It stands to reason that those who have made music as professionals are best placed to produce music for others. A musician turned producer not only understands the recording process but also the music business, and is therefore ideally qualified to help others achieve the best results.
Mike Cave is a perfect example of this premise, which explains why artists as diverse as The Coral, The Charlatans, Elvis Costello, Dave McCabe (The Zutons), John Martyn, Thea Gilmore, The Open, Sandi Thom, Bodyrockers, Ian McNabb and Echo & The Bunnymen have been making use of his production, engineering and programming expertise.
From the age of 12, Mike played guitar, keyboards, drums and percussion in a variety of bands and from 16 he was engineering sessions for his own bands and for other musicians in the area. Studying at the London College of Music added another string to his bow by giving him a thorough grounding in music theory.
Mike's band The Sunlites then signed an album deal with Mercury Records, enabling him to spend two years working with some of the UKs top producers including Mike Neilsen, Jeremy Wheatley, Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Quarmby. These sessions helped him learn more about production and how to record to a much higher standard.
In 1995, Mike was offered a job as in-house engineer at Liverpools Parr St Studios, working alongside producers such as Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Badly Drawn Boy, Gomez), Jeremy Wheatley (Space, Sugababes, Mel C), Brendan Lynch (Paul Weller, Ocean Colour Scene, Cast), and many others.
He went freelance in 2000, and has subsequently built a strong reputation as a producer, programmer and engineer/mixer, splitting his time between his own productions and programming/ engineering on other producers projects.
Mike is currently working on a new album with Thea Gilmore for release spring '08......tracks already on heavy rotation @ BBC Radio 2...... thanks to Chris Evans/Janice Long/Bob Harris & the whole R2 team for their ongoing support of Thea's amazing music!
Following the official launch of Mike's mastering company last year, Loft Mastering, he has recently been mastering tracks for Elvis Costello, Atomic Kitten & The Charlatans amongst others.
This profile was edited with votetop.com Editor
