INSTRUMENTS
The Thomas Smith cello was made in 1774, in a pub called the "Harp and Hautbois" in Pall Mall, London. "Hautbois" is French for "Oboe" and the original label can still be seen inside. To put it's age into perspective, in 1774 Handels' Messiah had just been written, Louis XVI was on the Throne in France and Captain Cook was exploring the world.
In 1989 the cello was sitting in a cupboard in Birmingham, England. It was covered in spots of white emulsion paint, badly damaged and not getting much attention. My parents approached the owner to buy the cello, but the deal was that they had to pay for another cello to be refurbished at the same time. So we took advice from J&A Beare in London and decided it was well worth the risk. Four months later a totally refurbished Thomas Smith was carried out of the repair shop. It had been bought back to life and I've been playing it constantly ever since.
The sound is rich and mellow, a constant pleasure to play. Just to think of the age of the wood is mind blowing, let alone the other cellists that might have played it. I have an aim to try and find out the history of it at some point, there needs to be some serious research done.
I use Belcanto Gold strings, have fitted a Big Twin, K&K Pickup and have a Stahlhammer endpin.
The computer I use for music making is a Mac G5 Dual 2ghz with 4gb RAM. I write and improvise using Logic Studio software and a variety of software synthesizers and effects. Absynth, to name one, is a software synthesizer built by Brian Clevinger. Sounds that I can only dream of are made possible by the clever programming of sound designers such as Colin Fraser and Tim Conrady. Ben Gillet of Camel Audio has created a beast of an effect in Camelspace, which is total sonic inspiration. Also the guys at Ohmforce need a mention with their wacky, creative effect design. The sounds I play are all routed through these software effects and the results just keep on getting better. Acoustic-Electro-Ambient cello music is born!