news articles

December 2006

Kylie's Back

After her recovery from breast cancer, Kylie returns to the stage in Melbourne for the relaunch of her Showgirl world tour. "We're on tour again. Woo hoo," said Kylie from Sydney last week. "I've been looking forward to this for such a long time."

Kylie resumes the lavish Showgirl tour at the point she left it after breast cancer was diagnosed in May last year, days before the opening of the Australian leg of the tour. She had just completed the British leg of her tour. The 2005 tour has been updated and includes a new £1m stage and many other revisions to the show.

Toby Alington recorded Showgirl at the end of 2005 in Earls Court, London, and he will travel to Sydney in mid-December 2006 to capture the magic of the new show for Blink TV. Music mixing will take place at Abbey Road studios, with final audio post-production taking place in Richmond's 5.1 studio. EMI will release the DVD in 2007, and a TV special will be broadcast in early January in the UK.

Kylie will perform in Wembley and Manchester from 2 to 19 January. Kylie holds the accolade of being the most-played female artist of the last twenty years on British radio.

December 2006

P!NK

Multi-platinum selling artist P!NK returns to Wembley Arena on Monday 4 December before heading off to mainland Europe to continue her world tour. Toby Alington will once again record and mix her performance for TV and DVD, and David Mallet will direct the HiDef shoot.

The filming of this event comes on the back of the success of her fourth album "I'm Not Dead" which shot up the UK charts on its release.

Toby will be recording in the totally digital Floating Earth recording mobile, and post-production will be completed at Richmond Studios.

December 2006

Take That

ITV are broadcasting "An Audience With Take That" live on Saturday 2 December. Toby Alington will be looking after the broadcast sound, mixing live from the renowned London Studios in SE London.

The ITV show will see the guys performing a mixture of old and new tracks in front of a celebrity-packed audience, and coincides with the release of their new album "Beautiful World".

November 2006

Clarkson - The Good The Bad The Ugly

Clarkson takes us on a 60 minute journey to the U.S. for a bit of 'us against them' in the automobile world.

2entertain's release of this top-selling DVD was written and produced by Jeremy Clarkson. An entertaining spin through the States driven along by Clarkson's sharp wit, where he pits America's finest against the best European cars. From Mustangs to Ford GT's, this is a quest to find a fast car through science, car chases and big explosions.

Richmond Studios' concept for the DVD is built around speed and power, with motion menus and sound-design menu audio throughout. 3D menu transitions using engine parts, spinning dials as scene selectors and elements of speedometers all present a charming guide for the viewer.

Delivered in PAL format and released in time for Christmas, this is a must for all petrol heads.

November 2006

Stomp - Rhythms of the World

Inspired by themes of global rhythm and multiculturalism, this unique award-winning journey takes you across five continents discovering the rhythm, song and dance of the different cultures and environments.

From under the sea in the English Channel to street performers in New York City and Taiko drummers in Japan, this 10,000 mile journey was devised by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, the creators of the international stage sensation STOMP.

"We started out making a film about rhythm and it evolved into a film about humanity," McNicholas said. "Every culture has music, but the root of every form of music is rhythm, and rhythm is common to everyone."

This inspiring disc is introduced by Richmond's animated menus featuring a pulsating mosaic world. The DVD is packed with bonus features, including deleted scenes, alternative cuts, and almost half an hour of behind the scenes footage. The show features a fantastic 5.1 sound track and full length director's commentary.

November 2006

Afterlife

Following the success of the television series 'Afterlife', Richmond Studios have been commissioned by 2entertain to design and author the Series 2 boxed set.

This three-disc set includes a 'Making Of' with exclusive footage from the filming of the second series, plus interviews with the shows creator Stephen Volk, producer Murray Ferguson, as members of the cast including Andrew Lincoln and Lesley Sharp. Viewers can also meet the medium Gordon Smith who acted as a consultant on the show.

Likened to the 'The Sixth Sense', this award winning drama series featuring Alison Mundy (Lesley Sharp) and Robert Bridge (Andrew Lincoln) steers you through a different supernatural experience in each episode, with hair-raising concepts and emotional and compelling stories.

