Production
Aside from performance, Michael is also in demand for video and audio production work. In terms of commercial work, the past year has seen Michael producing 2 'new' albums of Vivian Stanshall material from unfinished recordings recovered from Viv's hidden archive. Rawlinson's End and Dog Howl in Tune. In July 2023, the records topped the Official Independent Album Chart, and the releases were covered by Andrew Male for The Guardian
The production of both albums involved the use of the latest audio technology including the use of AI, advanced noise reduction, demixing and stem separation. The primary software used was Logic Pro, RX10 and Waves plug-ins.
Due to the success of the albums, Madfish decided to release a single I'd Rather Cut My Hands from the Dog Howl in Tune album. Michael produced the album by the manipulation of 1m19s of archive footage from Viv performing the song on a 1990 BBC Late Show episode. Once the footage was licensed from the BBC, the first task was to grade it and then time-stretch it the new audio. This archive was supplemented by footage especially shot of Viv's own belongings and other scenes, with the cooperation of his son, Rupert.
Michael has also overseen the collation, editing and production of the video material for the forthcoming Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band box set Still Barking. One aspect of this production which really appealed to Michael, was the opportunity to reconstruct the Bonzos' 1968 Colour Me Pop appearance. Like the vast majority of the series, the show was wiped shortly after broadcast, but luckily 22 of 39 minutes had survived due to sheer luck and the serendipitous salvaging of BBC engineer Bob Pratt.
Alongside this, a very low-quality domestic audio recording of the whole show has also miraculously survived. Using AI and the very latest technology, these elements were painstakingly cleaned up and restored by Michael to reconstruct the show. Once Michael had remastered and restored the footage into the end product, he then authored and produced 3 DVDs for the box set to the client's specifications.
On the broadcast side of things, Michael was one of the editors of the recent 2-part Channel 5 documentary Charles: Our New King.
Michael has just upgraded his studio equipment, and is currently running a Mac Studio M2 with Focusrite soundboard and KRK Rokit RP7 G4 active studio monitors. The studio is fully-equipped for recording MIDI and analogue music and voice and is capable of digitising VHS and audio cassettes. Michael also has an operational knowledge of Logic Pro, RX10 plus AVID, Premiere Pro, Da Vinci Resolve and Final Cut. Michael is also a trained Graphic Designer and has in-depth knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Michael always looks forward to exciting, new production jobs and welcomes commissions for industry standard audio and video production.
Previous Productions
ENOUGH! - BARRY WOM and WOM DIRECTION
As a child, Michael was obsessed with The Beatles, and that love extended to the SNL/Eric Idle/Neil Innes 1978 TV movie The Rutles. After touring with the Rutles in 2017, drummer John Halsey aka Barry Wom, asked if Michael would be willing to write a song for him.
The result was the single Enough! which Michael wrote and Andy Frizell arranged. Michael produced the promo, which was shot in 4K at the Belvedere pub, Liverpool in January 2018. It was directed by Michael, with Peter Goodwin as director of photography. As a trained Graphic Designer with advanced operational knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Michael also produced all the bespoke graphic design elements seen in the promo.
Due to the enduring popularity of the Rutles, local news became interested. This piece was recorded by ITV1's Granada Reports at the launch of the single in March 2018.
A few months later, The Rutles were performing in Liverpool at the legendary Cavern Club and, whilst there, Neil suggested that Michael grab Peter Goodwin and head back to the Belvedere to film a promo for the Rutles' upcoming tour of America.