Born and brought up in London suburbia, I spent my early years as a teenager in the infamous 1970s. It was not just a depressing time and full to the brim of industrial assent and strife - I leave that narrow interpretation to the mindless fools of the press and some left wing historians who really should try and get a wider experience of life. Rather it was often a time of long hot summers, extraordinary music and the break up of traditional British conservatism to be replaced by a new, more challenging modernity; a process experimented with in the 60s, brought to commercial realisation in the 70s and then killed off by advertising in the 80s and 90s.
Following forays into bands and other less well advised ventures, I trained as a teaboy (a highly respected profession) and survived the process to become a recording engineer - a job I frequently bored of but returned to several times as a way of paying off debt.
Despite the tedium of much of the job, some aspects were fascinating. Twenty four episodes of a radio dramatisation of Sherlock Holmes starring the charming Roy Marsden and John Moffat and produced by Michael Bartlett were one such highlight, as was rebuilding soundtracks for British Pathé News, making broad, panoramic soundscapes that gave the precious historical footage new life.
Others include recording soundtracks for the X-Files movie launch in London's Leicester Square, recording ADR and vocal sessions with Dolf Lundgren, the Director Michael Williams, Warwick Davis, Kate Winslett, Ardman Animations (the Wrong Trousers), Simon Callow, Tom Baker (Weekly, more or less, for years) and so many more.
Somewhere in the middle of that I recorded interviews with the just launched Spice Girls, Recorded a Spinal Tap radio mockumentary with Whispering Bob Harris and Mark Knopfler and recorded and then mixed with thousands of effects 265 mad sketches for Bits From Last Week's Radio with Greg Proops.
On the music side, I have fond memories of jamming with Chas Chandler who was sort of my boss for a while, recording a stunningly good Melissa Etheridge, and slowly making my way back into writing and composing which I had abandoned for a while, foolishly.
With my composition hat on I went on to compose music for a couple of corporate animations, a pile of tracks for British Pathé News, music for Documentaries for the delightful Bruce Burgess and a heady number of jingles.
Much of this lead to me retiring permanently from engineering in the late 90s and concentrating my experience into writing and music and working on Internet projects.
In between working as a sound engineer, I also worked on corporate video, hard news, multi media, events installations and rather too much above-the-line advertising. I have always been able to work with both small companies and huge multinationals and give each the same amount of attention. I don't see why only the big boys should get the great ideas.
In the last ten years, aside from composing music to earn a crust, I have returned to photography (a love of mine from the 80s) am attempting to write more and have worked on complex web projects as a commissioner and editor (with a toe in the design process). I believe the web will only truly grow up when its pundits realise that human beings communicate best with their vocal chords.
I am not available for Bah Mitzvas, wedding's or funerals, but I will take on most other challenges.