James Hannay

So having just worked with producer Jon Monkman – http://soundcloud.com/johnmonkman- on the Diageo project in Mexico City- and a Skype ad for Just So Productions, I am pleased to say we will be collaborating again in the coming months – this time to produce Film Trailers for music supervisors Mad Planet. Stay tuned for results there

In the meantime I have just started work scoring a BBC doc on Body Dysmorphia with two-time Bafta Award winner Marina Parker. Again – stay posted…

So this last year i have been wearing a slightly different cap. The Low Riders, my funk and soul band have integrated into a houseband at a reputed(!) London Covent Restaurant Bunga Bunga. http://covent-garden.bungabunga-london.com/. Managing and playing 3 nights a week has been pretty intense this last year- but i still managed to do some sync work for Skype, and Diageo. That job – the 2017 World Cocktail taking place in Mexico City inside a Lucha libre wrestling ring had one of the stranger music briefs – a combination of traditional Mariachi music with heavy rock music as often featured in walk-ons for wrestling. Results here

Anyway back now, and working hard on composition during the week this year while the band continues to play Bunga Bunga on weekends

I finished scoring this short film by Michael Rolt a little while back, but it is out now and knocking on the doors of festivals etc. Very enjoyable working with Michael who has a keen ear for sonics. Much of it was as much sound design and the art of creating atmosphere. Do check it out in the ‘watch’ section of the website.

Had a great time working in the studio on ad for Biotherm Moisturiser featuring David Beckham. They wanted a classic soundtrack of free-form jazz drums that would somehow sync to the visual cuts of the ad, whilst retaining its freeform nature. Surprisingly hard to do! Thankfully had an expert drummer on hand – Sarathy Korwar, recently signed to Ninja Tune – and some highly capable studio-hands. Ad should be on the website very soon

I am still fairly new to this whole ‘having your own website’ malarkey.

And since my initial flurry of web activity last spring i must admit i have been a little distant from the business of being mr jameshannay.uk ie – online and updating. Pleasingly though, that’s because I have been busy at work, making music. So i am just collating all the new work that i have done and putting it in in one big splurge in a week or so’s time. This year i promise to be a little more active in updating the site as i work on projects rather than in yearly batches!

In the meantime here is a video of a score i did for TigerNest back in October. Really enjoyed this. The opportunity to combine traditional Sub-saharan sounds with a more reflective, and modern electronic sounds of today. Have a look and, of course, a listen….

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And this

This time i added some distortion to the effects chain but was really careful to control the feedback. Plus some out of the box guitar techniques (i don’t think i touched the strings once with my right hand!) and i ended up with this. Am excited about how much of a full-bodied, and atmospheric sound it created with just one guitar and one overdub. It also feels alive unlike so many synth patches. The studio is in bloom!

I have recently bought a gorgeous stereo tape delay pedal which along with a trusty Volume pedal and a bit of Tremelo seems to make some gorgeous soundscapes. I thought I’d share the process and some of the results here. I’m consistently in awe of the range of sounds one can get from the electric guitar coupled with well made effects pedals. To my mind, this sequence would stand alone as a lovely backdrop to visuals…

Here are a couple of videos that we recorded on the weekend with a young singer called Antonia Fane. Her mother gave her the opportunity to record in a studio as her as a birthday present, so i had no idea that she would have such a lovely voice. We did a couple of very stripped versions of a couple of her favourite songs- Yellow by Coldplay and Home by Gabrielle Aplin. It was filmed and edited by Leslie Knott, of Tiger Nest Productions, and I think its a really nice outcome.

It got me thinking that if there was anyone else out there that wanted this kind of demo – you know where to come!

http://youtu.be/s1PfICAqVAE

http://youtu.be/kFaWEAuyPIA