Caithness fiddler with many strings to his bow
CAITHNESS fiddler, Gordon Gunn, has many strings to his bow. He is a talented and respected musician, a member of the popular Scottish band, Session A9, a music tutor and he has played on around 80 recordings by a host of other artistes.
Gunn, who comes from and lives in Wick, also composes tunes, some of which have been featured on television programmes in various parts of the world. One of his compositions Gillian's Waltz – written for his partner, Gillian MacPherson – was featured in a Japanese film and was played during an episode of the UK television soap Emmerdale. His music has been heard on German TV, too.
But the former mastering engineer at Grampian Records also has his own studio in a room in his home from where he does session, mixing and audio restoration work. It is called the Caithness Mix Room, and at present, he is mixing the latest album by former Runrig musician, Blair Douglas.
Gunn set up the studio before the coronavirus pandemic struck and was able to continue doing his teaching workshops, session and mastering/mixing work online during the lockdown. Although Covid put an end to musicians playing live for a couple of years, he performed with Session A9 last month at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.
"Having the studio was a bit of a saviour for me. Over the years I had been helping out in various studios and then decided to invest in my own studio equipment so I could work from the north. It’s been pretty busy over the past few years working on a variety of projects from all over the UK, Norway and the USA – all regular clients gained by word of mouth," he said.
Gunn added: " The studio is mainly used for mastering, mixing, audio restoration and remote session work.
"Mastering is the final step in production of CDs, vinyl records or streaming files. Once you create a digital master, it can be transferred online anywhere in the world.
"It’s also a mixing studio. Clients who’ve recorded their album elsewhere can then send it to me to mix it.
"In addition, I have been doing a lot of audio restoration work. Audio restoration software is now incredibly powerful and can be used for a huge amount of work, including removing all sorts of background noise, mains hum, vinyl noise and even recently taking out noise from a vacuum cleaner during an interview. The list is endless."
He uses the studio for session work as well. "I can do remote recording for albums from here, instead of me having to be in a studio in Glasgow or wherever. All the high quality digital files are transferred online so collaborations can be done very smoothly and quickly to clients' request."
There are occasions, however, when he has to travel for recording purposes but having the studio in Wick means he does not have to be on the road so much and can work from home and spend more time with Gillian and their son, Steven who is 21.
Travelling is still part of his life, though, as he spends a couple of days a week teaching at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music at Plockton High School in Wester Ross. Teenagers from all over Scotland, including Caithness, have auditioned to get in there. "It's a fantastic place to work," he said.
His teaching workshops have taken him all over the world to countries such as Canada, America and New Zealand and, inevitably, he has bumped into people with connections to the far north. He is currently finishing recording an album with Session A9 and then will be back out on the road with the band later in the year.
Gunn has written the music for Caithness writer, George Gunn's Words on the Wind project, which explores what it means to live in the area. It has been devised in conjunction with Lyth Arts Centre and features a series of poems about specific places, performed by local people and recorded on film.
And what about the future: "I'll just keep doing what I'm doing but would like to expand the studio and make it bigger as it has certainly been busy. I am also hoping to make the community in the north of Scotland more aware of the local studio options I’m offering as well as continuing with client work from various companies and artistes in the UK and elsewhere," he replied.
