In July I finished work on Dinopaws the brand new CGI children’s animation series. I composed the incidental music for 24 episodes. The fantastic Sandy Nuttgens and Alex Parsons handled the other eps. The show is currently being shown in CBeebies on weekday mornings and also in 10 other territories worldwide. You can have a look anytime via the BBC iPlayer or have a look at the videos below.
I’ve recently returned from conducting the limelight orchestra for the third annual Nottingham rocks gig at the theatre royal.
As ever, the were four artists/bands, each performing 5 songs, all of which I had to arrange for the artists and the orchestra. In previous years I’ve worked with artists such as Indiana, Saint Raymond, Amber Run and Natalie Duncan. This year it was the turn of The Afterdark Movement, Noah, Shelter Point and Joel Baker. All very different but all great artists and songwriters.
This was a fun gig for Signature Entertainment: “Favourite Nursery Rhymes and Children’s Songs”. I had to arrange and produce the backings for 36 songs and nursery rhymes and then record 3 fantastic singers (all UK children’s TV voices). Then music videos were constructed around the recorded songs . The director was keen to play with the genres used to accompany these classic tunes and the result was a really fun DVD/iTunes download.
Back in October last year I was asked to write a piece to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Maidstone Youth Music Society along with fellow musician Graham Mann. I jumped at the chance because I grew up myself benefitting from going to “MYMS” and cutting my teeth on percussion in its wind bands and orchestras.
In the planning sessions that followed, Graham and I decided to split the piece into 4 movements, he took the outer ones, leaving me with the filling in the sandwich. It was quite a challenge working out how to connect the musicians who comprised beginners to grade 8 players but we managed to find a path that worked which necessitated the creation of a rather large score.
In the end we had over 170 performers at the premier at Mote Hall in Maidstone including 4 wind bands, a symphony orchestra, a string orchestra, percussion ensemble and choir. I also had the honour of rehearsing and conducting the performance at the gig which was rather fun.
A bit late to shout about it now but at the end last year I finished production on the concept album “The Neurofiles” Written by Martin Woods and John Bunyard it takes the listener on a journey through the human brain. A “pictures at an exhibition” promenade theme links all the parts of the brain together in the way a neurone may travel through it. The composers explain it all much better than me on the Neurofiles website
I really enjoyed producing this left-field opus which allowed me to work with and record some great singers, musicians and a choir. It was recorded and mixed at my studio and then mastered at Cyclone Music You can buy it from all good digital retailers or have a listen on Spotifly here