Dj Sasha Le Monnier
A BROAD SOUNDSCAPE OF MUSIC WITH FEELING
Why (The Rock), i here you ask? my beautiful island being only 9 miles long by 5 miles wide, is made up from lava & granite, hence it being called...THE ROCK
This page is dedicated to Jersey Producers and good friends.
My Second Feature is None other than Marc Mitchell, a guy who's producing in the early 1990's was very very underated, not sure why, as i thought that Marc's releases over the last 16 years have been nothing more than flawless, i'm sure you will agree!!!
It was the 31st October 1970 when a certain 
Marc John Mitchell was born into this world. The birth place a small island in the British Channel, 12 miles off the north west coast of France, named Jersey. The word starts spreading around the musical circles, of a child prodigy, a 12 year old boy wonder who leaves the jaws of more seasoned studio veterans, firmly planted to the floor, with his multi - instrumental talents. (Picture right age 7 @ Radio Lions - Hospital Radio)
In 1983 at the tender age of 13 he started work at 'Starmel' Recording studio in Jersey, along side him was Apple's first ever computer and Native music software MOTU's Performer. Inspired by the likes of Trevor Horn, Kraftwerk, Vince Clark, Wendy Carlos, Vangelis, OMD, Jarre and John Foxx, he gets to work on his own brand of emotional electronic dance music.
Three years later the opportunity to move to a hotter climate at the age of 16 was taken, and Marc relocated to Marbella, working at Starmel's second studio in Spain. Returning back to Jersey in 88, Marc was soon head hunted for SPB Studios to work on a project that would expand his knowledge even further. Composing and producing for various projects including a track featured on the cult movie "American Kick boxer 2" at the age 18 he was doing what most could only dream of.
The 1990's have arrived and Marc is now manager of Sounds Workshop a local government recording studio for youth culture, as well as recording many projects and bands this is where he makes his first contact with the Local TV companies and starts writing themes and adverts for independent radio and Local TV. After a year he takes up the opportunity of moving to London to study Music Technology and 24 track recording at Kingston University and successfully returns to Jersey were he continued to manage Sounds Workshop until '94.
Marc then left Sounds Workshop and set up his first studio "Islands Pro-audio" plus the dance culture is now rapidly gaining speed and word spreads throughout the island of Jersey about this rare talent, said prodigy, is then introduced to top techno DJ Eric Powell and his highly respected Bush label, who offers Marc an invitation through the doors into the dance industry and as Jersey's own house scene kicks in to touch Marc finds a queue of eager DJ's knocking at his studio door.
As well as numerous remixes for and with Eric Powel for Bush and other labels including DMC, Ultimate, Eternal and East 17 under their "Part One" production name. Three singles are released and it is here Marc starts his most prolific partnerships in the dance arena producing a now 17 year long stream of DJ collaborative releases.
This includes, 
Sunday Club, Human Movement, Vantage Point, Axis shift, Faith Foundation, Beach Life, Woomara, Aspect of i, Positive light, Ordinary People, Jelle Boufon and Audiogenic.
Signing to labels such as Bush, Bedrock, Platypus, Sony, Gatecrasher, Renaissance, Ministry of Sound, Virgin, Whoop, Wired, Limbo, Fabric of life, Method, Release, Eagle Rock, Perfecto, Stress, DMC, London, PWL, MFS, Happening, Global Underground, Slate, Field Recordings, Distinctive, Subliminal, Sondos, Racket Records, Drayfus, Cream, Kinetic, Spundae, Global Underground, Interflow, L2 and Release Records....the list goes on, and grows yearly.
Marc's productions have featured at some point or another on numorous commercial dancemusic compilations, from Cream Anthems to Ibiza anthems, with appearances on Gatecrasher, Ministry, Renaissance and the world recognised Bedrock Label .There is not a Progressive, Trance or house DJ out there that hasn't played one of Marc's productions at some point in their career.
