Biography

"I started out playing classical guitar at the age of 10, discovered electric guitar and loud distorted amps at 14, left school at 16 and studied electronics and gained an ND. Went onto Salford collage to study sound and video technology. This was one of the only sound recording courses available in the country at that time (unlike today). Here I learned about 2" tape and editing (no Pro-tools at that time) microphone techniques and recording and mixing on a DDA AMR24. I gained my HND and started my career at PWL (Pete Waterman Ltd). Starting out as assistant engineer / tea boy, but was promoted to engineer pretty quickly. Throughout my career at PWL as engineer / studio manager I worked with a lot of different producers and artists which helped develop my skills, as well as this, PWL was always equipped with the latest studio hardware / software. The equipment list at PWL is vast but here is a brief list of some of the equipment I used:
Consoles:
SSL 4000E x2 AMS-Neve Libra x2, DDA AMR 24, Amek Rembrandt, Trident Series 80B
Multitracks: Otari MTR90, Studer A827, Sony 3348, Sony 3324, Otari Radar, Pro-Tools
Outboard: Too much to mention but all the industry standards and usually at least 2 of each. Some favorates. Neve 1081 pre amps, Neve 33609 compressor, Pultec EQ, Lexicon 224XL- Rich Plate.
Keyboards/Sound Modules/Samplers: Again too many to list! Some rare/ intersting items though, Yamaha CS80, Oberheim Xpander, Fairlight , Emulator and of course Linn 9000
Sequencing: Cubase on Atari, moved to Mac LC3 cubase, then more powerfull Macs with Logic audio and pro-tools, current studio has G5 and pro-tools HD3 system running latest version of logic.

After spending 10 years at PWL working in Manchester and London, the studios were sadly closed and I decided to go freelance. A new studio was built at County Hall which I wired up and is currantly being used by Pete for writing purposes and developing new acts. I still work for PWL on a freelance basis. Apart from working with a variety of clients and unsigned acts from my home studio, a lot of my freelance work is at The Forge studios in Shropshire, a fantastic converted Smithy. I have recently relocated just outside London but am happy to work absolutely anywhere"