Mark Rutherford | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Mark Joseph Rutherford |
Also known as | Darkus Markus Darkus Markus Rutherford |
Origin | London, England |
Genres | Classical, orchestral, electronic, drum and bass, experimental, world |
Occupation(s) | Composer, producer, arranger, musician |
Website | mark-rutherford |
Mark Joseph Rutherford is a British composer and producer whose work appears on records, video games, television programmes, commercials and feature films.
From the age of nine, Rutherford studied classical guitar and classical music theory, learning the Segovia Technique under the guidance of tutor Leslie Nicholls (LGSM BA Hons), a former pupil of Adele Kramer. He also learned to play the piano while studying composition and classical music history.
Rutherford was a guitarist and songwriter with Jimmy the Hoover. The band, managed by Malcolm McLaren, [1] had a top 20 hit, [2] [3] and toured with bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bow Wow Wow.
He then travelled to Central and Eastern Africa, spending a year and a half living with, and recording, native tribes people. On his return, and under the mentorship of producer Steve Levine, [4] Rutherford learned the techniques of record production, working alongside artists and musicians such as Dave Gilmour, Boy George, Bonnie Tyler, Labi Sifr i, Barrington Levy and Motörhead's Lemmy.
In 1991, Rutherford secured a studio space at William Orbit's Guerrilla Studios in Crouch End, London. [5] He shared this with the DJ John Gosling, aka Sugar J. [6] Here, Rutherford collaborated with Orbit on many projects including remixes for Peter Gabriel, The Christians, Psychic TV and Yothu Yindi. He also shared co-production and co-writing credits on Orbit projects including Bassomatic, Strange Cargo and Beth Orton. [7]
Also in 1991, Rutherford began his collaborations with Goldie Goldie under the name of Rufige Kru and Metalheads. Their first record, along with DJ Freebase, was "Krisp Biscuit/Killa Muffin", released on Reinforced Records in 1992. This was followed by the "Dark Rider EP", featuring the tracks "Darkrider", "Believe", "Menace" and "Jim Skreech". It was at this time that Goldie gave Rutherford the nickname "Darkus", [8] [9] a reference to the "darker" sound Rutherford had brought to the sound of the EP.
Goldie and Rutherford were then asked by Synthetic Hardcore Phonography Records [10] in Camden to write and produce a new record. This became the first Metalheads track "Terminator". For this track, Rutherford brought an Eventide H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer [11] to the studio, a piece of equipment that he had previously been experimenting with at Steve Levine's studio. The H3000 was able to time-stretch in real time, [12] meaning the pitch of any sound could be changed while keeping its original tempo.
Goldie and Rutherford wrote and produced three more tracks; "Kemistry", "Knowledge" and "Sinister" for what became the Metalheads' "Terminator EP". [8] [13] [14] This was followed up later with the "Ghosts of My Life/Terminator 2" EP. Many of the Rutherford / Goldie tracks have been re-released and remixed in the years following their original release.
Peter Gabriel then invited Rutherford, [15] alongside DJ Sugar J and Engineer Robert Hill, to create an album using contributions from artists who had gathered at one of Gabriel's "Real World Recording Weeks" [16] at his Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire. The result was the world music crossover album "Way Down Below Buffalo Hell" by Jam Nation. The album includes contributions from artists including Ayub Ogada, Alex Gifford (Propellerheads), Peter Gabriel, Galliano, Jocelyn Pook, Daniel Lanois, Billy Cobham, Karl Wallinger, Jah Wobble and the late Lucky Dube. [17] [18]
Mike Oldfield invited Rutherford to his studio to work on the album "Songs of Distant Earth". For this, Rutherford used field recordings he had previously made in Africa. Following the release of the album Oldfield asked Rutherford to remix the single "Let There Be Light". [8]
Rutherford also worked with Einsturzende Neubauten after the band's producer Jon Caffery became aware of Rutherford's experimental style of production.
After Rutherford had remixed the single NNNAAAMMM [19] [20] he was invited to rehearse with the band in preparation for their upcoming tour.
Rutherford's first game score in 2010 was for Aliens vs. Predator. This was 70 minutes of live orchestral score recorded in Slovakia with the Istropolis Philharmonic Orchestra. For this score, Rutherford made his own percussion kits constructed from bits of metal and various tools which were then scraped and hit with nails, sticks, brushes and mallets. [21] [22] [23]
In 2013, Rutherford composed and produced the live orchestral score for Batman: Arkham Origins . The score was a combination of extreme synthesised elements and full live orchestral score performed by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. [24] [25]
2015 saw him scoring Assassin's Creed Chronicles . Rutherford collaborated on the music with Chris Jolley and Aaron Miller. The game is set in three countries, China, India and Russia, and to create these distinctive musical themes Rutherford used the world music experience gained during his time at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios. [26] [27] [28]
The soundtrack for Dirty Bomb is a combination of processed orchestral elements, electronica and abstract sounds made from a collection of bespoke instruments that Rutherford made. One of the instruments was made from a three-metre steel girder sitting on a galvanised metal box with various straps and bungee cords attached. He used a collection of vintage microphones to record the instrument, including an AKG D12 from the 1960s placed inside a metal box and an AKG D190 from the 1970s. [29] [25]
Rutherford has also composed and produced the scores for the Sniper Elite video game series. [30] [31] [32]
Rutherford's introduction to feature Films and TV came when producer Steve Levine offered him the opportunity to work in his studio in London. During this time, his roles were engineering and programming. He also performed as an instrumentalist whilst working on feature films including the award-winning Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Eversmile, New Jersey [33] [34] and Mister Frost. [33] [35]
Following this, Rutherford composed music for the film This Is Not a Love Song, [36] [37] the first film to be streamed on the internet simultaneously with its cinema premiere at London's Leicester Square. [38]
Rutherford's work with writer-director Chris Crow has involved him scoring the feature films Devil's Bridge, Panic Button, [39] [40] [41] A Viking Saga: The Darkest Day [33] [42] and The Lighthouse.
