Once upon a time as a teenager I was in a band which had some success and toured all over the country.
I very soon learned that I was much more use at the back of the concert hall behind the sound desk than on stage and so began my interest in sound equipment and hifi sound.
From this grew my first business as sound engineer and building my own PA rigs which I would rent to (mostly American) bands on tour in Europe.
It was then I first became a Mercedes owner as the kit was moved in a new 508 van in from 1973.
I worked with artists as diverse as Freddie Starr to Cliff Ricard in venues from village halls to the Albert Hall.
The only gig really regret taking was one in the Marquee Club in London. I was told by the promoter the band were a bit like 10cc. He was right because there were 4 of them, but they were the most unruly punk bands ever (no names!) and it took months to clean all the spit and beer from the equipment.
When my first son arrived in 76, it became a little anti social to be away for up to a month on a European tour, so a took to a day job designing heat exchangers. I was bored out of my head. When Brazilian F1 driver friend rang to say he was starting his own team six months later and would I join, it took about .006 secs to say 'Yes!'
So began my motorsport career as truckie for an F2 team in March 78. By the autumn of that year I found myself as Team Manager doing the Temporada series in Argentina...
I have always retained my interest in music and sound equipment and always had some reasonable hifi equipment.
A couple of years ago, I was asked to go with one of my best friends (and former band member from the late '60s!) in help master his latest album at Abbey Road.
That's the sort of invite you don't turn down and mastering guru Miles (he who has re-mastered all the recent Beatles re-releases and many others!) showed us how good music could sound in the mastering suite.
I was very taken with the Bryson amps and £80k PMC speakers and decided I needed to try to replicate something similar at home.
With the advent of hi res music files, we now can hear the actual same source material as the guys who produced the music....given you have a 'decent' system to play them on.
I have built mine around Bryson amps and PMC speakers ( but slightly more modest domestic versions!) as at Abbey Road.
My source files are run via Auralic Vega G1 streaming DAC via an active 3 way crossover to Bryston (bass and mid) and Audiolab (hi) amps to each cabled individually to PMC OB1i speakers.
I freely admit that if all the parts had been bought new it would cost way over £20k....but I didn't as I've been buying and selling hifi all my life and now have a system capable of getting to within about 1% of that at Abbey Road for far less money.
I also admit to listening almost as much to my system as to my music, but then it is my hobby which is needing some serious attention with my recent house move to adapt to new surroundings.
I very soon learned that I was much more use at the back of the concert hall behind the sound desk than on stage and so began my interest in sound equipment and hifi sound.
From this grew my first business as sound engineer and building my own PA rigs which I would rent to (mostly American) bands on tour in Europe.
It was then I first became a Mercedes owner as the kit was moved in a new 508 van in from 1973.
I worked with artists as diverse as Freddie Starr to Cliff Ricard in venues from village halls to the Albert Hall.
The only gig really regret taking was one in the Marquee Club in London. I was told by the promoter the band were a bit like 10cc. He was right because there were 4 of them, but they were the most unruly punk bands ever (no names!) and it took months to clean all the spit and beer from the equipment.
When my first son arrived in 76, it became a little anti social to be away for up to a month on a European tour, so a took to a day job designing heat exchangers. I was bored out of my head. When Brazilian F1 driver friend rang to say he was starting his own team six months later and would I join, it took about .006 secs to say 'Yes!'
So began my motorsport career as truckie for an F2 team in March 78. By the autumn of that year I found myself as Team Manager doing the Temporada series in Argentina...
I have always retained my interest in music and sound equipment and always had some reasonable hifi equipment.
A couple of years ago, I was asked to go with one of my best friends (and former band member from the late '60s!) in help master his latest album at Abbey Road.
That's the sort of invite you don't turn down and mastering guru Miles (he who has re-mastered all the recent Beatles re-releases and many others!) showed us how good music could sound in the mastering suite.
I was very taken with the Bryson amps and £80k PMC speakers and decided I needed to try to replicate something similar at home.
With the advent of hi res music files, we now can hear the actual same source material as the guys who produced the music....given you have a 'decent' system to play them on.
I have built mine around Bryson amps and PMC speakers ( but slightly more modest domestic versions!) as at Abbey Road.
My source files are run via Auralic Vega G1 streaming DAC via an active 3 way crossover to Bryston (bass and mid) and Audiolab (hi) amps to each cabled individually to PMC OB1i speakers.
I freely admit that if all the parts had been bought new it would cost way over £20k....but I didn't as I've been buying and selling hifi all my life and now have a system capable of getting to within about 1% of that at Abbey Road for far less money.
I also admit to listening almost as much to my system as to my music, but then it is my hobby which is needing some serious attention with my recent house move to adapt to new surroundings.