Neil H
Neil was born in Plymouth in 1973. His interest in music first showed itself in creative study lessons at his local comprehensive school when at the age of 14 he was introduced to sound exploration. By playing with the small synthesizer he was able to create sounds and manipulate them in a creative way. This led to an understanding of how music could be developed through sound creation in an intuitive way, rather than be taught the traditional methods of composing music. To this day he has never had a piano lesson and has continued to develop his musical expertise by retaining his intuitive nature that enables him to develop sound.
Watching a concert on television of Jean Michel Jarres ‘Docklands Concert’, in London, inspired him greatly and made him realise that he wanted to be a part of this way that music can be expressed. It was very much a catalyst for Neil wanting to purchase synthesizers and to build his own studio for sound development.
From these early interests in synthesised music he then came across other musicians that broadened his appreciation of how sound could be developed. His record collection soon grew to incorporate music by Tangerine Dream, Enigma, Mike Oldfield and his most inspirational artist – Vangelis. Each new expression of sound motivated him to explore the potential of his equipment, eventually needing to replace his original keyboard to his current working set of four keyboards in his recording studio.
In the summer of 1992 Neil was introduced to Chris Porter. From that early meeting to the present day he has proved to be a driving force behind Neil’s musical career. He has guided him through his early attempts at specialising his musical expression and encouraged him to develop his own sound rather than go down the route of mimicking other musicians.
Whilst listening to early demos Chris patiently highlighted where he felt Neil was showing real creative talent, and throughout the first year spent many hours developing the roots of Neil’s first album ‘Echoes from the Mist’. Neil wrote many compositions towards the ‘Echoes’ project which eventually were honed down to the eight sounds that became his first album in the summer of 1993. `Echoes` has since been re-mastered for its re-release onto CD in 2002, including two new compositions specially recorded for the album. Neil enjoyed revisiting his early music so he could give its energy a lift and so bring the feeling of the sounds to life.
Chris’s artistic talent lies in his ability to create insightful images through words. These were first demonstrated on the Echoes album and later on the second album ‘Voices of the Heart’. Chris continues to be a mentor and supportive guide offering other literal inclusions in his later albums but above all that remains a loyal friend.
Having produced a fifty-minute tape Neil wanted to see if it had the potential to be a sellable album. He was introduced to Andy Rigler who was the sound engineer at EPS Studios, which were at the time based in Yelverton, near Plymouth, Devon.
Once the album was developed into a polished recording Neil had the dilemma of trying to decide how many to produce. He eventually made thirty copies on cassette, just in case they did not sell! Little did he know that this was a very humble beginning, as ten years later he has sold thousands of copies of his recordings all over the country and abroad.
The underling theme to all of all his music is to create a spontaneous intuitive response to feeling, thought, expression and whatever may inspire. This has been expressed through the first ten albums touching on relaxation, meditation and spiritual themes. He has further developed his sound exploration by being involved in other projects that have utilised his unique talent where he has created music for a TV programme as well as for a background to a documentary about the local moor land. His desire is to be able to express himself in whatever way the music takes him rather than be boxed into a limited category of sound. This is evident in ‘Reflections’ that celebrates his ten years of musical exploration. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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