Emlyn Spiers.

What were you doing before you came to Spirit Studios?

I’ve worked as a freelance live sound engineer and production manager for over 13 years.

There aren’t many venues in Manchester that I haven’t worked in, I have toured all over Europe and the US as a front of house and monitor engineer.

I work for several different artists and PA companies throughout the year at festivals such as Glastonbury, Slam Dunk and Bloodstock.

How did you get into what you teach?

I secured my first live sound job at the age of 19 in a venue in Wales and was hooked immediately. I moved to Manchester almost 15 years ago as I felt there were more opportunities for me here and the music scene was better. I began shadowing at different venues and pestering people until they gave me work.

Any special areas of interest?

I like cats, psychedelic rock, guitars and synthesisers.

What’s your proudest career achievement?

I’ve had many proud achievements in my career, one of the highlights was doing front of house in Miami for a band consisting of members of Vulfpeck and Snarky Puppy. More recently, it was opening a venue in Liverpool called The Arts club where we had The Wombats play a packed out show on the opening night.

What do you get up to outside of teaching?

I am currently a Production manager for a company called Tokyo Industries and I manage the tech for the venues Gorilla, Deaf Institute, Arts Club Liverpool and Factory.

Tell us something people may not know about you?

My cat has gone viral on the Internet a few times.

What are some of your career credits, are there any notable people that you’ve worked with?

Over the last year I have toured with the band Snarky Puppy as their monitor engineer. I have worked with the likes of: Anderson Paak, Doja Cat, Brian Eno, The Prodigy, Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats, Royksopp and many more artists.

If you have anything released online, where can we find it? (e.g. website/ music/ portfolio)

I have a discogs page with some of my credits on it.

What’s your favourite album/artist? and why?

It’s difficult but possibly Soundgarden, the songwriting is incredible on everything after badmotorfinger.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

Way too many gigs to chose from, one of my highlights was doing front of house in the Roundhouse in London for a band called Elephant Tree. There’s something absolutely magic about that venue, and their set was phenomenal.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

I’m not sure, probably Lee Hazlewood or Roy Orbison.

Want to learn from Emlyn?

Emlyn is a tutor at Spirit Studios that teaches on our Sound Engineering courses.