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Hi!, I'm Chris, I'm 25 and I moved to Dubai UAE, 3 years ago, to work as a composer, programmer and sound engineer at one of the biggest post production Companies in the Middle East , Barry Kirsch Productions. I have so far composed music, created sound design & FX, produced & directed award winning (Dubai Lynx Awards and The Summit Awards) radio spots advertising the likes of Pepsi, Ferrari, Nokia, Ford, Skittles, M+M's, Motorola, Intel etc etc for worldwide advertising agencies such as Leo Burnett, Grey Worldwide and Fortune Promo Seven, and many others...

I left school wanting to get into graphic design at first and so from the age of 16 to 18 I was at Art School in Bedford , England . I enjoyed the course very much, and I still love to draw, paint & pursue my love for photography, but during that time I got more and more interested in music, music production, playing guitar and writing music.

From 18 to 20 I was studying Music Technology at Bedford College. I was taught by John Verity (www.JohnVerity.com) an amazing guy, who laid down the Foundations for me. He gave me the passion to want to get into the music industry; he made it all seem within my grips, and not just a dream. He was even Responsible for me ending up in Dubai (more of that to come!) It was a cool time, I loved the course, I knew it was the right for me because I got up every Morning at 7:30am and at the end of 2 Years, I had a 100% attendance rating! Pretty good for someone who hated school!

I left college with great grades and even won the student award ;-). So at that point in time I was 19/20, with a basic foundation of sound engineering, but Absolutely no studio experience! I think I must have sent out at least 200 letters and emails to studios locally and studios in London . In the letters I would literally beg for work experience. I was lucky to get replies back from most of them, but they'd all say the same thing, that they had enough staff, "Contact us in 6 months" blah blah! Over those 3 months I got very frustrated that I had no luck in getting a placement, I really didn't know where a break was going to come from, worried that I thought I had my head in the clouds, when friends around me were off to university etc! But I did get some luck, the Very first studio I emailed was Strongroom Studios (www.Strongroom.com), based In London. I loved the funky hippy look of their studios on their site and Remember really wanting to get some experience there. I think I had 2 rejection letters from them at the beginning! After getting really pissed off one day, I emailed Nina, the studio manager and just begged her...again, said I would clean etc. Luckily the day I emailed her, was the same day their runner walked out. I went to see her the following day, and the next week I was working there on a 2 week placement, 2 weeks which went on to last 18 months!.

They didn't lie when they said it wasn't glamorous! The first 6 weeks or so I cleaned that whole place a 1000 times, painted a few of the offices and cleaned out the studios cat litter every so often! After they saw I could hack it, I moved up the ladder to making tea, coffee, and getting lunch for the clients in the studios, I did this for another month or 2. Then I got my lucky break when Ian Brown booked 7 weeks at the studio recording his album "Solarized" due to the budget which didn't include an engineer, they put me on the job, it was great, I was setting up microphones, pieces of gear etc, I loved it! From then I Was also helping the house engineers on sessions with Dannii Minogue, Procol Harem, David Gray, Snow Patrol etc.

I really loved my time there, but I was 21, and apart from a few paid days, I was working for free. Studio cutbacks meant there wasn't a fulltime paid job there for me...

I met many people at the studios, lots of writers and producers such as Dan Frampton (www.DanFrampton.com) Rose & Foster (www.MikeRoseProductions.com) Stevie Lange (www.StevieLange.com) these guys were working at the studios quite a bit and I got to know them quite well. In return for designing their websites I was able to sit and assist on a sessions they were working on, I got to learn lots during this time. I carried on doing websites, producing music for local Bands, and writing my own music and writing with friends for another few months...

Little did I know about Dubai , and that a guy called Barry Kirsch (A music industry veteran and successful writer and producer) who was a good friend of John Verity had a studio there and was looking for a youngster to join the BKP family. John put my name forward, and a week later I was on a plane and this is where I am now!

The whole reason I got into music was by being influenced by my idol, Mutt Lange. I bought a Bryan Adams CD (www.BryanAdams.com) "Waking Up The Neighbours" When I was 16/17 and from there I was hooked on his writing and production, and have made it my life's ambition to someday meet him, maybe even work with him one day!! When I was 18 I went to Switzerland in the hope I could meet him, show him my demo!! I know! I was very young and to this day I don't know where I got the bottle to Stand at this guy's Swiss chateau gates and ask to post in my CD! (The demo was awful by the way!). I obviously didn't meet Mutt that time, but from my moment Of madness I was really lucky to get together with Mutt Langes programmer/engineer Kevin Churko (www.KevinChurko.com) an amazing writer and producer in his Own right, and to this day I am good friends with him and great friends with his son Kane (www.MrKane.net). Things definitely happen for a reason!

Thats The Story So Far -

Chris Atkins - 10/1/06