Latest
Next project on the go is for NHNZ, it's called Pearl River Tower and is from National Geographic's Megastructures brand of episodes.
...
A bit of blurb from the brief : the Pearl River Tower, now being built in Guangzhou City, is one of the first of a new generation of buildings that has the goal of “net zero” energy consumption. It’s called high performance architecture. High performance is the new buzz word in architecture, and the Pearl River Tower will be the first high performance super tall building on the planet. As architect Gordon Gill describes it “This is a new type of design process which combines the art of architecture with the science of performance”. Says Adrian Smith “The shape is directly related to the form. It looks that way because it performs that way.” I'm very excited to be working on this project, and to be collaborating with a new director, Jayashree Panjabi!
02.02.10
I've started work on a show for NHNZ called Secrets of the Lost Pyramids which will be aired on National Geographic. Really happy to be working with the folks from NHNZ again, they're professional, quick, stick to schedules and even pay on time!
...
On top of that they all seem like real good eggs, especially the directors I've worked with, Steven Talley and Kyle Murdoch. Their tech staff are awesome too, and really on the ball. Shouts go out to Brad Phipps, Angel McNamara, and the hilarious Wayne Poll, as well as Suzanne Lloyd, the lady who keeps it all together. I'm also submitting some material to Channel 4's new library CD that they're producing in conjunction with KPM. I've heard from the BQ camp that the King Tut stuff I was working on last year which was meant to be aired on Discovery in Autumn '09 isn't going to be aired until the scientists involved publish their results.. Hope that's soon, it's a great show. Take care all!
16.12.09
There is a light snow falling outside my window as I write this.. outside my window here, in my new home.. Paris!
...
I've still got my recording studio running in Bristol but have set up a mini studio here as I wanted to come back to Paris and start a few new projects up. There is so much inspiration in this city it's unbelievable. As my best mate Debs puts it "It's like double doses of electricity coursing through your veins... it's wild and on fire..." and I completely agree with her. Putting work aside for a month and a half but will be back on the wagon late Jan. time. Easy now!
17.08.09
The MMM shows for NHNZ are looking great! I'm super psyched about them. I'll hopefully be putting up some of the tracks as soon as things calm down a bit.. got 5 projects on the go at the moment, and even though two of them (the King Tut shows for Discovery) will be finishing soon, it's still a heck of a workload.. It's cool though, I can survive on a few hours a night ;)
04.06.09
Just signed up for 3 new projects with Natural History New Zealand LTD. !! 2 of these are for the Man Made Marvels series and are all set in China.. they're looking awesome so far... and the third is about a great China quake.
...
The MMM shows are for Discovery Asia and the China Quake is for an old collaborator of mine, Madeleine Carter at National Geographic. On another note, King Tut is almost in the bag but it's been a hard slog. As far as personal projects go a friend of mine is planning to release some of my early work on his internet record label, so I'll let you know about that when it's all happening. Chin Chin!
07.01.09
I've been in negotiations with Rome based independent production company Brando Quilici Productions about composing for a 4 hour project for Discovery Channel which follows a new scientific investigation into the mummy of King Tutankhamun and his relatives.
...
The programs will be broken down into 2 shows of 120 mins. They started editing the first show in mid November, the second in January and have final delivery of the second show in June. This is a very exciting project to be working on and I'm already researching classic Egyptian era instruments and sounds from the Pharaonic period (post 3100 BC) such as harps, flutes and double clarinets. Here's a great site that explains quite a bit about it if you're interested : www.phmusic.gov.eg. I won't be uploading any of these compositions til the programmes are all wrapped up so check back in the summer! In the meanwhile though, I'm still pitching for other films & documentaries, and continuing my own personal projects... a lot of which involve a nice young lady called Sarah who I met a few months back... Huzzah!
26.09.08
The John Parish 2nd World War session went very well indeed, and you can hear the results in the personal projects section of the music player. 'German Girl' is sounding like a pop classic, while 'I am the Kite' is a chilled out ballad, definitely one to relax to. We're currently producing and mixing the tracks for our debut album 'Think like your horse' which will be released on vinyl format on John Stapleton's Evil Kitty label. We've currently got pretty much all the tracks we need for the album, some of which you can check out in the personal projects section of the music player. I will upload any further developments on these tracks to the music player as and when they occur. Sweet!
