt between the hammers and strings and close mic-ed the piano, leaving in all the creaks, clicks and mechanical noises. Beautiful tunes.

Joanna Harries - Britten ‘Puppet? Why so?’

Joanna Harries - mezzo-soprano, Thomas Ang - piano

Joanna is a very talented mezzo and a lot of fun to work with - she brings a natural dramatic intensity to everything she sings. This is Hermia's aria from ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ by Britten and Jo and Thomas nail it! Recorded and filmed by me.

Olivia Chaney - The Oxford Girl

I recorded ‘The Oxford Girl’ for Olivia’s contribution to ‘Shirley Inspired’, a tribute album to folk legend Shirley Collins, also featuring Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Graham Coxon, Angel Olsen, Stewart Lee and about a million other great people. It was recorded live (except for the overdubbed ghostly backing vocals which used the real reverb of the corridor outside my studio) and was beautifully mixed by Leo Abrahms. My triple vinyl copy of this is a most-prized possession and is a very lovely object. It’s still available on CD and download from Earth Recordings.

I also shot a little film while we recorded…

Burning Salt - Close to Home

Burning Salt is artist Hannah Hull’s musical project and Close to Home is the third record we’ve worked on together. I recorded, mixed and mastered all the songs, as well as playing various instruments. Lockdown interrupted what was supposed to be a quick mixing process and I began experimenting with different instruments and arrangements under Hannah’s guidance, adding electric guitar, various percussion and keyboard parts. Composer Adrian Leung recorded string parts for some songs, and the result is a far more ambitious sounding record than originally planned. First single ‘Everyone Has Noticed The Haunting’ illustrates this, with an amazing video made entirely alone by Hannah.

John-Paul Muir - The Cornerstone Suite

Originally recorded to document a live recital, JP increasingly felt that he’d captured what he needed to with this performance and decided to release it to the world as a vinyl/download album. It’s the recital as it happened with no edits or re-takes and is a gorgeous, seamless piece of music. JP wanted a mellow, vintage feel to the sound and we recorded on a warm, older Steinway with bags of character. Recorded and mixed by me, and cut to vinyl lacquer at Abbey Road by the legendary Sean Magee.

You can buy the album on vinyl from Bandcamp.

Hampstead Garden Opera - Eleanor Ross

HGO’s 2020 concert was an amazing night - partly because they managed to put on such a successful socially distanced concert between lockdowns, but also because of the very high quality of performances. It was hugely enjoyable to film and record this… here’s Eleanor Ross’ beautiful performance of Charpentier’s ‘Depuis le jour’ from his opera ‘Louise’…

Belle Chen - The Stained Glass Sessions

This mini-album was recorded live in a church in central London. The grand piano was fairly bright, so I used 2 pairs of ribbon mics which allowed me to record close up to highlight Belle’s treatment of the piano strings (with screws and Blu-tak), while also capturing the natural reverb of the space.

Hampstead Garden Opera - Peter Edge

It’s tempting to post all the performances from the HGO 2020 concert, but for now, here’s one more - Peter Edge as Figaro.

You can see the rest here.

Mozart Concertante for Violin and Viola

Alex Isted - violin, Lisa Bucknell - viola

I recorded and filmed this orchestral concert at St John’s Smith Square for the Tait Memorial Trust. The orchestra was put together specially for this concert and conducted by Jessica Cottis. Jessica and I sat together in my studio to mix this to get it as close as possible to the sound she experienced on-stage.

Burning Salt - Groundskeeper

Groundskeeper is the 2nd single from Burning Salt’s 2nd album, Close to Home, which I recorded, mixed, mastered and played on. John Parker’s double bass features a lot on the album, and here it takes a leading role, both as bassline and percussion. I played some dirty Farfisa organ, and the overall effect reminds me of one of my favourite records, Bone Machine by Tom Waits. The whole album is only available as a strictly limited beautifully crafted physical package from Burning Salt directly.

Hannah made the video herself, alone in her studio in Shrewsbury - it features giant eggs and is a lot of fun.