I report with great sadness the death of Pink Floyd's self taught Pianist/Keyboard player Richard Wright. Richard (65) died a few a hours ago from cancer. He was a founder member of 'Pink Floyd' when they emerged in the mid 60's, and he, along with the group became a major influence within the psychedelic rock scene and their popularity grew amongst other musicians working in the same milieu.

His finest compositional moments (and there were many) to name but a few were on the 1973 seminal album "Dark side of the Moon" the album is a classic in its own right but richard's "the great gig in the sky" and "Us and Them" demonstrated his command and virtuosity on the keyboard and helped the album attain the status it has enjoyed since its conception. Richard's total contribution to the band can not be measured or justified in words, his input transcended these mediums, but every one who knew and experienced his music could not help but be touched by it on some level. 

Richard was never a show man in the true sense, he always showed a sobriety and devoted concentration when ever he appeared on stage, and his conduct and demeanour were impeccable, he was an embassador for music. Pink Floyd in later years experienced rifts within the group and Richard left for a while but later returned after Roger Waters left.

I grew up with Pink Floyd, the first 'Floyd' album that I ever bought was "Dark side of the Moon", it blew me away at the time and in my teenage years some of my most frequently played vinyl was by the 'Floyd'! In the 70's whether you liked them or not…Pink Floyd became giants of the rock world and when they took America by storm they became rock Gods, no other band sounded like them, they were spell binding.

Goodbye Richard, I could type so much more about what you meant to me when I opened myself up to music, but I could never say enough….but as life must start, life must end, and the ultimate 'great gig in the sky' is a show which we must all attend someday…and I just know that where ever you are right now the house is rocking in anticipation of the emotional sonic experience that will soon overwhelm them.

Richard Wright 1943-2008 R.I.P 

This is my studio, it is responsible for taking up a lot of my spare time when I'm in a creative mood. The studio is primarily analogue although I have digital mastering available (CD) and other effects devices that are purely in the digital domain. The central hub of any sound studio is the mixing desk (console) and of course the medium with which you record, in the centre of this picture you can see the 'Mackie' 24-8-2 desk and on the right most part of the picture is the 'Tascam' MSR 24 track tape recorder.

On top of the mixing desk you can see the Digitech 'Vocalist workstation', this device although not cheap to buy produces an expensive sounding vocal, in fact it is possible to split your original voice 5 ways with counter harmonies coming from the 3rd and 5th's of a chord, Oh the joy of a toy for someone who don't sing too well (me) it's got me out of trouble a few times I can tell you.

Obviously when you compose music for a four piece band, namely… guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, there will be certain elements you could never record or fit in such a small sized studio, take drums for instance….this being a good example of how technology can help you, My drum sound is produced from a box of tricks! a drum machine capable of being programmed to suit your exact musical needs.

Other peripherals are housed in racks both above the console and to the left of it, there are too many to name individually but suffice to say there are a few. The synthesizer (bottom of pic) is a Korg X5D, a keyboard which is very good at 'wind instrument' reproduction and if you listen to "Millennium Dance" (hear my music link) you can hear exactly what it is capable of doing.

My studio has been slowly developed over a decade, and from humble beginnings it has matured and come of age, it is now fully functional in every department from track dubbing right through to the mastering process. I have recorded stuff for other musicians, mainly friends or other people they know. I enjoy sound engineering for other people because it's a lot easier than doing for myself and less work believe it or not!

I currently own four guitars, two acoustic, and two electric… I have other instruments too but the guitar has always been my forte, but when you compose music these other instruments come in handy when a different sound is required for asthetic reasons.

I hope you enjoyed this brief insight into my universe, more later.