Marc has even ventured in to the prog rock arena were he remixed the whole album of Marillions "Strange Engine" entitled "Tales From The Engine Room" Marc was now crossing the boundaries between prog rock and the eclectic electronic listener.
Marc's achievements are not just confined to the dance floor, he has produced music for TV, including adverts, radio and more recently online games. This includes music for "Stepping Europe" a travel show broadcast on Sky travel and the US travel channel plus "Caribbean Diary" another travel show broadcast on Sky travel and the US travel channel. As well as music for the world champion victory power boat team..bringing up to date some of Marc's more recent commissioned TV work includes 5 marine documentary's, two of which are scored and featured on Channel TV plus National Geographic. "Reefs of iron" and "Living on the edge" both commissioned by 'Sue Daly productions' (@ Channel Television Jersey).
With club classics such as Shamens 'Move Any Mountain' and Sunscreams 'Perfect Motion', Brothers in Rhythm "For Ever And A Day", Nina Simon "Its A New Dawn" to the cult electronic Jean Michael Jarre "Oxygen 8" have all been under the Mitchell remix wand. Remixing and producing top vocalists such as Shapeshifter's Terra Diva, French vocalist Sophie Moleta, and Jes from Deepsky. With production collaborators which include Scott Bond, Ian Ossia, Deepsky, Jimmy Van M, Shiloh, Orkadia, Richard Schiessl aka Yum Yum/Sperm Records, and Gregory Ives all adding the occasional dash of oil to this production machine.
With Djs such as Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, John Digweed, Pete Tong, Dave Seaman, Chris Fortiar, Carl Cox, Jon 00 Flemming, Armin Van Burran, Deep Dish, Ferry Corsten, Scott Bond, Anthony Pappa have all at some point dropped a slice of Mitchell's production within there sets. Marc's productions have appeared on Radio 1 dance shows for over 12 years, with productions featured on over 150 global products worldwide.
From the beginning of 1999 the studio has been situated in the East Bastion of Fort Regent Jersey, a 17th century fortress. Where Sanctuary Music Technology, helped local individuals to recognise there potential. Housing 12 rooms for studio use, band rehearsal, creative graphic and web design, work placements, university placements, club promotion, Dj rehearsal and all things subculture.
At the start of 2005 Marc left the Sanctuary to set up his new minimal home studio at The Ranch (North coast of Jersey).....Via internet audio and video connection Marc works with clients from New Zealand to L.A and from London to Canada and even Norway....an underground hermit who is a obsessive workaholic. In his time he has developed a sound that is always recognised well respected, epic and filled with emotionally charged electronic sounds.
Currently MM is working on various TV projects and sound design, with new collaborations being made worldwide, it will be only a matter of time before we start to see many more MM productions and remixes.
Marc is planning to start writing his first solo album project in full 5.1 surround sound, braking all the boundaries of commercial conform, 9 songs are penned all no shorter than 30 minutes in length. This is expected on a full 5.1 DVD-A release on Innersense Recordings available in 2006......watch this space.
To see Marc's latest project's and releases please visit his own website MARC MITCHELL WEBSITE
I'm very happy to do my first feature on a good friend called Stevie Fitz.....
http://www.arkade.com/artists/BOLT.aspx (More info on Stevie and his work)
From the Outside In!
Stevie Fitz is a 32-year-old Jersey resident who has been a lover of music since he can remember.
From an early age, Stevie was blessed with the ability to appreciate the many different varieties of music available to the ear. From classical to rock, from pop to jazz, if he liked a tune, he would listen to it and appreciate it for what it was, no matter the genre, a policy he still adopts to this day. His very first musical purchase was a seven-inch single in the form of Elton John’s – I’m Still Standing. To get it, he had to send away coupons from the back of a Frosties cereal packet together with a few pennies (having been about 4 years old at the time, this was quite a task!).
