Tom Oakes

Experience

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  Troubador Studios

  Feb 2006 - Jul 2008

  Recording Engineer / Producer

  Looked after the smooth running of sessions, repaired, installed kit, made looms (& tea), recorded bands and mastered final output. Started by assisting the owner (and industry veteran; The Police, Marvin Gaye, ASWAD) Chris Gray, but by the time I left I ran sessions and contributed towards artists recordings - playing on them, arranging and producing.

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  Allen & Heath Ltd

  Aug 2006 - Jul 2008

  Working in the lively marketing and PR department, mainly liaising with R&D to create technical brochure copy for marketing literature. This consisted of the first iLive brochure, overseeing that photography and web design fitted neatly with the marketing material for this product. I also created some web design in the Adobe Creative Suite to back this up. Telephone and email support of Allen & Heath mixing consoles; Xone, GL series, iLive, iDR and legacy consoles. Much of this was component level diagnosis of in-circuit board failures, spare part identification and working closely with R&D on firmware and hardware engineering changes and upgrades. I also worked with marketing to look after endorsees of the Xone DJ range; including Phats and Small and Richie Hawtin.

  • Technical Writer

    Nov 2007 - Jul 2008

  • Technical Support Engineer

    Aug 2006 - Nov 2007
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  Orbital Sound Ltd

  Jul 2008 - Feb 2014

  Technical Support Engineer / Studio Manager / Technical Sales

  My technical support involvement spanned virtually every part of the upkeep and planning of the hire stock of the company. Heavily involved with radio microphones (frequency licensing, fixing, specifying) and also specialising in communications systems. This included specifying and commissioning complex 2.4GHz wireless comms, through DECT based systems down to a simple party-line, interfacing all of them.Day to day support included working with sound designers and theatre sound operators to solve problems, from desk issues (Digico / Avid / Yamaha / Cadac), infrastructure problems, CCTV troubleshooting to even backstage theatre paging systems (problem solving, repair and speccing of new kit) to amps and speakers. Much of this included extended site visits across the UK, Europe and beyond from pre-production through press night to show venue moves.It was often part of a clients' spec to design and build custom electronics devices specifically for a theatre show or an install. For this I got to draw on my electronics design experience. I am well versed in schematic design and PCB layout software (Proteus and Altium). Highlights were a guitar amp switcher for We Will Rock You Holland, an 8-way remote controlled audio Y-switcher for the Cameron Macintosh production of Mary Poppins, numerous reverse radios and my part in the design of a state-of-the-art fully redundant computer switcher (MIDI, DVI, USB - heading up the DVI switching development). As studio manager, I managed the day to day managing and upgrading of our professional ProTools HD studio. I redesigned the space in 2010; I designed and commissioned a new work surface, and oversaw the acoustic treatment of the rooms. It is now a much more effective space to record voice-overs, click tracks and even small bands and duos. Show less

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  Sparkle & Dark

  Aug 2011 - May 2016

  Composer & Sound Designer

  I co-composed and performed the original score for The Girl With No Heart which had a 5-star run at Bedlam Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2012. I am currently recording and designing the audio book of Killing Roger and redesigning the UK tour.

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  Amber Sound Ltd

  Jul 2014 - Feb 2016

  Technical Manager

  I help and advise customers with their requirements and make sure they are buying what will work with their existing kit, and offer advice when they're making a first time purchase. My specialist subject being radio mics and comms, this is what I'm generally busy with, but lavalier microphone choice and digital desk setup and service are not far behind. Pretty much anything technical has my name on it! With my experience in large scale touring theatre, I know the tight deadlines and the knock-on implications of getting it wrong, so that's why we pride ourselves in keeping customers happy, our technical knowledge, repeat business, and making sure that we never drop the ball if a customer needs kit at really short notice. Show less

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  Rose Bruford College

  Dec 2014 - Jan 2015

  Mentor
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  Tom Oakes Audio

  Feb 2016 - now

  Freelance Audio Engineer

  Using my expertise gained directly from large scale theatre and corporate events, I can offer wired and wireless comms pre-sales consultancy, interfacing help, diagnosis and post sales support (often including up to component-level repair). My brand knowledge includes UHF, DECT and 2.4GHz wireless and wired Clear-Com, RTS, Tait Communications, Motorola and ICOM. Part of this is interfacing different standards (2-wire, 4-wire, IP, fibre) in the theatre, event, corporate and rock 'n roll fields. I can also supply training on all of these; don't be scared of those black boxes that you have in your hire stock... I can help. RF radio microphone troubleshooting / planning / consultancy / help, including re-terminating lavalier microphones, and undertaking wireman tasks.I am also an analogue and digital hardware designer. If you have an idea for a piece of audio or switching hardware, need a modification or want to talk about the possibilities / consequences, please get in touch. Working in theatre, corporate, fashion, events and sport as a production sound engineer, my work highlights included; Royal Shakespeare Company (Loves Labours Lost & Much Ado) 2016 (Manchester and London) - Production Sound EngineerLondon Fashion week in 2016 and 2017 at Production Sound Engineer / Matrix commsTaking Legally Blonde to Monte Carlo in 2017 as PSEPitch side wireless comms and radio mic co-ordination and engineering at the FA Cup Final in 2018.On top of this I started working on AV installations, either as a wireman or designing or project managing installations. An example of this is the SSE re-fit of the Box nightclub in Soho in which I designed and implemented a D&B Audiotechnik PA and a Q-Sys audio control system which was semi-automated. Show less

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  Horrothia

  Mar 2019 - now

  Owner

  Horrothia make computer designed, hand built, boutique guitar effects pedals in the analogue and digital domain.