BIOGRAPHY
- the tale of a musician / composer
/ producer /
engineer / technician / studio designer and occasional consultant
....
Early days ..... waaaay
back in the
last century
Born 11/12/1956, Martin grew up in a
musical environment. His mother was
a classical singer, a gifted performer, broadcaster and teacher. He began piano lessons at age five, started playing French Horn at eleven,
and was soon playing in youth orchestras and attending summer schools, acquiring
a taste for performing and collaborating with others. His college
degree (BA Hons) was in music. His working life has been spent exclusively in
music-related activity ..... // Joined
THE ENID in 1979, adding his keyboard, bass guitar and
writing skills to a cult group that toured the UK, released
numerous albums, and (very rare back then) had their own recording studio,
which was a
financial lifeline when in between record deals.
Martin began to engineer and play sessions during this time. // Worked for
SOUNDCRAFT (UK-based manufacturers of good mixers and
rather agricultural tape machines), gaining further technical knowledge,
progressing to final testing the company's range of mixing consoles, while
simultaneously writing and recording an
album with two ex-Enid musicians
(originally released on vinyl in 1984, then remixed
and updated for CD release some years later). // Worked at
UTOPIA STUDIOS, a major multi-studio complex
(which also had a disc-cutting room), as both engineer and technician. //
Was headhunted by SWANYARD STUDIOS, another multi-studio
venture (at the time of inception when it was only a building
site),
and got hugely involved in building two notable SSL studios and a Midi Suite. Between 1985-91 Martin
became both
Chief Engineer and Technical Director.
Sonic Innovation and onwards .....
In
1991 Martin went freelance
and designed and built his
own studio - Sonic Innovation. Its first project renewed his
relationship with producer SIMON
EMMERSON, for whom he had engineered a
WORKING WEEK album at Swanyard. This
soon evolved into a regular co-writing and production partnership. // In
1995
they took a recording setup, including Martin's
SADiE hard disk system, to the
REAL WORLD site to
make the recordings that became the first
Afro Celt Sound System (ACSS) album
VOLUME 1 - SOUND MAGIC. // 1997-2000 : Martin settled
into his role of co-writer, keyboard player and
co-producer-recordist (in the studio) and front-of-house sound (on live
appearances), got a GRAMMY
NOMINATION for ACSS :
VOLUME 2 - RELEASE, and toured a lot in the USA, Canada, Europe and
Australia.
Co-productions with Simon include Maryam Mursal's
THE JOURNEY and
WAABERI, an
album recorded in Madagascar for the group
TARIKA, and album tracks for
BAABA MAAL,
ALAN STIVELL and
CARLOS NUNEZ. On his own : lots of of CD mastering, writing and
recording, including producer-engineering some classical chamber music albums for
labels including
MERIDIAN. Notable film syncs were music cues for
LIVE FLESH (Almodovar
feature) and
STIGMATA (feature).
// 2001 saw the completion and delivery of ACSS :
VOLUME 3
- FURTHER IN TIME, a collaboration with
SIMON WEBB on
music for Shakespeare's
A WINTERS TALE (at
the Royal
National Theatre (RNT) - dir
NICHOLAS HYTNER), and more ACSS international touring. // In
2002 a second
GRAMMY NOMINATION was received, for
FURTHER IN TIME, and Martin designed and built
a 5.1 band studio for ACSS,
(Sonic Innovation 2). Its first output was the adaptation and delivery of
two music cues for
GANGS OF NEW YORK (feature), followed by the completion and delivery of
the ACSS
4th CD
SEED. //
2003 : Collaborating with
SIMON WEBB again, on music for Shakespeare's
HENRY 5th (RNT - a landmark production, directed by Nicholas Hytner). ACSS-wise : 5.1 mixing and preparation of
POD
(with bonus DVD), and touring in the USA, Canada
and
Europe. // 2004 -
Research, writing, recording an initial pitch for the score to
HOTEL RWANDA (feature), and finally writing and delivering a 5.1
package of 12 cues for it (HOTEL
RWANDA). Martin also wrote, recorded and mixed the underscore for
MR FIRECUL
(Short Film), 5.1 mixed (for Pioneer Productions) a Fratelli Bros music
package for 3 x 1-hour HDTV shows. // 2005 - Completion and delivery of
ACSS :
VOLUME 5
- ANATOMIC, writing, recording and 5.1 mixing underscore to
BOSTA
(Lebanese feature), recording and mixing Simon Webb's music packages for
LOVE LETTERS OF CASANOVA and ITV's
"Avenue Of The Stars", and 5.1 mixing
a track from THE COLDCUT CD
OF THAT YEAR. // 2006 : 5.1 mixing a further HDTV
NAKED SCIENCE series (Neill MacColl's music package
for 6 x 1-hour shows) and re-locating to the original Sonic Innovation studio.
Started CD
Mastering and TRAVELLING 5.1 WORK, and began the co-writing and production
of a project with singer DOROTHEE
MUNYANEZA. // 2007
: mixing, mastering and additional production on The Dhol
Foundation's CD
DRUMS
AND ROSES, production and arrangement
of a
duet re-make of a Stevie Wonder track for use in the Theatrical Documentary DARFUR
NOW
.................. for further updates to this biography please go here.