Musician
Piano/organ/synthesisers. Occasionally guitar, bass and other instruments
- Otto Wiel
- The Compass Roses
- Dr Truth
- Anima Animus Animal
- Solo Recordings
Music Director
I have been musical director for backing bands for touring artists
- Omar/Junior Giscombe/Don-E (The British Collective)
- Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot (Curiosity Killed The Cat)
- Jason Donovan (* Rehearsal and Granada TV)
Composer/Arranger
- RnB/Jazz/Avant Garde
- Film and Video soundtracks
Producer/Audio Mastering
I have a recording studio and also record live performances (now mainly choral)
I qualified in Audio Mastering from Berklee USA.
Projects have ranged from indie, hip-hop, world music and choral and are available on iTunes, Amazon Music, Spotify etc as well as YouTube
Remastered the albums and created radio mixes of Nigerian Gospel singer Adegboyega Akingboye
Record Label
Self published record label, Affinity Records, for my own projects plus various other artists.
Concert/Tour/Festival Promoter
I have worked in Event Promotion for over 15 years: Festivals and major arena tours of A List Artists primarily RnB, Hip Hop and Reggae
I work in a management accountant and paralegal capacity, specialising in contract review and commercial agreements.
Event Production
Resulting from the experience of my own events, I have also contracted for event production for other festival and RnB/Hip Hop events
Livestreaming Events
I created a livestream broadcast facility within my studio capable of streaming multiple live channels simultaneously, such as for festivals with multiple stages. During Covid, 2 weekend festivals were livestreamed plus concerts.
Otto Wiel
My first band while at school, I have many recordings on reel to reel tape which one day I hope to remaster and get to listen to again.
I still have that Vox guitar … and the tape recorder.
The Compass Roses
Blues/RnB
A band with a flexible line up with members from UK and Netherlands. One of the first gigs was opening the Pistoia Blues Festival main stage ahead of Deep Purple and Lenny Kravitz and it was the reason the band was formed. The invite came after I played impromptu with a blues band at an event in Italy some months before.
Dr Truth
Blues/RnB
Code For The Road is recorded with founder/vocalist Mike Bowden. Further material recorded with vocalists Jocelyn Knight (former Maizie Williams’ Boney-M), Cleo Higgins (Cleopatra) but not yet released.
Dr Truth as festival backing band
Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot (Curiosity Killed The Cat)
Omar/Junior Giscombe/Don-E (The British Collective)
Anima Animus Animal
Electro-Industrial-Gothic Steam Punk Opera
It started as a recording project: Alexis Karl in New York and myself in Manchester. Gigs meant one of us crossing the Atlantic. We played Rome, Manchester, New York, Philadelphia, plus a hybrid live–virtual performance, with Alexis live in Los Angeles and original music produced remotely by me for the event.
Tales Of A Hollow Heart (original mix and master) was originally released on the now defunct Onyudo online label. The Affinity Records release via Spotify/Amazon etc are different versions of these tracks
Ondyne's Demise
Vocals: Alexis Karl
Synthesizer: Fara Bad
Album production by me plus additional synths
Mythical Evolution was an Ondyne’s Demise and Anima Animus Animal collaboration
Misha B
Misha B rose to prominence on The X Factor in 2011 and went on to score three UK Top 40 hit singles — Home Run, Do You Think of Me, and Here’s to Everything.
We co-wrote several songs together, some of which we performed on television. Misha also made impromptu guest appearances with Dr Truth both on stage and in the studio.
Julie Gordon Band
Recording Studio
Compact live room with seperate vocal booth. The studio is quite crowded with several keyboards, backline for guitar, bass, keyboards (all of which can be D.I.’d) and a custom Traps mesh head digital drum kit.
Recording can be up to 16 simultaneous mono tracks, configurable into stereo tracks.
Several headphone monitoring points that are configured for 3 different monitoring mixes: eg: click track can be routed to only drum monitor
Over 100 mics for all applications: several studio condenser mics, ribbon mics, drum kit mics, standard and miniature condensers, and a custom FAR U47 valve mic.
Collaborations
Ed Blaney Band
Ed Blaney Band (ex-Fall) and a one off gig with Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order) fronting a band led by Ed Blaney plus ex-Fall members.
Ophelia
Kiki Kabinda
Elouise
Ijeoma
Church Music
I am the music leader for our church choir and also play organ and electric piano. When necessary, I will write new harmonies/arrangements to suit the voices we have available. We have a YouTube channel @OurLadyOf HopeMusic originally created just for our rehearsals but now has followers from all over the world and is listened to 24 hours a day,
I have recently started a childrens choir and drum group with their own YouTube Channel @PulseOfHopeSalford
Hymn Writing, Translations and Arrangements
New Hymns
- Loaves & Fishes
- Song of Bethany
Sacred Music arrangements for SATB voice and instruments
- César Franck “Salut contenant 3 motets” for SATBB, SA, SATB
- “Our Lady of Hope” translated from “Mére de l’Esperance”
- Numerous hymn SATB harmonies.
The Compton console organ
When our original 50 year old pipe organ was out of action, I ‘built’ a 4 manual midi organ and pedalboard. The console had already been converted. I programmed it to give us a virtual organ that sounds right for our church using samples recorded from church organs in France and Sweden.
Concert Promoter and Festival Organisation
Promoter, with Geestar, of Arena scale tours for major artists including
- Sean Paul
- Ne-Yo
- Boyz II Men
- 50 Cent
- Rag ‘n Bone Man
Several tours and concerts as promoter with artists such as
- Ashanti
- Joe
- Maxi Priest
- Sister Sledge
- Shalamar
- Gyptian
- Soul II Soul
- Alexander O’Neal
Organised the Salford Music Festival with Ed Blaney for 10 years plus co-presenting other festivals/events.
