Mark Rutherford (composer)
Encyclopedia
Mark Joseph Rutherford is a classically trained British musician
, composer
and producer
. He has worked with, and for, some of the world’s most prominent producers, directors, artists and writers including Peter Gabriel
, Steve Levine
, William Orbit
, Goldie
, Mike Oldfield
, Simon Beaufoy
, John Woo
,Tony Cinciripini, Bille Eltringham
and the late John Hughes.
Although Rutherford has worked extensively in the music industry, he now mainly composes and produces music for films and video games. Since the end of 2009 Rutherford has scored two feature films; Panic Button and Devils Bridge As well as scoring the award winning short film Dust. He also scored the video games; Rogue Warrior for Bethesda and Aliens vs. Predator
(2010) which at the time of it's release became Sega's fastest selling game in the company's history. Following this Rutherford began scoring NeverDead for Konami and then started work on his fourth AAA
video game title, Sniper Elite V2 for Rebellion and 505 Games.
and classical music
theory. He studied the Segovia Technique for around 12 years under the guidance of tutor Leslie Nicholls (LGSM BA Hons), a former pupil of the highly acclaimed Professor Adele Kramer. He learnt to play the piano while studying composition
and classical music history. He also won a number of classical music competitions with his playing.
, a band managed by the legendary punk
impresario Malcolm McLaren
. As well as having a top 20 hit, they also toured with bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bow Wow Wow
.
Following this early success, Rutherford travelled to Central and Eastern Africa
in order to live with, and record, the native tribes people. He devised and configured a high quality and lightweight mobile system that could be used discretely to record tribes people in challenging and sometimes dangerous environments. In the year and a half spent there, he absorbed many musical styles and rhythms which remain a valuable source of inspiration.
Rutherford went on to establish his own recording facilities at William Orbit
’s Guerrilla Studios in North London. He soon began remixing, co-producing and co-writing alongside Orbit, and together they worked on a number of projects with artists such as Beth Orton
, Yothu Yindi
, Bassomatic
,
The Christians, Peter Gabriel
, Ellie Lawson
and Strange Cargo III
.
It was in this studio that Rutherford began his collaboration with artist and friend Goldie
that led to the creation of Metalheadz
and the Rufige Kru. Together, their production and writing skills brought massive underground success.
Peter Gabriel
invited Rutherford to compose and produce an album using contributions from a variety of artists at Gabriel's Real World Studios
in Box, Wiltshire. The result, Way Down Below Buffalo Hell, was the critically acclaimed album by ‘Jam Nation’. The album featured artists including Daniel Lanois
, Jah Wobble
, Billy Cobham
, Karl Wallinger
, Ayub Ogada
, Galliano
. Jane Sibery, Lucky Dube
and Peter Gabriel
.
Rutherford has also worked with Mike Oldfield
,
Arthur Baker
, Jon Caffrey, Vivienne Westwood
, Joseph Arthur
and Einsturzende Neubauten
.
winning producer Steve Levine
invited Rutherford to work alongside him in his state of the art London studio. Together, they worked on feature films including the Grammy Award-winning Planes, Trains and Automobiles, directed by John Huges, starring Steve Martin and John Candy, Eversmile, New Jersey
starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Mister Frost
starring Jeff Goldblum.
Rutherford’s music has featured in many films, including Hell's Kitchen
, Blood Brothers (by producer John Woo
),
Peace One Day
and Sacred Planet
. He has composed the music for some award winning short films and his compositions can be heard in numerous documentaries and dramas.
For the feature film This Is Not a Love Song
, written by Simon Beaufoy
and directed by Bille Eltringham
, Rutherford was required to give this British thriller a hard hitting, edgy soundtrack
. On its release, This Is Not a Love Song became the first film to be streamed live on the Internet simultaneously with its cinema premiere.
Rutherford created the full orchestral score for Aliens vs. Predator
,
the video game. This project required over 70 minutes of orchestral music which he recorded at the Bratislava Radio Studios in Slovakia
; additional recording, mixing and mastering were all done at his London studios.
Rutherford's latest scoring credits include...
Panic Button - feature film - social networking British horror, Devil’s Bridge - feature film - a thriller come survival - horror, the award winning film - Dust, Rogue Warrior - video game - Bethesda, Aliens vs. Predator
(2010) - video game - SEGA, NeverDead - video game - Konami, Sniper Elite V2 - video game - Rebellion and 505 Games.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He has worked with, and for, some of the world’s most prominent producers, directors, artists and writers including Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Steve Levine
Steve Levine
Steve Levine is a British record producer, most famous for his work on Culture Club's studio albums.Levine also has produced work for John Howard, China Crisis, Motorhead, Ziggy Marley, Westworld, The Beach Boys, and Gary Moore....
, William Orbit
William Orbit
William Orbit is an English musician, composer and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album Ray of Light. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums...
, Goldie
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...
, Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
, Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
, John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
,Tony Cinciripini, Bille Eltringham
Bille Eltringham
Bille Eltringham is an award winning British film and television director. She is a graduate of Bournemouth Film School.Her most recent film is Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution...
and the late John Hughes.
Although Rutherford has worked extensively in the music industry, he now mainly composes and produces music for films and video games. Since the end of 2009 Rutherford has scored two feature films; Panic Button and Devils Bridge As well as scoring the award winning short film Dust. He also scored the video games; Rogue Warrior for Bethesda and Aliens vs. Predator
Aliens vs. Predator (video game)
Aliens vs. Predator is a science fiction first-person shooter video game, developed by Rebellion Developments, the team behind the 1999 original PC game, and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is based on the Alien vs...