Rutherford's music has also featured in the films Hell's Kitchen , Blood Brothers, Sacred Planet and Peace One Day . [33]
He has also composed music for short films including Fish Can't Fly [43] [44] and Dust. In 2014, he worked on the post-apocalyptic action-satire Get Some. [33]
Rutherford's music can also be heard on television shows and documentaries including Channel 4's Body Shock series, The Twins Who Share a Brain, Horizon , 5th Gear, Minds Eye, Trading Spaces, Perfect Proposal, Visions of the Future, Horizon Space Tourists, Formula One and WWE Smackdown/Raw. [33]
Clifford Joseph Price MBE, better known as Goldie, is an English music producer and DJ.
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrome. Industrial rock became more prominent in the 1980s with the success of artists such as Killing Joke, Swans, and partially Skinny Puppy, and later spawned the offshoot genre known as industrial metal. The genre was made more accessible to mainstream audiences in the 1990s with the aid of acts such as Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, both of which have released platinum-selling records.
Blixa Bargeld is a German musician who has been the lead singer of the band Einstürzende Neubauten since its formation in 1980. Bargeld was also a founding member of the Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, serving as a member from 1983 until his departure in 2003.
The Quart Festival was an annual popular music festival that took place in Kristiansand, Norway in the beginning of July, from 1991 to 2008. It was the most visited music festival in Norway.
Anita Louise Lane was an Australian singer-songwriter who was briefly a member of the Bad Seeds with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and collaborated with both bandmates. Lane released two solo albums, Dirty Pearl (1993) and Sex O'Clock (2001).
MY DISCO is an Australian music group formed in 2003 by brothers Ben and Liam Andrews. It includes members from Agents of Abhorrence and Clann Zú.
Metalheadz is a major drum and bass record label based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1994 by Kemistry & Storm and Goldie.
Halber Mensch is the third studio album by German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten, released on 2 September 1985 by Some Bizzare Records in the U.K. and by What's So Funny About GmbH in Germany. In the U.S., the album was distributed by Rough Trade Records.
Alexander Hacke is a German guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, musician, record producer, writer and filmmaker. He is primarily known as a longtime member of the influential German industrial music group Einstürzende Neubauten.
Meret Becker is a German actress and singer.
Total Eclipse of the Sun is a 1999 EP released by the German experimental/industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. It was their first release recorded with their new line-up featuring Jochen Arbeit and Rudi Moser and without FM Einheit ; this has continued to be their line-up since.
Corey May is an American video game writer. He is currently the Narrative Director for Austin video game developer Certain Affinity. May is also the co-founder and President of Sekretagent Productions, a production company based in Los Angeles, California working in the film, video game, and internet industries. May is the main writer of the Assassin's Creed series. May worked as the lead writer on Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, and Assassin's Creed III. Corey May also helped Jeffrey Yohalem as a writer on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Darby McDevitt on Assassin's Creed: Revelations. May helped Jeffrey Yohalem once again on Assassin's Creed Syndicate, making it the last game he worked on before departing from Ubisoft. May also helps in the production of most other entries into the Assassin's Creed franchise to make sure everything flows together into one coherent narrative.
Commix is a Drum and Bass project now solely composed of George Levings from Cambridge, UK.
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld and N.U. Unruh, long-time contributor Alexander Hacke, plus Jochen Arbeit, and Rudolph Moser, who both joined the line-up in 1997.
Liam Tallon, better known by his stage name Draft, is a British electronic music producer, DJ and songwriter.
Scott McIlroy, better known as Doc Scott or Nasty Habits, is a British drum and bass DJ and producer.
Sniper Elite is a tactical shooter video game series developed by Rebellion Developments. It is a third-person tactical shooter that emphasises a less direct approach to combat, encouraging the player as a sniper to use stealth and keep distance from enemy soldiers.
Matt Quinn, known by his stage name Optical, is a British musician, producer and DJ. He is co-founder and owner of Virus Recordings, a widely regarded drum and bass record label. He is best known as one half of drum and bass duo Ed Rush and Optical, whose debut album Wormhole has been described as one of the most significant LPs of the drum and bass genre. He is also the brother of Jamie Quinn also known as Matrix.
Paul Pesce, better known as Peshay, is a British drum and bass and electronic music producer and DJ.
Alles in Allem is the twelfth full-length studio album by the industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. It was released in 2020 on Potomak.
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: others (link){{citation}}
: CS1 maint: others (link){{citation}}
: CS1 maint: others (link)