Critic Rupert Smith remarked, "At last I can put my hand on my heart and give an unqualified cheer to a new primetime British drama series".

Richmond Studios are responsible for the design and authoring of this spooky series, to be released in PAL format and due for release on 26th December 2006

October 2006

Girls Aloud

Following Girls Aloud's latest Chemistry tour, Richmond Studios was commissioned by Polydor Records to produce their next DVD featuring the recent live show at Wembley arena.

The concert, which has been described as "modern and dripping with attitude", has received rave reviews. It features favourites such as Long Hot Summer & Sound Of The Underground, along with Biology & The Show from their latest album Chemistry. The show is buzzing with high-tech images and laboratory themes stretching away from the Girls' old teenage image.

Richmond Studios have captured this look and feel with bold animated menus throughout the disc. Test tubes, chemical infusion and molecular shapes all contribute to the design, incorporating the chemistry element into the menu designs and remaining true to the new refined characteristics of the girls.

Three bonus videos, 'Biology', 'See The Day' and 'Whole Lotta History' accompany the show along with a choice of 5.1 audio as extra features

This is the second Girls Aloud DVD Richmond have produced for Polydor, and hit the shelves on 13th November 2006.

October 2006

MTV European Music Awards 2006

Toby Alington will once again head up the broadcast audio team for the annual MTV Europe Music Awards, this year to be held in Copenhagen.

Using totally digital audio facilities on location, Toby will mix all the bands for live broadcast on 2 November at the Bella Centre, with Muse, Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado already confirmed for the event. Justin Timberlake will host the show.

This is Toby's fifth year of producing the broadcast sound for the MTV EMA's; he also looks after the broadcast sound for the annual BRIT Awards and many leading international artists world wide.

September 2006

Paul Weller

Universal Music International has commissioned Richmond Studios to design and author Paul Weller's latest DVD release, 'Hit Parade'.

This stylish box set features sixty-seven clips, including archive material from Weller's entire musical career. Featuring early classics such as 'Town Called Malice' and 'That's Entertainment', this retrospective takes us through the years with 'Wild Wood' and 'Broken Stones', all the way through to tracks from his latest album including 'Floorboards Up' and 'Blink And You'll Miss It'.

The menu designs reflect Weller's ever-changing style, from his mod days through to his current look and feel, representing a true testament of his career to date.

Toby Alington, MD of Richmond Studios, comments: "We're delighted to be doing this two disc set for such a fantastic artist. I recorded and mixed his BRITs performance earlier this year, and this is the second Weller DVD release for us in three months. He is one of England's musical heroes, and it's hard to believe that one man has produced so many fantastic songs in so many different genres."

Richmond Studios' audio department digitally remastered the tracks for the 5.1 DVD soundtrack, and the audio is available in DTS 5,1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo.

August 2006

Kasabian

As Kasabian's album 'Empire' enters the UK charts at number one, Richmond Studios delivers the "Empire" DVD to SonyBMG for inclusion in a special Limited Edition box set.

The disc includes the songs 'Empire' and 'Shoot The Runner', and the menu designs reflect Kasabian's style and originality. The extra features include a 22 minute documentary about the band and their music, and also a ten minute documentary about the making of the Empire video promo.

August 2006

Rainbow

Richmond Studios are to design and author the next Rainbow DVD for Universal Music International.

Rainbow, originally formed by Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, was considered a crucial chapter in the development of heavy metal and hard rock. The concert, "Live between the eyes", was filmed in August 1982 at San Antonio Texas, featuring Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Lynn Turner, Bobby Rondinelli, Roger Glover and David Rosenthal. This is a truly great show not just for Rainbow fans, but for anyone interested in the genres of metal and rock.

This two disc set, featuring the famous 'Live Between the Eyes' concert and 'The Final Cut' video compilation, is packaged with an additional bonus jukebox on both discs.

The menu design remains true to Rainbow's 80's style, using characteristics from the 1986 VHS and keeping the 80's fluorescent style and early-arcade graphics throughout. The discs have both PCM stereo and 5.1 audio options. The disc is due for release on 25th September 2006.

