James Dunkley - Biography

Like many other engineers I started off as a guitar player but always had an eye on the gear and theproduction side of demo recording. This did not go unnoticed by the proprietor of my local studio and I was soon on a course they ran provided to give musicians familiarity to the studio environment. This resulted in a small home setup mainly MIDI based, and a load of bad dance music and hip hop being created.

In 1999 I graduated from the School of Audio Engineering Technology College London (SAE) with a diploma in sound engineering and became a house engineer at Oisin Studios in Milton Keynes. While working at Oisin I found myself working with some of the bigger names in folk music and producing and engineering on a selection of albums.

Around March 2000 it really got busy. As well as being a freelancer for Oisin studios I took up a position as the full time PA tech at Northampton Roadmender where I stayed for 4 years. This is where you really learn to get the sound right and to do it quickly. During this time I worked with a variety of bands, some of whom disappeared without a trace, others are now amongst the biggest names in Rock and Roll. During my time at the Roadmender I systems teched / did front of house for / did monitors for amongst others; Robert Plant, Coldplay, Catatonia, Supergrass, Fear Factory, Marillion and The Lost Prophets.

Around the busy gigging schedule I still managed to teach music technology to a BTEC class at the local college and work as a freelance recording engineer and producer with some of the bands I met through the Roadmender. By this point I was doing my drum tracking at Oisin studios and doing the rest on my own gear at home. This setup soon expanded into premises and before to long I had a full commercial studio to run, used only for private sessions of the partners involved.

In 2004 I left the Roadmender to concentrate on other endeavors and have ended up working in Artist Liaisons/ Customers Services at Peavey Electronics. Which has helped with borrowing backline such as Pro series bass gear, 6505s and JSX heads for my recording projects.

Whilst working at Peavey I have also continued to work as a freelance Front of House engineer and as a result have toured the UK extensively and ventured onto the continent and amongst other have worked at festivals such as Download, Rock AM Ring and Bloodstock. Whilst maintaining a busy touring schedule I have also relocated the studio to home and tailored it to be a versatile mix and overdub suite.

As well as continuing to gain a reputation and experience as a live and studio engineer I now have a relaxed facility that would suit most projects and budgets.