The Artist and Soundwaves

When I set out on this journey, my vision was to create images that art lovers could relate to musicians and their songs. It was imperative that I was able to create artwork that truly reflected the nature of the music I wanted to portray.

Once a musician agrees to work on Soundwaves and a song is selected I take the studio recording and create a wave form. This is no more than a heartbeat that goes along with the rhythm of the song. Once this is capturedd it is customised to create the final Soundwaves piece. This can be a painstaking process and some of the pieces have presented some serious challenges. In many cases I have gone back to the drawing board, so to speak a dozen or so times. I always take a few days out before sending a musician their artwork so that I can look at it again to see if it is what I set out to achieve.

Working closely with the artist Gary Brandham we managed to come up with images for several musicians that got the project moving. Among our early succeses were artists such as Coldplay, Pink Floyd and Snow Patrol.

As I started to feel more confident with the methos we were using I started to explore different techniques and sought the advice of designers and artists to come up with some amazing finishes.

I listen to the music, the lyrics and the tempo of the song to decide what colours and shapes I am looking for. An acoustic ballad needs to look totally different to a heavy metal classic.

I know what music means to me and I want anyone who owns a Soundwaves artwork to derive a great deal of pleasure from it. I work on every process in the creation of the artwork. I design the artwork and print it all myself and then apply varnish in my own studio to get the desired effect. I love to be in control of each process to ensure that I end up with the right image.

It is hard to believe where the artwork created in the Soundwaves Studio is hanging. It hangs on the walls of major song writers homes, in their studios,  in record companies offices, and is even being placed in the Abba museum.

I am priveliged to work with people who I admire and whose work has meant so much to me. Music plays an enormous part in all our lives and I can almost plot my life through the artwork I have created from Pink Floyd, through the Clash  and Stranglers in my teens, through to festival headliners of today like The Kings of Leon and The Killers.