July 2006

Holiday on Ice

Toby Alington has been asked to record the new Holiday on Ice soundtrack by composer Mike Reed. The orchestra will be recorded at Abbey Road in the middle of July before the project transfers to Phoenix Sound in Pinewood for overdubs and mixing. The two-hour soundtrack features a 70 piece symphony orchestra, choirs, vocal and instrumental soloists, electronics and samples, rhythm section and sound effects.

Final editing and mastering will take place at Richmond Studios in late July.

June 2006

Champions League 2006

Toby Alington has been working with composer Matt Clifford since May to provide a new world-wide ident package for the UEFA Champions' League. The orchestral recording took place in Budapest, with all other recording and post-production taking place in the UK. Angel Studios was used for the choir recording and mixing of some of the music elements, and the final post-production is taking place in Richmond Studios' state of the art 5.1 audio suite. Toby Alington has provided recording services for the Champions' League for twelve years, and the original theme written by Tony Britten will be reworked to provide an updated package for 2006

Delivery of the soundtrack is in both 5.1 and stereo, ready for the new High Definition broadcast systems.

June 2006

Supersense - 2Entertain

2entertain has commissioned Richmond Studios to design and author the BBC series Supersense, a 1990 wildlife show examining the senses that animals have which humans do not.

The programme uses unconventional techniques to give new perspectives when looking at how things might seem to animals. From learning how vampire bats are sensitive to the infrared radiation of their victim's blood to how animals navigate, find food and communicate using smell.

Supersense, designed and authored by Richmond Studios maintaining the essence of the programme through the design, contains six episodes and a special 'Making of' as a bonus feature. It makes an enjoyable package and is due for release this August.

June 2006

Paul Weller - Liberation Entertainment

Richmond Studios has been commissioned to produce the next Paul Weller DVD for Liberation Entertainment and V2 Music. Richmond Studios also worked on the soundtrack for Weller's recent C4 appearance, following Paul's comment that the audio of his BRITs performance sounded better than any previous broadcast. Toby Alington, Richmond Studios' founder has been responsible for the BRITs broadcast soundtrack for twelve years.

Following Paul's most recent album 'As Is Now', this DVD is the perfect accompaniment. The main feature, the documentary, is a wonderful insight into the making of the album with Paul and the band taking you through their personal influences, inspirations and progression. Based in and around the recording studio, this really does capture the invigorating experience of what has been described as "quite simply a milestone record".

Paul Weller and his band's performance in The 100 club runs alongside the documentary. In a small but trendy venue the gig offers an intimate show featuring some new songs from 'As Is Now' like 'From the Floorboards Up' along with some old classics such as 'Broken Stones' from 'Stanley Road' and 'Town called Malice' from his Jam days, all 5.1 soundtracks have been created at Richmond Studios.

The extras' offer even more insight to the man himself, with a 30 minute extended interview, along with 'The Dam', 'The Fans' and a photo gallery, all contributing to a strong and entertaining disc. Richmond Studios are responsible for the design and authoring of the project, preparing for its release in Pal and NTSC later this year.

May 2006

Classical BRIT Awards

Toby Alington once again headed the broadcast audio team for the Classical BRITs this year at the Royal Albert Hall. With international artists including Placido Domingo, and a debut Classical BRITs performance from trumpeter Alison Balsom, the show was considered to be a heavyweight highlight of the classical music calendar

The show was broadcast on ITV in the UK on 7 May, 2006, at 4.30pm. This followed three days of post-production, during which time the soundtrack was mixed and mastered by Alington at Richmond Studios, with voice-over and other elements being added in the process.

The Floating Earth mobile studio, which Richmond Studios contracted for the pop BRITs in February, was deployed for the digital recording of the event. Some 100 lines from the venue were digitally carried down fibre-optic cable to the recording mobile, and the entire performance was recorded digitally onto hard-disc.

