In 1977 Stephen began his professional career, engineering at London’s Legendary Trident Studios. Trident was widely regarded as a world leader in sound recording and production and was among the top 5 studios in the world. Trident gained its reputation by helping to forge the careers of Elton John, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, The Beatles and Queen to name but a few. Stephen garnered vast experience from the staff and clientele, gaining production and engineering expertise whilst working with such artists as Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart, The Grateful Dead, Paul McCartney, Tears for Fears, and producers as varied as Mutt Lang, Terry Brown, and Phil Ramone. This experience was priceless, using the finest equipment available anywhere in the world, Studer, Neumann and Trident consoles. Trident was the first 8 track, then 16 track, then Studer 24 and 48 track studio in the UK; developing recording techniques that are still in use today and pushing all manner of creative boundaries.
In 1981, Stephen and three partners purchased Trident Studios, diversifying his engineering/production background into business/management, whilst continuing to train new engineers and developing the careers of producers. After selling the Trident “A” range console in 1983 to Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, Stephen then bought his first SSL 4000 console which was commissioned by Colin Chapman himself! In 1986 after buying out 2 of the original investors, Stephen and his remaining partner opened Trident 2, a 25,000 sq. foot converted theater, a residential recording environment in the heart of the city of London. This studio had one of the first SSL 6000 consoles installed, opening up Trident to the world of film music. During the 80’s, some of the engineers who came up through the ranks under Stephen’s tutelage – Flood, (who left Trident to work with U2 on the Joshua Tree), Alan Moulder (who left to work with My Bloody Valentine and Depeche Mode), Mark “Spike” Stent and Steve Osborne – have become the foremost innovative engineer/producers out of Britain in the last decade. Stephen’s former studio manager, Roz Earls, now runs one of the most successful producer/engineer management companies in the world today.
During Stephen’s tenure as an owner in the 80’s, Trident also became the home of “Some Bizarre” Records to which Soft Cell, The The, and Mark Almond were signed. During this time, Stephen also worked with Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Modern English, Echo and the Bunnymen, David Gilmour and Dream Academy. Having developed strong relationships with the European Market, Stephen was also successful in producing Platinum albums for French artists Julian Clerc, and Francoise Hardy.
Stephen was invited to work in the United States in the early 1990’s. After 12 years of owning and running one of the best studios in the world, Stephen found the invitation a fresh challenge. This meant returning to the basics in recording and learning the subtle differences between the production of the English and American styles, whilst working with artist like Chaka Kahn, DC Talk, Remy Zero, Joan Armatrading and Ray Charles. Along the way, Stephen earned 2 Grammys for this work. It was whilst working with DC Talk in Nashville that Stephen began building relationships with young artists like Ben Folds and Fleming and John, entertainment attorneys and A&R, which helped to form a strong interest in artist management and development. His first major label management signing, was an 18 year old singer songwriter, Mathew Vasquez, who Stephen signed and developed for 2 years, eventually signing him to Jimmy Iovine’s label, Interscope records. This was followed by another Management/Production deal with an unknown band from Greenville College named, Augustana. Stephen took the band into the studio and produced five songs that got them a combined multi-million dollar record and publishing deal. Within 6 months Stephen discovered his next artist, a band from Minneapolis, called This World Fair. After signing a management/production contract, Stephen produced the demos that led to a record deal with EMI/Rethink in Nashville. This World Fair have just completed their first full length CD. They also wrote and performed the main theme in “Disturbia” which was the #1 Movie for three straight weeks at the US box office. In 2008, Stephen developed, produced and signed Minneapolis band, Camera Can’t Lie to Atlantic Records.
