Go Furness

A Sound Guy

Barry was born in Barrow where he went to school and to 6th form. Music was his great passion and so he took himself off to Newcastle to do a National Diploma in music and performing arts. He then spent a couple of years performing in funk bands in Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle. He plays guitar, bass, keyboard and flute. Eventually, he went to Sheffield to study music technology to degree level and lived in Sheffield for 8 years.

Although he still loves music, he knew he wanted to use his creative skills more autonomously to write and compose. He also wanted to be more involved in the programming and recording of sounds and music. He lights up as he speaks about working with the sounds of nature and introducing them in recordings to other people to widen the auditory palette.

Now he is also widening his education and doing an MA in technical communication which is kind of the interface between psychology and technology. It sounds a fascinating mix of learning that will allow him to work in all kinds of arenas such as accessibility, marketing, human communication theory, web development and technical authorship.

Currently, he is really interested in making music software manuals accessible to musicians. He sees that so many people give up on manuals, not because the tasks involved are difficult, but because the geeky language is inaccessible! He aims to develop or tweak the language to encourage creativity.

Now Barry wants to share his skills. He has always been about creating new things and he wants to stay in Furness and help others do the same. He loves living here. Once upon a time he felt he needed to be in the cities in order to get signed, but now he sees that with the right equipment, he can work from anywhere. He says “the world’s got smaller”. And as his girlfriend is expecting their first child, he is delighted to be settling down here.

His aim is to teach non-mainstream music, but he knows he is up against a few challenges. For instance, there are fewer opportunities and he will need to be proactive and create new ones. There are not as many outlets for his work, and it is not easy to find good locations.

Meanwhile he is an asset to the ‘Little Kings’ in Ulverston where he pulls a mean pint and will happily chat the hind legs off a donkey! Call in and see him if you want to find out more. Barry can also be contacted on: buddahtron@yahoo.com if you are interested in advancing your own sound skills.

Posted by Kay Hebbourn on 17th November.