This was Toby's seventh Classical Brits, and has added a further glittering list of international artists to the extensive audio credits of Richmond Studios

April 2006

Kidulthood - Revolver

Richmond Studios completed the DVD for the film Kidulthood, a slick, contemporary, British-made movie set in and around the streets of West London. The compelling and action packed story revolves around a group of teenagers for which beatings in the classroom, sex on the playing field and drugs in the schoolyard are all every day occurrences. But things are about to flip sharply for this tight trio and their crowd.

Working with Revolver Films, the Richmond team has designed and authored a disc that gives a real sense of the gritty, urban setting of the film. Included in this extensive DVD package are extra features such as music videos, deleted scenes, unseen footage, interviews and an animated picture gallery set to an exclusive audio track by Arcane.

This is another project which uses the full array of facilities at Richmond Studios - design, audio, video and authoring - to provide a fast-track production solution for the client.

April 2006

The Moguls - NBC Universal

Richmond Studios was chosen by NBC Universal to design and author the film The Moguls in which a small-town dreamer, Jeff Bridges, devises a get-rich-quick scheme that can't lose: a feature-length home porn movie. Need we say any more! Taking elements from existing promotional graphics and adding a few animation tricks of their own, Richmond Studios design team created a look that reflected the kitsch, quirkiness and light hearted feel of the film.

April 2006

Champions League 2006

Richmond Studios will be working with composer Matt Clifford in May and June 2006 to provide a new world-wide ident package for the UEFA Champions' League. The orchestral recording is planned for May in Budapest, with all other recording and post-production taking place in the UK. Richmond Studios have provided recording services for the Champions' League for twelve years, and the original theme written by Tony Britten will be reworked to provide an updated package for 2006

April 2006

DVD Association Awards

Richmond Studios has topped their 2005 double victory at the USA-based DVD Association Awards with an unprecedented triple win, presented on March 30 in Santa Monica. For the second year running Richmond headed the list of UK winners at the prestigious event.

Kate Miller from Richmond Studios was there to collect the awards, which included the prestigious DVD Facility Excellence for the second year running.

Second came the DVD Audio Quality Excellence Award for Simply Red's Cuba! live concert DVD. Richmond Studios' audio team, headed by founder Toby Alington, recorded the concert in Havana.

The third accolade was the Music DVD Excellence Award, which honours the design and authoring of a highly unusual project, 'Antarctica'. Craig Vear is a composer and producer whose work includes the first Arts Council England International Fellowship with the British Antarctic Survey. He spent three months working alongside the scientific community in Antarctica composing electro-acoustic music in response to the continent, and chose Richmond Studios to provide a highly aesthetic concept for the DVD.

Completing the line-up was Richmond client Cirque du Soleil. The legendary Canadian performance company won Music DVD Audio Excellence for its Midnight Sun DVD, authored by Richmond Studios.

March 2006

Dio - Eagle Vision

Holy Diver Live" is Richmond Studios' next project for Eagle Vision. Ronnie James Dio has been hailed as one of the finest voices in heavy metal for thirty years. The live concert with over an hour and a half of songs from the Classic Holy Diver Tracks such as "Heaven and Hell", "Sign of the Southern Cross" and "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" from his Rainbow days is a great representation of Dio's memorable performance.

The menus are inspired by graphics from the interview footage which is an extra feature on the disc. This mini documentary/ interview reveals an insight to the bands tour and some of their experiences. Holy Diver Live will be available in PAL and NTSC and due for release this spring.

March 2006

St David's Day Concert - BBC

BBC Radio Cymru commissioned Toby Alington and Richmond Studios to record and mix the annual St David's Day concert. The venue was Swansea's Brangwyn Hall, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales performed with Shan Cothi. Aled Hall and Jemima Phillips in front of a live audience. The conductor was John Quirk.

The concert also featured the award-winning choir, Ysgol Gerdd Ceredigion, and the repertoire included Delibes' Les Filles de Cadiz, Williams' Fantasia on Welsh nursery tunes, Novello's My Dearest Dear (The Dancing Years), and MacDonald's specially commissioned piece Cerddi Gwyl Dewi.

Alington chose Floating Earth's digital recording mobile for the soundtrack. Front of house PA sound was provided by Derrick Zieba, who has worked with Alington on many shows including the BRIT Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, the Classical BRITs, The Three Tenors and many other rock and classical international events.

