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Andy Hughes Tribute - 07.01.2009
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I got some devastating news this week. My friend Andy Hughes sadly died at the weekend. He was someone who had an enormous influence on my musicality and my studio engineering. Furthermore large sections of the UK music community won’t know what a luminary they have lost - a completely overlooked producer / arranger / programmer / writer of class and flair.
I met Andy in 2002 when he was helping set up my fathers new studio in 2002. I had gone along for the day with the sole purpose of meeting, in my opinion, the most talented guy from the orb as he was showing Dad how to use his new logic set-up. It would be true to say I was in awe - Orblivion is one of my favourite ever albums. Not only did I learn more that day about being a professional musician than my entire time at University - I also met a kind, fun and inclusive musician. Towards the end of the afternoon we made a song together and then went off for a Nando’s.
A couple of weeks later Andy called me and invited me up to his studio in Brixton. It was incredibly exciting for me to visit Andy’s studio - next door to the Basement Jaxx (who he introduced me too) showing me lots of Mac music tricks that I still use on a nearly daily basis. I would play him something I had been working on and he would offer advice - and then he would blow my demo out the park with his latest and greatest steaming out the studio monitors like champagne on crystals.
The strangest thing happened what turns out to be the last time I saw Andy - I was waiting in the car for my girlfriend to finish work in Soho and was chatting to some people who were smoking outside their office nearby. I decided to give Andy a call as we had seen each other just before Christmas and had discussed starting a film and tv sync catalogue. As his phone rang - who should walk round the corner but Andy fishing his phone out his pocket to answer my call. He was actually on his way to have a meeting with the people I had been chatting too!! An insane coincidence made doubly bizarre that at the time I was living in Brighton and Andy was living in Rochester! As it happened he was early so we had half an hour in the car playing each other some stuff and making plans. He really liked my Psychogenic material and I don’t mind telling you I’m still chuffed (and will always be) with his comments on that. Andy played me some of his latest which as ever bounced out the speakers with sparkle and wit.
Much of Andy’s best stuff remains unreleased - most probably still sitting on his hard drive so I will be making noises at the funeral of some way of cataloguing his work for posterity. I’ll miss you mate - if your reading….
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Splitsound Suite - 06.01.2009
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Splitsound Suite
Splitsound Suite I stream - download
Splitsound Suite II & III stream - download
Splitsound Suite IV & V stream - download
Hi everyone, stayed up very late last night writing this. Interesting metre, hope you enjoy.
Its scored for Piano, Strings, Harp and Percussion Section.
All comments welcome. Score to follow…
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Amazing encouragement from Albert Hammond - 05.12.2009
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Recently I was looking for permission to use Creep by Radiohead on my new album Reflections. One of the writers credited on the track is legendary singer/songwriter Albert Hammond who responded to my arrangement of Creep:
i love what he does there is some magic there and tell him i wish him all the success he deserves it and its different which is great its what i want to listen to in the morning or when i feel i need a shrink his music and arrangements make me feel like the world is a beautiful place to live in.
Its the kindest thing anyone has ever said about my music and really given me the inspiration to finish the album off!
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Reflections Part 2 - 05.01.2009
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Reflections Part 2 - stream - download
Today I spent the day at Martin Smith’s studio recording some live cello, courtesy of Nick Squires (pictured right) on the second part of my Reflections Suite.
It was a privilege to work with Martin (formerly of ELO) who engineered the session and got a great sound from a great player. I wish I could spend every day recording real music like this!
I also had good news from Imagem music who called me this morning to let me know the Kaiser Chiefs have approved my arrangement of I Predict A Riot - and their third of Creep by Radiohead |
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We Are Listening - 04.15.2009
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As regular readers know I take this whole music thing seriously - so on the approach of my 33rd birthday I treated myself to a We Are Listening music assessment. You get to choose what questions to ask out of a choice of about 10. Here is what they said:
Is my sound original? Do I stand out?
All the tracks I listened to are beautiful and cinematic. They opened up my imagination and colorful images came pouring in while listening to your songs. I also really enjoyed how memorable your themes are and how you develop the orchestration of them throughout each piece. You have a great sense of melody and “hooks” and I sense a lot of character in each piece. Really wonderful work!
Is my music commercially viable?
I think a lot of what I heard is viable in the film and TV scoring world as well as in commercial advertising. Most of those kinds of projects are scored to picture (the picture is filmed and edited and then the music is scored afterwards) so I’m not sure these specific pieces would be able to be used without modification, but from listening to the many and varied pieces you’ve created I’m sure you would be capable of scoring whatever a scene might require in the classical/orchestral genre.
Should I quit my day job?
I’m not as familiar with the scoring world as I am with the songwriter world, but I can tell that you’re very talented at what you do. Beyond that what I can tell you is that if you want to write and score full time, be sure you are prepared to work 7 days a week on both your craft/art and your business. Success requires not only being talented, but being willing to put yourself out there and network and learn from your colleagues, and maybe even have a mentor. You might consider looking for a manager who can help you get scoring gigs. And you might have to make the sacrifice to relocate to really have a chance at success in your field since it’s a very specific and small market. I don’t know how much work is available in London, it might be plenty. Los Angeles is a great city for your field. Be prepared to work really hard and make sacrifices and your talent will take you far!
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