ABOUT



“Amongst the fleet of articulated lorries and more forklifts than you can count is a truck with its trailer containing a hidden room that has become affectionately known as the ‘Snake Pit’
...”  



Duran Duran arena show




PROFILE:


I am Freelance sound engineer, with a wealth of experience mixing in the live arena as well as studio, for release and TV. Over 25 years of recording and touring has given me the opportunity to work in hundreds of venues in over 40 countries, across a multitude of genres, from Electronica to Orchestral, RnB to Rock.

I have the ability to faithfully reproduce musically balanced mixes, which are suitable for broadcast and live simultaneously.  In 2001 I practically invented the ‘Virtual Soundcheck’ and ever since I have also been creating ‘Stem mixes’ which are fed to TV mixers, at live broadcasts, which ensure the best possible outcome on air.   Now I have pushed the envelope even further by successfully mixing the entire Harry Styles 2 year long ‘Love on Tour’ campaign from backstage in a more studio based setup.  Subsequently using the same setup to mix S-Club around UK arenas has cemented my position with regard to this ground breaking technique,  which frees up prime seats for sale by the artist and allows me to work uninterrupted by the infrastructure build that takes so much time on large scale tours.

I have masses of experience running complicated automated shows as well as ‘on the fly’ fast paced televised events such as award shows. 

Most importantly my experience has taught me that we are all part of a team, which above all other considerations needs to work cohesively together and that this is the most important element of creating a great overall experience for the artist, the audience and the crew themselves. 

In 2014 it was an honour to receive ‘FOH engineer of the year’ at the TPI Awards and have been nominated again for the the award once more for 2024.



EXAMPLES OF WORK AS FOH ENGINEER:


2023 S-Club; Arenas UK

2021-2023 Harry Styles; Love on Tour.  Stadium/Arena; World 

2020-2021 Various; TV Post and location record/live streams inc Sting, Jamie Cullum, Michael Ball/Alfie Jessie J, Duran Duran        

2017-2020 Harry Styles; Live on Tour; Arenas; World/TV Promo

2015-2020 Duran Duran; Paper Gods Tour; Arenas; World

2014 Paulo Nutini; Caustic Love; Tour and Promo; Theatre/Arena

2012-2015 Jessie J; Who You Are, Alive, Sweet Talker Tours; Theatre/Arena; World 

2012-2013 Girls Aloud; Ten Tour; TV Promo Europe 

2012 Duran Duran; Diamond in the Mind; Live DVD/ Album mix

2010-2012 Duran Duran; All You Need is Now Tour;  Arena; World 

2011-2012 Duran Duran Unstaged’; David Lynch directed cinema release 

2010 Supertramp; 7010 Tour; Arena; Europe

2010 Girls Aloud; Out of Control; Arena; UK (cover)

2010 Richard Ashcroft; Tour; Europe

2009-2012 Post Production Music Mixer Sky TV’s Songbook

2009-2010 Robbie Williams: All Touring, Corporate, Promo.

2007-2009 Duran Duran: RCM tour; Arena/Theatre; World

2006-2007 Snow Patrol: Chasing Cars / Eyes Open Tours; Arena/Festival; World 

2006-2007 Sugababes; Taller in More Ways; Arena/Theatre/Festivals; Europe

2006 Darren Hayes; Savage Garden; Theatre; Europe

2004-2006 Duran Duran; Astronaut Reunion Tour; Arena; World

2001 -2004 Craig David; Born To Do It;  Arena/Theatre; World 

1999 – 2001 Pet Shop Boys Nightlife tour – Arena/Theatre, World

1999- 2000 Chicane; Behind the Sun; Theatre/Arena; World 

1999 Paul Rodgers; (Free /Bad Company/Queen) Tour; Arena

1996-1999 The Divine comedy. Theatre, Europe


EXAMPLES OF LARGE SCALE ONE-OFFS:


Oct 2016 FOH Music Mix, Children in Need Rocks at the RAH

Summer 2003 Front of house engineer for Party in the Park in Hyde Park

February 2003 Front of house engineer/audio crew boss for the Brit Awards Televised awards show.

Summer 2003 Front of House engineer for Special Olympics opening and closing ceremonies at Croke Park Stadium, Dublin.

Autumn 2002 Front of house engineer MTV Europe awards televised live.

Autumn 2002 Front of House engineer MOBO Music awards televised live. 

Summer 2001 Front of house engineer / supervisor Reading Festival Main Stage.

Summer 1999 Front of house engineer NetAid webcast/TV live Wembley Stadium.


AWARDS:


2023 TPi Awards FOH Engineer of the Year - Nominated
2014 TPi Awards FOH Engineer of the Year - Winner
2009 TPi Awards FOH Engineer of the Year - Nominated
2005 LIVE Magazine Awards FOH Engineer of the Year - Nominated
2003 Total Production Award Best FOH Sound Engineer - Runner Up

OTHER EXPERIENCE:


Above is a very bare outline of my activities.  Other previous clients for shorter tours etc and include; Take That, Girls Aloud, Spice Girls, BB King,  The Divine Comedy, Natasha Beddingfield, David Gray, REM, 911, Daniel Beddingfield, Blue, A1, Atomic Kitten, Paul Carrack, Mike Rutherford, Moby, Gene.  I have worked for various clients on the following TV shows; Top of the Pops, Later with Jools Holland, TFI Friday, The White Room, CDUK, SMTV, MTV, VH1, VIVA, The Late Show, a whole host of cable shows as well as syndicated US shows; J Leno,  Ellen. Good Morning America, TRL, SNL, Conan O’Brien Etc.  I have also been hired by numerous companies in the UK to handle audio at complicated award shows such as the MTV Music Awards.  Other work includes program music mixer for Sky Arts for clients such as Dave Stuart,  Leiber and Stoller, Don Mclean, Kasabian, Diane Warren and many more.


John Henry’s Studios 2001