Click on the following link for more information: www.bbc.co.uk/wales

February 2006

John Martyn - Universal Music

Richmond Studios were chosen by Universal to design and author this DVD for Scottish singer songwriter, John Martyn. John is renowned for his early classic, 'Solid Air', and for more than thirty years has performed to generations with his powerful song-writing. The disc is a step back in time featuring classic gigs from the 70's and 80's, including a 'Rock Goes To College' Concert and a unique special gig from the 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' as well as many other extra features.

Richmond's entire resources were required for this project, from conception and design, right through to video production and authoring. 'John Martyn At The BBC' is due for release later this year

February 2006

BRITs 2006

Richmond Studios' Toby Alington, was contracted to record and post produce his 12th successive BRIT Awards. This year's show was 'fully digital' for the first time and recorded digitally for broadcast using Floating Earth's latest SSL C200-equipped recording mobile.

The February 15 event's production saw at least two more significant changes - the show moved back to the giant Earls Court 1 arena after several years in EC2 and, in another 'first', the PA sound was mixed on a pair of DiGiCo D5 Live consoles at FOH.

The move to digital in the BRITs' broadcast audio follows the successful transition to digital of the live PA sound by the long-standing team of sound designer Derrick Zieba and PA supplier Britannia Row Productions. Describing the move as "an advanced way of recording a complicated, multi-artist show", Alington says, "we've constantly strived to evolve better audio solutions for shows like the BRIT Awards and the MTV Awards, and for 2006 we've evolved a totally digital recording concept designed to match the agility and quality of the digital live sound consoles. Rather than using two or three analogue trucks we just used one digital truck for the whole show."

The challenge the audio team faced at the BRITs was considerable, with 12 major artists featuring on an as-live two-hour broadcast with almost instantaneous changeovers. "The speed and complexity of the turnarounds has grown steadily," says Alington, "so moving to one truck with instant recall of multiple setups and automated patching and routing makes an immense difference. It provides even more capability than digitally controlled analogue or other hybrid solutions."

The Floating Earth truck was designed from the outset with the very highest audio specification in mind and was fitted with the first SSL C200 digital mixing console in the UK, with 96 microphone inputs and 5.1 and 7.1 capability. Alington could utilise the truck's fibre optic connectivity, taking a single fibre feed from the stage splitters some 200 metres distant and recording to the truck's two multitrack Pyramix recorders.

"Floating Earth has a lot of experience in working with digital trucks and recording setups," adds Alington, "and the latest truck is a fine example of a mobile which was built for digital technology from the ground up."

He used the Floating Earth mobile in early December to capture a David Gray show on the Pyramix system at Hammersmith Carling Apollo for Done & Dusted. The two-hour show was post-produced by Alington in January for DVD release by Warner Music in April 2006. "The truck behaved beautifully on the night - it was a joy to work in", he comments. The mobile, which has a long classical pedigree, has recently provided recording and broadcast services for the V, Isle of Wight and Reading festivals, and has an 'A list' of artist credits.

"In the future," adds Alington, "I'd hope to continue integrating ever more closely with the digital PA systems, losing our analogue split at some point in the future and connecting directly to their digital hub."

January 2006

James Blunt - Atlantic

Richmond Studios has completed James Blunt's first ever full-length DVD release. Commissioned by Atlantic Records, this 46 minute concert shot at the BBC Studios is a portrayal of his album 'Back To Bedlam' including an extra cover of The Pixies' track, 'Where is my mind".

The menus designed by Richmond Studios are based on specially filmed environments to create a unique experience. Animation has been added to the live footage allowing the user to navigate through the different worlds on the disc with each menu option, meeting James and the renowned monkey along the way.

Released this February, 'Chasing Time - The Bedlam Sessions' boasts many more extra features with five videos including the much-loved 'You're Beautiful' and 'Goodbye My Lover' which are all combined with a 'making of' documentary for each video.

