In this MixBus interview, Producer and Engineer Tim Bran talks us through his early career at Island Records, being invited to tour as a session musician, recording London Grammar, setting up his own collaborative tech and studio projects and more.
Show Notes
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:22 - The Early Days At Island Records
04:58 - Musical Taste
06:33 - Informative Years In The Bunker
08:10 - Being Invited To Tour
10:40 - Rez Rocket Surfer - A Virtual Band
15:47 - Developing Artist Management Skills
21:17 - Being Diplomatic In A Team
24:20 - Taking Chances And Being Creative
26:10 - Working With Roy Kerr And London Grammar
31:42 - Collaborative Projects And Learning New Techniques
38:07 - Being Respectful Of Other Talent In The Room
41:07 - Mixing During The Recording Process
45:17 - Dealing With Demo Love
47:14 - Favourite Hardware And Software
52:54 - Avoiding Dither And Delay
Tim Bran - Biog
Tim Bran began his production career in his own studio in Guernsey, Channel Islands, where he grew up. He then worked in the legendary Fallout Shelter Studios at Island Records in London, where he collaborated with artists such as Julian Cope, Mica Paris, Omar and ex-Big Audio Dynamite band Screaming Target (with whom he formed an alliance and later on created the seminal dub/ambient band Dreadzone). He toured for 10 years then decided he needed to be in his home from home — the studio — so gave up touring and dedicated himself to production and writing.
Tim co-produced London Grammar’s debut album If You Wait with his production partner Roy Kerr, as MyRiot, and has worked with artists such as Birdy, Paul McCartney, Rae Morris, La Roux, KT Tunstall, Halsey, The Verve, Imelda May and Primal Scream. Recently his work includes Haevn, Abby Sage, Axel Flovent and Wild Rivers.
Today, Tim Bran continues to make waves in the music scene, working with both established and up-and-coming artists. With each project, he brings a fresh perspective and a dedication to pushing musical boundaries, ensuring that his influence on the industry remains as vibrant as ever.
http://www.echobeachmanagement.com/artist/tim-bran/
Interviewer: Kevin Paul - Biog
Kevin Paul started his career as a DJ but quickly found his passion was sound engineering. His first audio job was at Soho Studios in 1991, moving to Konk Studios six months later, where he worked alongside successful producers and engineers such as Bob Clearmountain, Adam Mosley, Pascal Gabriel and Gil Norton, as well as bands such as The Kinks, Galliano, Terrorvision, UFO and Elastica.
After working on archiving the Depeche Mode back catalogue in 1994, he was offered an engineering role at Mute Records’ in-house studio, which eventually lead to a position as Head Engineer, which gave him access to the entire Mute Records roster. Highlights include mixing Goldfrapp’s 'Felt Mountain', David Bowie’s 'Hours' and Nick Cave’s 'No More Shall We Part'. He also worked in 5:1, mixing Moby’s 'Hotel', Goldfrapp’s 'Black Cherry' and more for DVD.
In 2004 Kevin went freelance and re-mixed the entire Depeche Mode and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds back catalogues for SACD/DVD. Since 2008, Kevin Paul has been in charge of mixing and remixing performances at the iTunes Festivals in the UK and Germany. He has mixed over 100 artists to date, including Adele, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The XX, Calvin Harris, Foo Fighters, Jack White, Linkin Park, Florence & The Machine, Deadmau5, David Guetta, Jessie J., Norah Jones, Oasis, Mumford & Sons, N.E.R.D., Lykke Li, James Blunt, KT Tunstall, Hot Chip, Paul Weller and many more.
He continues to record, engineer, produce and mix many projects in music and film, runs the mixing and surround mixing modules for the Masters Degree course at UK’s Westminster University and divides his time between London and Berlin. Recent works include the International selling new album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and mixing the latest album of Denmark’s 'Dúné' with the first single premiering at the Danish Music Awards, plus the latest iTunes Music Festival.
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