26.06.08
John Parish, PJ Harvey's co-writer/producer and well respected Bristol muso, is on board to produce 2nd World War's 7 inch on Evil Kitty! We're off to Toybox studios next week to polish off the release, which will then be on the shelves in your local record store sometime throughout the summer.Will let you know the release date as soon as I find out.
08.04.08 - 03.07.08
Mixing the final tracks for a 2nd World War 7inch release on Evil Kitty. The plan is to have German Girl as the A side, and I Am the Kite as the B side, which is a totally rocking combination!
...
We were approached by label honcho John Stapleton to get a release together for his Evil Kitty imprint after he came to check out one of our shows at Gimme Shelter. It was our 4th gig. I guess you could say it went pretty well! He was so impressed with the rough mixes we'd done for our other tracks that he offered us an album release as well. As the single is now in the capable hands of John Parish (see below) we're currently recording, mixing, and producing the album.. which is currently going by the title of 'Think like your horse'. Yeeha!
16..10.07 - 27.03.08 : My first big adventure...
I took this time off to go and see the countries of SE Asia, particularly Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.. with a few quick stop-offs in Australia and New Zealand. I'd been working solidly for years with a few quick holidays here and there, but not a large and immersing adventure. So.. off I went.. and it was awesome.. life changing.
14.10.07 :
Delivery of soundtrack to 'The Sad Case', a 12 minute short film by splendid young director Sam Rogers. The story starts in the present with a young man having missed his own wedding, and the woman he was meant to marry throwing all his posessions out of the window of their flat.
...
We soon begin to understand that anyone owning the dreaded suitcase (who this young man happens to own) will have increasing amounts of bad luck heaped on them.. sometimes ending in rape or even death! The film then...
05.05.07 – Born Survivor / Man Vs. Wild – Music delivered
Delivered audio compositions for the last 4 episodes of Man Vs. Wild, one of Discovery’s top rated shows in the US. As well as specific audio cues, I wrote a toolkit for the editors to be able to use throughout the series, which turned out to be incredible helpful for them.
...
The toolkits were divided into different beds and short sections of looped drums so that they could be mixed either on top of each other independently to suit the editor and producer. I was on hand to alter any tempos of the beats, or even the general moods of the beds, so that they had what they needed, when they needed it. A very watchable show, indeed.
15.01.07 - 5.1 mix of ‘Bug Brother’ Music delivered
a Parthenon Entertainment production (executive producer – Natalie Humphreys), delivered to Trevor Barber at The Barbershop (link – I think I sent you this one already…cant find it anywhere!). He will use his magical ears to mix this to Kingdom Come!
...
“Every time you blow your nose, you disturb a miniature ecosystem comprising thousands of tiny, scary-looking creatures. The next time someone near you sneezes: beware!” (copyright Nat Geo Wild). This show was pretty fun to do, and incredibly informative. Not that it’s always information you’d want to know about! The visuals would switch from what you could see with the naked human eye (not much at all) to macro filming that was magnified 20,000 times, to show you what actually lives on our furniture, food, and even skin, and I can tell you it’s not a pretty sight. This made it quite simple, musically, to approach, as the 2 sides of the lens were so distinct in their aesthetics.. on one hand you have the nice middle-class family living in the suburbs and on the other, these mechanical black & white mini robots straight out of horror manga. Pretty fresh!
17.11.06 : Final episode of ‘Crash Science’ – Music delivered
the one dealing with Planes and the history of aeroplane safety, delivered to Granada. Really pleased with the Carpenter’esque piano for the massive air crash climax at the end of the programme (which features in my showreel).
...
This was a great series to work on, produced and directed by Pete Venn at Granada Bristol. The content was great, and along with the quickfire editing of Dan Schwalm and hard-edged graphics of Julian Kirby and Kyli John, the overall product was fantastic to watch.
13.10.06 : Lafarge
Lafarge, the UK’s largest runway construction company, are blown away by the collaborative efforts between GetGoodMusic and Fotosonix. The promotional video is da bomb!
...
James Sykes, the man behind production company Fotosonix, approached me to add a musical score to his 10 minute corporate film for Lafarge (http://www.lafarge.co.uk/wps/portal/). I’ve gotta say this wasn’t one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever worked on, but it was a nice change from doing documentaries! You have to approach corporate videos with a totally different head on, as you’re dealing with the entire identity of a massive corporation. This one turned out great, in fact, and Lafarge were very pleased with the results.