The bonus features also include a picture gallery and an EPK of 'Being Blunt', along with a ten minute interview edited by Richmond Studios. James reveals how he follows in his fathers footsteps to work as a reconnaissance officer in the British army, and then how he became the present day accomplished singer songwriter. He talks about his influences and reveals his motivation for several of his songs on the album.

Toby Alington for Richmond Studios was involved in remixes of the live show, and thus the DVD draws on many of Richmond Studios' resources including concept, design, video production, music soundtrack and authoring.

January 2006

David Gray at Hammersmith Apollo

Richmond Studios was brought in to record David Gray at Hammersmith Carling Apollo on Tuesday 13 December by Done and Dusted. CTV provided the picture facilities, while Toby Alington for Richmond Studios recorded the show to 64-track hard-disc multitrack using the Floating Earth digital audio truck.

Post-production will take place early in January with Toby doing the music mix at Metropolis, Chiswick. Final mastering, editing and dubbing will take place at Richmond Studios. A DVD release from Warner Music is planned for the spring.

January 2006

Eagle Vision Music Releases

Eagle Vision has contracted Richmond Studios for further music DVD releases on their catalogue, including ELO, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Gary Moore. Richmond Studios is also providing audio post-production services for soundtracks including editing and dubbing of selected titles from the Montreux Jazz Festival.

January 2006

Michael Jackson - SonyBMG

Richmond Studios was chosen by SonyBMG to complete the Dual Disc mastering of all the major video work of one of the most successful artists of all time, Michael Jackson. These NTSC and PAL discs - the first of which will be released on February 20 - will contain the original music video complete with the originally released versions of the single, including radio and 12" versions.

Approved by the DVD Forum, DualDisc is an optical disc format promoted by the RIAA and is a combination of a Compact Disc (CD) and a DVD, with one format on each side of the disc.

Anthony Thomas, DVD Product Development Manager at SonyBMG, says the unique end result is a tribute to all involved: "No-one has ever done singles before as a dual disc project, so it has been a very exciting process for all of us. We were fairly lucky in that the quality of the original masters was fairly good - a lot of the masters originated on 1" tape, but before encoding were transferred to digi beta, and a lot of work was then put into making sure the DVD encode was the best that we could possibly get. Some of the video masters had age-related artefacts, and the encoders had more work to do because of the grain and the way they'd been shot."

Richmond's head of design, Jonny Harris, says the overall design for the introduction and menu was deliberately "classy and simple, exploring Michael Jackson's style". The result is understated but sports some glitzy special effects, and the disc features specially-created sound effects to accompany the menu. All the audio on the disc is PCM, retaining the highest quality possible for these releases.

Adds Jonny, "Because Michael's music videos are quite Hollywood in terms of visual effects, and because it builds into a large, 20-disc box set, the design had to have an essential simplicity to carry across all the discs. His music videos are great, and 'Thriller' is seen as the music video of all time, so we let the content speak for itself."

The key visual idea was derived from a 'pixelated' image of the singer's head that adorns the packaging. For the DVD Richmond Studios transformed this into a stunning animation, composed using a combination of Photoshop and After Effects, in which tiny video clips, like pixels flying through space, fly in to form the head.

The CD side of the discs features both the original and alternate mixes from such producers as Moby. 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' and 'Billy Jean', for example, come with both single and original 12'' Edit versions, while the 'Beat It' single is accompanied by Moby's six minute sub mix.

During the design process, full use was made of Richmond's web-based collaboration system, enabling SonyBMG representatives on both sides of the Atlantic to view the work in progress.

Anthony Thomas adds: "But as each single has emerged from the creative process it's come out really, really well. One thing I was particularly impressed with was the way Richmond Studios took the design concept from the packaging artwork and utilised that in the main menu, and the way they took all the album covers and amalgamated them into one with some fantastic animation by Jonny. Add to that the grand, theatrical sound on the main menu and the overall sound quality and we are delighted with a great result."

January 2006

Presentable

Toby Alington is looking after the soundtrack of a new TV show with the famous Welsh harpist Caitrin Finch for Presentable, this was shot in January at Atlantic College. Featuring many top calibre musical guests, this show may form the pilot for a series to be shot later in the year.