“I was too young to fully understand, but I knew for an early age that I was totally hooked on sound. My life would be dedicated to the pursuit and understanding of how vibrations in air can cause so many different emotions.”

About Neil

My first remember experiences of music I heard The Police, and something changed, I had never experienced anything like it before as a small child and my life long pursuit of music and sound had begun. On that journey, I have worked as audio engineer, composer, sound designer, guitarist, educator, producer, editor and researcher. From Stevie Wonder, John Cage, Iron Maiden, Hans Zimmer, Steve Riech, Michael Jackson, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Miles Davies…..I have wondered at the power and emotional magic and that music and sound can produce in a listener. My path was set, I had to learn as much about it as I could.

I think of what I do, not as a job, but as 'sound sculpting' ; manipulating and shaping waves and vibrations to produce emotive music and soundscapes.

What are my motivations?

Creating soundscape as part of meditative and wellbeing practice.

The preservation of disappearing sounds and sound environments for future generations.

Sound education, understanding the importance of our sound world.

Sonic world creation, building immersive soundscapes and music compositions for the purposes of relaxation and mental stimulation.

“My experience has been that Neil will always deliver to the very highest standards but most importantly, bring out the very best in others through the process. Neil is a truly excellent individual!

— Professor Paul Heywood - University of Salford

Since those early days many decades ago, I have been fortunate enough to work at Manor Mobile studios, with artists, including Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Al Green, Barbara Cooke amongst others ; performing around the world (and in the occasional stadium) ; having my music used in film; and I hope now also giving something back by teaching the next generation of audio and music professionals.

I am currently is working with a wide range of artists in the UK, composing music for my own projects (Light B4 Sound.), producing production music and gigging with bands in the UK. My work has also enabled me to become involved with soundscape research, where I gained a PhD in Psychoacoustics as part of the EPSRC's Positive Soundscapes Project and more recently working on Project DeStress recording and designing soundscapes.

I love what I do and I count my blessings that I am able to do it

I also now run a very active YouTube Channel which is an outlet for the occasional rant, but mostly videos demonstrating how to do musical tech things, and probably far too many gear reviews.

Since discovering the podcast, thanks to Mayo and Kermode’s film review show, I became addicted to the medium, so much so, I started the ‘There is another way’ podcast. This is a weekly(ish) podcast featuring chat and discussion on working as a freelance creative, and figuring out that there is another way to live one’s life. The highlight for me are the industry interviews I get to do.

From the 1st July 2010 to the 31st December 2011, I completed a challenge to create and uploaded a new piece of music every single day. In 2020, I started a similar project called ‘52 Fridays’, the goal was simple “1 new piece of music and 1 film, every Friday for a year”.

Then it became time to turn to writing, so I took pen to paper and wrote and published a book on creativity and guitar playing, entitled ‘Guitar Creativity – a new way of thinking‘.

At the moment, I am currently working on the following projects, Amanda-Rose Hill, Show of Crows, Light B4 Sound's ‘Edgelands‘ Album, a personal guitar EP, entitled ‘Inner Circles‘ and various production and film works.

I became hooked on the pursuit and study of music and acoustics, which led to getting in deep, over the years I have obtained a B.Eng (Hons) in Electroacoustics, MSc in Multimedia Signal Processing (University of Surrey) and a PhD in Soundscapes, my thesis was entitled, “The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes“.

Diplomas’ in Music (Open University), Media Composition (Film institute of LA) and Orchestration (Berklee). I also completed a life long dream of studying a Berklee Online for the Specialist Blues, Rock and Jazz Guitar and General Music (including Steve Vai guitar Module) Certificate Program. 

Oh and in what seems to be a parallel life, I spent a few years employed as a film maker, where I filmed and interviewed everyone from Royalty to Nobel Prize winners, and have shot nearly 2000 corporate videos, music videos and short films.

It is not just all about work, when I have time, I love travelling, WOMAD, meeting new people and photography and the simple pleasure of hanging out in a coffee shop (and probably talking about guitars!!).

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Books

Journal Articles

  • Payne, S and Bruce, N, 2019, ‘Exploring the Relationship between Urban Quiet Areas and Perceived Restorative Benefits’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

  • Bruce, N, Condie, J, Henshaw, V & Payne, S. 2015, Analysing olfactory and auditory sensescapes in English cities: Sensory expectation and urban environmental perception. Ambiances. 10.400

  • Bruce, NS and Davies, WJ  2014, 'The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes' , Applied Acoustics, 85 , pp. 1-11.

  • Davies, WJ , Bruce, NS and Murphy, JE 2014, 'Soundscape reproduction and synthesis' , Acta Acustica United with Acustica, 100 (2) , pp. 285-292.

  • Davies, WJ , Adams, MD, Bruce, NS, Cain, R, Carlyle, A, Cusack, P, Hall, DA, Hume, KI, Irwin, A, Jennings, P, Marselle, MR, Plack, CJ and Poxon, J 2012, 'Perception of soundscapes : an interdisciplinary approach' , Applied Acoustics, 74 (2) , pp. 224-231.

  • Bruce, NS, Davies, WJ  and Adams, MD 2009, Expectation as a factor in the perception of soundscapes , in: Euronoise 2009, 26-28 October 2009, Edinburgh, U.K..

  • Davies, WJ , Adams, MD, Bruce, NS, Cain, R, Jennings, P, Carlyle, A, Cusack, P, Hume, K and Plack, C 2009, A positive soundscape evaluation system , in: Euronoise 2009, 26-28 October 2009, Edinburgh, U.K..

  • Bruce, NS, Davies, WJ  and Adams, MD 2009, Development of a soundscape simulator tool , in: Internoise 09, 23-26 August 2009, Ottawa, Canada.

  • Adams, MD, Davies, WJ  and Bruce, NS 2009, Soundscapes : an urban planning process map , in: Internoise 2009, 23-26 August 2009, Ottawa, Canada.

  • Davies, WJ , Adams, MD, Bruce, NS, Marselle, M, Cain, R, Jennings, P, Poxon, J, Carlyle, A, Cusack, P, Hall, DA, Irwin, A, Hulme, KI and Plack, CJ 2009, The positive soundscape project : a synthesis of results from many disciplines , in: Internoise 2009, 23-26 August 2009, Ottawa, Canada.

  • Hume, KI, Barrett, H, Ip, A, McDonagh, T, Davies, WJ , Adams, MD, Bruce, NS, Cain, R, Jennings, P, Czanner, G, Carlyle, A, Cusack, P and Plack, C 2008, Physiological responses and subjective estimates of sounds : initial results of pilot study , in: Institute of Acoustics Spring Conference 2008, 10 - 11 April 2008, Reading, UK.

  • Adams, MD, Bruce, NS, Davies, WJ , Cain, R, Jennings, P, Carlyle, A, Cusack, P, Hume, K and Plack, C 2008, Soundwalking as a methodology for understanding soundscapes , in: Institute of Acoustics Spring Conference 2008, 10 - 11 April 2008, Reading, U.K..

  • Davies, WJ , Adams, MD, Bruce, NS, Cain, R, Carlyle, A, Cusack, P, Hume, KI, Jennings, P and Plack, CJ 2007, The positive soundscape project , in: 19th International Congress on Acoustics, 2-7 September 2007, Madrid.

Guest Articles