Stevie feels that his two music-loving sisters were a huge influence during his upbringing, exposing him to the sounds of The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Joan Armatrading and The Cure (to name but a few). He can still hear Radio One’s Mark Goodyear coming from their bedroom, counting down the Top 40 singles on a Sunday afternoon when Mark first began hosting the infamous show back in the early eighties. And it was during the eighties that Stevie started to focus on one particular sound from all of the different sounds in the music he had been exposed to, the electronic sound of the synthesizer. He feels he is very fortunate to have lived through the eighties, as musically they had to be one of the most exciting times. Bands such as Depeche Mode, A-Ha, Gary Numan, Japan, The Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears, Visage and Eurhythmics gracing the airwaves with their big electronic synth sounds! It was also during the eighties whilst at secondary school that he began to show his musical flare, learning to play the trombone (reaching lead trombone within the Le Rocquier School Band) and also having a dabble with the keyboard and the drums whenever he got the chance.
But it was when Stevie left school at 16 years young that he found the road to electronic heaven in the form of local nightspot The Inn on the Park (affectionately known as "The Pav" to the "hardcore" members!) which had the likes of Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, Parkes & Wilson and John Kelly regularly gracing the turntables of the 1500 capacity club during 1990-91. Truly mesmerized by the talents of these DJ’s and the music they were playing, he soon invested in a pair of turntables, spending all of his spare cash on new vinyl and spending all of his spare time improving his DJ’ing skills. It was not long before he was playing in various clubs around the island, including Raffles Dance City and The Venue, warming up for various guest DJ’s including Mike Cosford, Tom Wainwright and Trevor Rockliffe.
A trip to Thailand at the end of 1996 for two months saw him land a residency at "Sante Fe" on the beautiful island of Koh Samui, DJ’ing four times a week. Also, whilst in Thailand, he was fortunate enough to play at one of the infamous Full Moon Parties on Koh Phangan to a crowd of approximately 5000 people, which is an experience he will never forget.
Already, the idea of writing and producing tunes was firmly embedded in his mind and it was not long after returning from Thailand that he began investing in equipment for his home based studio. Stevie soon began writing music, lyrics and poetry and learning about the various ins and outs of production.
In November 2001, he secured his first exclusive licencing agreement with Japanese publishers Toryumon under the alias B.O.L.T. Since then, he has secured many more licencing agreements with Toryumon under various different solo and DJ collaborative aliases including Tech House Project, The Loop Rebels, Ear 4 Vision, Stefano Kerami and of course, C.O.U. Muzik, all of which have had their music licenced for either download, ringtones, website promotion or corporate advertising. And it was the collaboration with long time friends Sasha Le Monnier and James Leaman to form C.O.U. Muzik when his production skills were recognized by top digital labels Fiberlineaudio, MDM Records, Source of Gravity, Gravitation who began signing C.O.U. Muzik’s compositions and throwing remix work their way from various top DJ/producers including Matt Rowan, Jeff Devas, Sean McClellan (KVK) and Tim Mills.
So, with top labels signing Stevie’s production work, BBC Radio projects underway and new collaborations and remix projects already in the pipeline for 2007, keep your ears honed in to those airwaves because it will not be long before you hear one of Stevie’s productions, whether you like it or not!
SFW
Stephen's Production work.
I have taken Stephen's music and given you roughly 3 minute's sample clip, devided into 1 minute section's for each track. This is just to give you a general idea of Stephen's production skill's.
For more information please contact Stephen on.... spfw@localdial.com
All material you listen too here has been exclusively licensed too
CLICK LINK HERE TO LISTEN TOO TRACK 1...
TRACK 2...
TRACK 3...
TRACK 4...
TRACK 5...
TRACK 6...
Hope you have enjoyed these tracks as much as i have, if you wish to leave any comments regarding these tracks, please feel free to do so, in the Guest Book section of this site. Thank you for taking time to listen!
