Chris Kimber - Biography continued . . . .

         "These tapes I had from the early eighties mainly consisted of film and TV

             themes but they were brilliantly orchestrated and I think many of them stand

            really well on their own. Subconsciously these pieces have probably influenced me

            more than the more popular artists."


In 1990 Chris gained a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Dram in London to study Timpani and Percussion under David Corkhill (Philharmonia/ECO) Mike Skinner (ROH and everything) and Terry Emery (BBC Symphony). It was while here that Chris also learned to use a computer to create music.


           "We had some Atari computers at school but I had never learned how to use them

           but we were given a choice of additional subjects in our second year and I chose 

           electronic music. I learned practically everything to know about "Notator" on the           

          Atari - and had a little experience with a MAC - these were early days though and

          we still relied on tape to record audio -though there was an Akai sampler which

          didn't really interest me."


Chris began to build up his home recording equipment, with a Christmas gift of a 4-track Tascam Portastudio and bought himself other synths and microphones and a second hand Atari computer.


         "I actually got the computer off a past Guildhall student by chance, it served me 

          very well - I even got a hard drive for it (all 540MB) and still have it today, though

          not in regular use. Though not as flexible as today's computer it was 99% reliable."


In 1993, Chris's last year at The Guildhall, he put together an album of all his compositions up to this time, recording a new version of "A23" at the Guildhall recording studio. Also on the album were two pieces dedicated to his family dog Rosie composed immediately after her death in 1992.


       "It was all very sad of course, I had come home one night to find her dead in her 

        basket, great for her but a real shock for us. She had been part of family life for

       all my teenage years so I just went upstairs to my "studio" and played music. What           

       you hear was just improvised  as I went along with any ideas I had perhaps been

       toying with. It was also the first - and probably the last - time I had used the guitar

       to compose. I laid down the backing tracks for Part 1 at this point and all the piano

       for Part 2, overdubbing the drums and percussion parts at a later date. Despite the     

       obvious errors here and there, it has a certain passion about it you don't always get

       with today's recording techniques - there were no clicks or computers involved"


The resulting album titled "A23" was released on cassette and sold to family and friends, with the front cover artwork drawn also by Chris. The track list ran as follows:-


Side 1

  1. A23

  2. The Apothecary's Dream

  3. Variations on "Freefall"

  4. JULY

  5. The Bony king of Nowhere


Side 2

  1. The Larch

  2. Simple Harmonic Motion

  3. ROSIE I

  4. ROSIE II


More details of this album can be found HERE.


On graduating from the Guildhall in 1993, Chris began a career as a musician with performing and teaching being his main source of income. He was also steadily building up his studio equipment and experience.


TO BE CONTINUED