[NB: The list of commercial recordings of my work as a composer can be found on the discography page]
Among the many hats I wear as a musician, one of my favourites is working in the recording studio. Over the last 16 years I’ve produced, edited, and mixed recordings for releases on many of the leading labels in contemporary music, including NMC, Kairos, NEOS, mode, aeon, Winter & Winter, as well as of course our own Huddersfield Contemporary Records, along the way working with amazing performers such as ELISION, the Bozzini Quartet, Wet Ink, and a particularly fruitful, longstanding relationship with EXAUDI that goes back to the group’s first recording in 2004 and has since included seven discs across five labels.
One of my favourite things about the work is that it often puts me in contact with repertoire that I might not otherwise have a chance to know intimately. I get to play a creative role in constructing a kind of idealised, hyper-real version of pieces that, in many cases, have never been recorded previously, so the decisions made throughout the recording and editing process contribute in key ways to the construction of a work’s performance practice. Working as a record producer brings together many of the things I love about the other areas of my activity—it is part composer, part conductor, and, at its best, is very much a creative act, a collaborative exchange with singers and instrumentalists to create a version of a piece that finds the right balance between the energy and vibrance of a live performance and the precision and rigour of a rehearsal. It is work I very much enjoy.
Discography as Producer/Engineer
Producer, Mixing, and Editing, A way of making ghosts, ELISION, Ensemble Musikfabrik, JACK Quartet, and Line Upon Line, recorded May 2018, November 2019, March 2020, and May 2020 May 2022 August 2022. To be released November 2020 [postponed to 2021 2022 due to Covid-19], Kairos 0015073KAI.
Producer, Mixing, and Editing, Smoke, Airs, Wet Ink Ensemble, works by Bryn Harrison and Kristina Wolfe, recorded November 2019. June 2020, [postponed to September 2020 due to Covid-19] HCR24.
Producer, Mixing, and Editing, Bozzini+, Quotuor Bozzini & Philip Thomas, works by Mary Bellamy & Bryn Harrison, November 2018, HCR19.
Producer, Mixing, and Editing, Christopher Fox Trostlieder and other works, July 2018, for future release.
Producer, Mixing, and Editing, Michael Finnissy, Vocal Works 1974–2015, EXAUDI, May 2018, Winter & Winter 910 246-2.
Mixing and Editing, The wreck of former boundaries—ELISION Ensemble at 30, May 2017 HCR13.
Producer and Editing, The wreck of former boundaries (solo clarinet) on Caerulean, Carl Rosman, clarinet. November 2016. HCR12.
Producer, Mixing, and Editing, Passion Texts, Wolfgang Rihm / Luigi Nono, EXAUDI vocal ensemble. October 2014, aeon 1441.
Producer, EXPOSURE, EXAUDI vocal ensemble. Mixing and Editing, works by Aaron Cassidy, Bryn Harrison, Joanna Bailie. May 2013, HCR06.
Producer and Editing, The Crutch of Memory, ELISION. Recorded at Radio Bremen. January 2012. NEOS 11201.
Producer, Howard Skempton – bolt from the blue, EXAUDI vocal ensemble. mode 226, September 2007.
Producer, Transference, ELISION. Recorded at Radio Bremen. HCR02.
Recording Engineer, strange forces, ELISION. Recorded live at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, November 2009. HCR03.
Producer, Christopher Fox comme ses paroles: le livre. Backing ‘tape’/electronics material, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, 2008.
Producer, Ferneyhough La Chûte d’Icare, ELISION, Jean Deroyer, cond., Carl Rosman, clarinet. Recorded at Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank. Kairos 0013072KAI, 2010.
Producer, Howard Skempton – Ben Somewhen, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble and BCMG. NMC D135, September 2007.
Producer, Christopher Fox: A Glimpse of Sion’s Glory, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble. NMC D114, November 2005.
Co-Producer, Michael Finnissy: Maldon & other choral works, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, with Michael Finnissy, Howard Skempton, Philip Howard, Julian Warburton. NMC D110, April 2005.
Co-Producer and Editing, Augenmusik. Promotional CD. Works by Cardew, Rinker, Brown, Wolff, Cage, and Logothetis. Buffalo, May/June 2003.
