DJ Leo B

Because of my love of music and sound, I have always been active in the entertainment industry in one way or another - acting, singing, writing/arranging and recording, at school, University and finally as a career. There aren’t many people in the World who can honestly say they truly love their jobs, but as my career is also my passion, I feel very lucky.

I have performed in a diverse mix of productions – everything from Opera, to traditional panto to Children’s television programmes for the BBC, and been actively involved with school rock bands, community radio broadcasting, amdram productions, voiceover work, multi-media for Website development, computer game sound and music design. I can’t detail everything here or you’ll still be reading this tomorrow lol, so I’ve chosen to tell you about some of the main bits and bobs I’ve done over the years to give you an idea of the kinds of things I’ve been involved with, and I’ve used my educational background as a way to establish a rough timeline as well.

My first school was a little primary school in Wantage Oxfordshire calledStockham Park, and although I performed in two school plays there, as a frog in the Pied Piper and playing percussion in the orchestra for our production of Charlotte’s Web, it wasn’t until I went off to my first boarding school,Dorton Housein Kent at age 7 that music really began to play a big part in my life. I started taking lessons in singing, piano and trumpet almost as soon as I arrived there, and have gradually added more instruments and skills over the years, although I’ve never been able to master the guitar!!!

In 1989 I performed in front of her majesty the Queen for the first time playing horn in an orchestra and singing in the choir during an official opening ceremony at my boarding school, and his Royal Highness Prince Philip was also in attendance. This was an incredibly exciting experience for me, all the rehearsing and preparation, the nerves, the anticipation – like a drug-high or the thrill you get when you know someone’s interested in you and you’re moving towards that first kiss. Of course I didn’t see things like that then (I was only 10 years old at the time), but the butterflies in my stomach were exciting and my whole body felt as if I had a mild electric current running through me, a permanent buzz which grew as the actual day drew closer. That’s the only way I can think of to explain the tension and anticipation I felt, and it was that indescribable feeling I would go on to crave forever.

By that time of course, I had performed in every school play (we had a fantastic theatre with state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment), and our choir had performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Fairfield Hall in Croidon and on a couple of radio stations in the Kent area as well. I was also featured in a number of documentaries about the school and later on the official Royal visit video too, my first experiences of being on camera which I also enjoyed very much.

At age 11 I moved toNew Collegeresidential school in Worcester, and my enjoyment and love of music and performing became a serious passion there. I joined the school’s outstanding ensemble and chamber choirs and took part in many musical events, even being tutored byEdward Elgar’sGreat Niece, performing withChetham’s School of Music, recording full albums with the choirs and performing in front of the Queen for the second time at St. James’ Palace in London in 1993 alongsideRolf Harriswho taught me a great deal about body language and the importance of engaging with the audients.

In 1994 the BBC came hunting for an actor to playLouis Braille, the French schoolboy who invented the reading and writing system known as Braille, which is used by the blind even now, and I was incredibly excited to be chosen to play the part. That children’s programme is still being aired 15 years later, and its quite unnerving to have kids come up to me and announce they saw me on TV the other day! Mind you I have to admit its even more scary to have adults telling me they’ve seen me on TV recently because it was a programme for kids lol!

I slowed down a bit after that so I could concentrate on my GCSEs and swimming as I was working hard towards the Paralympics qualifiers for Atlanta 96, but although I did pretty well in my exams I didn’t quite make it to Atlanta, and I admit I kinda lost heart with serious sport at that point so went back to my performing and writing music.

I sat my A-levels in 1997, and in the spring of that year, I was asked to play the main role in a new play entitled Never mind The Rainforests which would open in Edinburgh Scotland at the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival that summer. Well, that was my summer taken care of, now I’d have something to look forward to between leaving school and starting on my University career.

After leaving New College in 1997 I went on to study atAnglia Ruskin Universityin Cambridge for a short time, attaining a certificate of Higher Education in Audio and Music Technology as well as the Cambridge Music Technology certificate. I was heavily involved in Theatre during my time there, and played Mr. Peatcham in Brecht’s Threpenny Opera and the Emperor in Aladdin. However I quickly realised that I wasn’t particularly interested in the science behind musical creativity and sound design, and so I moved on to study Performing Arts atWinchester Universityin 1998.

I graduated from Winchester in 2001 with a BA Hons. In Performing Arts, but my main interest throughout the course was how sound and music technologies could be used to enhance performance, (clearly I couldn’t leave pushing buttons and editing audio and music behind me). My dissertation which examined the use of 3D sound technologies to enhance radio drama in the 21st century, became a significant influence on producers and future radio drama production practices at the BBC and
Beyond, and as a result of that work, my fledgling companyLeo Mediawhich I launched in 2006 won a significant contract to work on ground-breaking Internet multi-media resources for the BBC but that’s another story.

After graduating I started producing music for theatre companies, and in the spring of 2002 I was asked to take over as vocal coach for one such organisation, theClaire Goodwin Theatre Arts Schoolin Winchester, where I would spend the next six and a half years teaching voice to classes and individuals, writing and arranging music for the school’s various productions and working with the professional Cabaret troop.

In 2004 I took some time off from teaching to play the lead role in a new Musical calledNo Horizon, a story based on the life of Nicholas Saunderson, a totally blind mathematician from Yorkshire who battled against staggering odds to eventually take his place as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a position held by physicists such as Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking. During the Musical’s second run, actor James Lomas who played Billy Elliot in the West End Musical played young Nicholas which was very exciting.

In 2006 I decided to launch my production companyLeo Media, focussing on providing quality music and sound design services to dance schools, singers, advertising companies, telecoms providers, Web developers and pretty much anyone else who needs our expertise. I felt that I would be ideally placed to run such a company because my experiences as both a performer and producer enable me to understand the processes involved in producing music and audio of a high standard from both sides of the creative coin, and this insight has certainly proved invaluable over the years.

Through Leo Media I have been involved with significant contracts, working on cutting edge aspects of major BBC projects, composing and arranging music and sound design for events such as the Magic of Christmas at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham and theJoshua Foundation’stenth anniversary concert at Cardiff Arena, and as the company was only set up recently, I’m really pleased, if a little scared, that things are taking off so quickly!

Where will I be 5 years from now? A short while ago, the answer to that question seemed a lot more strait forward! Now, I just don’t know! If Leo Media continues to grow at it’s current rate, and we build up a decent reputation, the possibilities seem endless, but only time will tell.

A special thanks to Claire Goodwin, and everyone involved with Claire Goodwin Theatre Arts School in Winchester, without all of you guys, I wouldn’t have had the inspiration I needed to keep trying.

Thanks for reading,

Matt AKA DJ Leo B