SINGSONGPR NEWS: Red Kite

About Martin Levan

The launch of the Red Kite record label celebrates a return to the studio of one the British recording profession’s masters: Martin Levan.

The label is housed within Levan’s new Red Kite Studio complex on a 150-acre estate near Brecon, mid-Wales. Critics are already onto the quality of Red Kite’s output and this is very much down to the painstaking care that Levan takes to achieve the quality of recorded sound from his performers that has become a foundation stone of his reputation.

Martin first began working in recording studios in 1971 when he landed himself a job as a tea boy at Morgan Studios, London. The Morgan bosses saw ability in the young Levan, who was to progress to engineering by the following year.

Martin’s earlier work saw him tape operating and assisting on albums by artists such as Jethro Tull, Rod Stewart, The Kinks, The Strawbs, Pink Floyd and Cat Stevens.

His talent grew on the strength of his work; he was a studio manager by the mid 70's and producing by the end of the decade.

Martin’s engineering (e) and production (p) credits in rock and pop include:

- Colosseum II – ‘War Dance’ (co-p)

- Barbara Thompson – ‘Paraphernalia’ (p)

- Gary Boyle – ‘The Dancer’ (e), ‘Electric Glide’ (p), ‘Stepping Out’ (p)

- Man – ‘Wine, Rhinos & Lunatics’ (e)

- Jeff Clynes Turning Point – ‘Silent Promise’ (p)

- Typically Tropical – ‘Barbados Sky’ (Single "Barbados" reached No.1 UK) (e)

- Andrew Lloyd Webber – ‘Variations’ (e)

- Andrew Lloyd Webber – ‘Requiem’ (Maazel, Domingo, Brightman, Miles Kingston) (e)

- John Martyn – ‘Grace & Danger’ (p)

- Ralph McTell – ‘Water of Dreams’, various other tracks (p)

- Iron Maiden – ‘Iron Maiden’ (e)

- Suzie Quatro – Various (e)

- Hot Chocolate – Various (e)

- Murray Head – ‘Say It Ain't So’ (e)

- Jim Raffety – ‘Solid Logic’ (p)

- Bow Wow Wow – ‘C30, C60, C90 Go’ (single) (e)

In 1982, Martin's career trajectory took an important shift when he supervised the sound for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Song & Dance’ theatrical production in London.

The same quality criteria that had kept him busy in the recording studio worked all over again and during the next eighteen years, Martin went on to design the sound for many world-wide musical productions, including Cats; Phantom of the Opera; Starlight Express; Little Shop of Horrors; Carrie; Song & Dance; The Baker’s Wife; Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber; Music of the Night; Requiem; Aspects of Love; Kiss of the Spiderwoman; Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Show Boat; Sunset Boulevard; Whistle Down the Wind; Lautrec; The Beautiful Game; Napoleon; Valentines Day; Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind; Blondel; and Moby Dick.

With the credits came the kudos from public and peers.

Martin’s theatrical awards include NAACP Theatre Award - Best Sound Director for ‘Phantom of the Opera’; LA Drama Critics Circle Award – Best Sound Design for ‘Sunset Boulevard’; Jessie Richardson Theatre Award – Outstanding Design Team Achievement for ‘Show Boat’ and many others.

Martin’s engineering (e) and production (p) credits in theatre shows include:

- ‘Cats’ Broadway Original Cast Album (co-p)

- ‘Cats’ Holland Original Cast Album (p)

- ‘Cats’ Hamburg Original Cast Album (p)

- ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Original London Cast Album (co-p)

- ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Original Canadian Cast Album (p)

- ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Original Hamburg Cast Album (p)

- ‘Starlight Express’ Original London Cast Album (e)

- ‘Starlight Express’ Original Australia/Japan Cast Album (p)

- ‘Starlight Express‘ Bochum Live Album (p)

- ‘Starlight Express’ Bochum Highlights Album (p)

- ‘Moby Dick’ Original Cast Live Album (p)

- ‘Aspects of Love’ Original London Cast Album (e)

- ‘Song & Dance’ Original London Cast Album (e)

- ‘Show Boat’ Original Canadian Cast Album (p)

- ‘Kiss of the Spiderwoman’ Original Canadian Cast Album (p)

Martin also won a Grammy Award as Co-Producer on the Cats Broadway Cast Album and received a Grammy Award nomination as Producer on ‘Kiss of the Spiderwoman’ Original Cast Album.

The present day and the future

During the 1990s, Martin Levan worked on a return to what he loves best: the recording studio.

He and the team at Red Kite (named after a bird of prey indigenous to the studio’s rural Welsh mountain environs) have built up a first rate studio and label in Red Kite Records, for which Martin has engineered and or produced on the following albums -

- Trilok Gurtu -‘Broken Rhythms’ (co-p)

- Antonio Forcione - ‘Touchwood’ (e)

- Gary Boyle - "Games" (p)

- Brigitte Escobar - "Brigitte" (co-p)

- Anna Brooks Quintet - "My Time" (p)

- Panjaea - "Stay Awhile" (p)

- ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Mexican & Korean Cast Albums (p)

- ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ German Cast Album (e)

Issued July 2004 by Singsong Entertainment Publicity

Pat Tynan tel + 44 (0)1895 636935 email pat@singsongpr.biz

http://www.singsongpr.biz/