simonsound

Show 4 was broadcast on Resonance on Friday and is now available as a podcast alongside the first 3 episodes or you can download an MP3 here. The show is proving really popular and thanks to everyone who has commented. Its a pleasure to explore the early days of electronic music and Ian Helliwell is introducing me to lots of composers I’d never heard before.

My Noisy Matchbox is the name of a new company that I have set up with my brother Curtis. We have both worked closely on sound and music projects in the past and we thought it made sense to bring our offering under one roof. The focus is pretty much the same; sound and music consultation, composition and production for brands and companies. We want to grow on the successes we’ve already had with clients such as Heineken, Turner, BBC, Baby Cow and Discovery Networks. Check out the website and blog for more info.

So what about simonsound? Well it will continue to exist as an outlet for the less commercial work I like to be involved in such as The Tone Generation, Welcome to Mars and the upcoming SAN Expo electronic ensemble. These projects are equally important because they feed into my commercial work, keeping it fresh and original. There is also the simonsound album that is nearing completion and I’ll use this website to keep you updated as the release date nears.

There may well be some crossover with the Noisy Matchbox website and I’ll no doubt be posting about what we are up to here.

The Tone Generation show 3 was broadcast on Friday evening and is now available to download.  Ian visits Germany and plays music by Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Walter Ruttmann and Gyorgy Ligeti. We are getting good feedback on the series and enjoying making it. With a number of pioneering composers passing away recently it seems like the right time to reflect on their work and consider how it has, mostly subconsciously, inspired current production techniques and music.

Next weeks show focusses on Italy and is broadcast on Resonance FM at 19.30 GMT. Podcast and download will be available shortly after.

Last year I made ‘Expo 67 - A Radiophonic collage’ with Ian Helliwell. The programme celebrated the anniversary of the Montreal Worlds Fair, and we dedicated it to Tristram Cary who featured heavily and also helped out by supplying material. Tristram went spirit side last week so now seems a good time to make the Radiophonic collage available to download. It has already been broadcast around the world in Paris, New York and London but in case you missed it here it is.

You can find out more about Expo 67 at Ian’s web site and lots of Tristram coverage here.  Tristram was an experimental composer who worked at EMS studio co-designing the legendary VCS3 (Putney) synthesizer. He wrote music for films including Quatermass and the Pit, The Ladykillers and composed music for early Dr.Who episodes. He composed all of the music for the British Pavilion  at Expo 67 and you can hear lots of this in our montage.  He was a true pioneer creating fantastic sounds using hand built equipment left over from WWII. His music is stunning, sometimes challenging but always original and his experimentation paved the way for the current electronic music scene.

Part two of our ten part radio series ‘The Tone Generation’ is aired on Resonance FM this Friday 18th at 19.30 GMT. This week the focus is France with music from Iannis Xenakis, Ivo Malec, Pierre Henry and Spooky Tooth.

You can subscribe to the podcast here or find MP3’s for this and previous shows on the sound page.

This Friday sees the launch of a new simonsound produced radio series looking at the history of electronic music as a worldwide phenomenon. The 10 part series called ‘The Tone Generation’ is presented by electronic musician and film-maker Ian Helliwell. Starting in Europe and finishing in the Southern Hemisphere Ian will be playing vintage tracks - some celebrated, many obscure and overlooked, to give an overview of electronic music. Part one starts with Great Britain and features music from a number of BBC Radiophonic composers including Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire.

The series will be broadcast every Friday evening at 7.30 on Resonance 104.4 FM. Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here (the podcast feed now seems to be working) or download an MP3 of show 1 here.

Other radio news - Expo 67 was transmitted on BBC Radio 6 last week and has been broadcast in Paris, New York and Bristol over the last 5 months. The complete programme will be available to download here shortly.

Just added to the video player some clips from the music branding I produced for TNT Cartoon Network which launched this week. Broadcasting much loved classic cartoons as well as brand new characters to 7 million households across Turkey. The music is a variation on one of the themes we created for the general entertainment channel TNT which also launched this week. TNT is a terrestrial channel broadcasting to 17 million homes.

Been spending some time going through old music that I produced with my brother in the mid 90’s. We produced music under a number of different guises for labels like Skint, Bush and Magnetic North. I’m going to add some of it on the website somewhere but for now here is a 11 minute megamix that I created in 2000 (I know it says 2001 but that was when I got round to doing something with it).

I hadn’t listened to it for ages and I was pleasantly surprised when I heard it with fresh ears. I guess the mix of music goes some way to show the varied styles of music I love. From weird covers of Doors tracks through to Dick Hyman, Information Society and Carl Craig. It is part live mix part megamix with the tracks cut up and extra beats and samples added. It is also interesting because I made this at a time when the first computer based ’studio in a box’ software packages were becoming available. Its easy to take for granted how easy we’ve got it these days, we really are spoiled. Listen to the mix below.

I just delivered a new sonic logo to accompany Turner Classic Movies latest visual branding. Check it out on the video page. It is a mix of contemporary and orchestral with simple sound design elements to bring out the movement of the zeotrope.

I have now added a video player so we can start showing off my TV work. There are some successful commissions along side pitches for TV adverts available to view. I am also going to add some snippets from the upcoming simonsound album and a blast from the past montage of early music that I produced for labels like Skint, Magnetic North, Bush and Deconstruction.