(2010) which at the time of it's release became Sega's fastest selling game in the company's history. Following this Rutherford began scoring NeverDead for Konami and then started work on his fourth AAA
AAA
AAA, or Triple-A, may be a three-letter acronym or may just mean something that is high-quality, premier, or excellent.As a proper noun, Aaa is found only in the species name Cavaticovelia aaa , an insect from Hawaii....
video game title, Sniper Elite V2 for Rebellion and 505 Games.
Early years
From the age of nine, Rutherford studied classical guitarClassical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
and classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
theory. He studied the Segovia Technique for around 12 years under the guidance of tutor Leslie Nicholls (LGSM BA Hons), a former pupil of the highly acclaimed Professor Adele Kramer. He learnt to play the piano while studying composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
and classical music history. He also won a number of classical music competitions with his playing.
Record industry
Rutherford was a key member and songwriter with Jimmy The HooverJimmy The Hoover
Jimmy The Hoover were a British pop band, who had a hit single with "Tantalise ". It would be their only hit, reaching number 18 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1983....
, a band managed by the legendary punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
impresario Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
. As well as having a top 20 hit, they also toured with bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...
.
Following this early success, Rutherford travelled to Central and Eastern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in order to live with, and record, the native tribes people. He devised and configured a high quality and lightweight mobile system that could be used discretely to record tribes people in challenging and sometimes dangerous environments. In the year and a half spent there, he absorbed many musical styles and rhythms which remain a valuable source of inspiration.
Rutherford went on to establish his own recording facilities at William Orbit
William Orbit
William Orbit is an English musician, composer and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album Ray of Light. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums...
’s Guerrilla Studios in North London. He soon began remixing, co-producing and co-writing alongside Orbit, and together they worked on a number of projects with artists such as Beth Orton
Beth Orton
Beth Orton is a BRIT Award–winning English singer-songwriter, known for her 'folktronica' sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers in the mid 1990s. However, these were not Orton's first...
, Yothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi are an Australian band with Aboriginal and balanda members formed in 1986. Aboriginal members come from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land...
, Bassomatic
BassOmatic
In cryptography, BassOmatic was the symmetric-key cipher designed by Phil Zimmermann as part of his email encryption software, PGP . Comments in the source code indicate that he had been designing the cipher since as early as 1988, but it was not publicly released until 1991...
,
The Christians, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Ellie Lawson
and Strange Cargo III
Strange Cargo III
Strange Cargo III is the fourth album by electronic instrumentalist William Orbit. It is the third in a series of similarly titled albums: Strange Cargo , Strange Cargo II, and Strange Cargo Hinterland....
.
It was in this studio that Rutherford began his collaboration with artist and friend Goldie
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...
that led to the creation of Metalheadz
Metalheadz
Metalheadz is a pioneering drum and bass record label based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1994 by Kemistry & Storm and Goldie, it has been home to some of the drum and bass scene's brightest talent and is notable for the high quality of its back catalogue....
and the Rufige Kru. Together, their production and writing skills brought massive underground success.
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
invited Rutherford to compose and produce an album using contributions from a variety of artists at Gabriel's Real World Studios
Real World Studios
Real World Studios is a residential recording studio in Box, Wiltshire, England associated with the Real World Records Ltd. record label founded by rock musician Peter Gabriel...
in Box, Wiltshire. The result, Way Down Below Buffalo Hell, was the critically acclaimed album by ‘Jam Nation’. The album featured artists including Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
, Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums...
, Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham
William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
, Karl Wallinger
Karl Wallinger
Karl Edmond De Vere Wallinger is a Welsh musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for leading the band World Party and for his mid-1980s stint in The Waterboys...
, Ayub Ogada
Ayub Ogada
Ayub Ogada is a musician from Kenya. Ogada was born in Mombasa and is one of the Luo people of Western Kenya.He received his first exposure to Western culture early on. When he was six, his parents , toured the college circuit in the U.S...
, Galliano
Galliano (band)
Galliano were a London-based acid jazz group, which started in 1988. The group was the first signing to Eddie Piller and Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label. The original members were Rob Gallagher , Constantine Weir , Michael Snaith , and Crispin Robinson...
. Jane Sibery, Lucky Dube
Lucky Dube
Lucky Philip Dube was a South African reggae musician. He recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans in a 25-year period and was South Africa's biggest selling reggae artist...
and Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
.
Rutherford has also worked with Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
,
Arthur Baker
Arthur Baker (musician)
Arthur Baker is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, and the British group New Order.-Early career:...
, Jon Caffrey, Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...
, Joseph Arthur
Joseph Arthur
Joseph Arthur is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. Combining poetic lyrics with a layered sonic palette, Arthur has built his reputation over the years through critically acclaimed releases and constant touring; his unique solo live performances incorporate the use of a...
and Einsturzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
.
Film and video games
An opportunity to learn all the technical aspects attributed to music production for feature films came when Grammy awardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winning producer Steve Levine
Steve Levine
Steve Levine is a British record producer, most famous for his work on Culture Club's studio albums.Levine also has produced work for John Howard, China Crisis, Motorhead, Ziggy Marley, Westworld, The Beach Boys, and Gary Moore....
invited Rutherford to work alongside him in his state of the art London studio. Together, they worked on feature films including the Grammy Award-winning Planes, Trains and Automobiles, directed by John Huges, starring Steve Martin and John Candy, Eversmile, New Jersey
Eversmile, New Jersey
Eversmile, New Jersey is an Argentine and British comedy-drama film released in 1989, directed by Carlos Sorín, and written by Sorín, Jorge Goldenberg, and Roberto Scheuer.The film stars Daniel Day Lewis as dentist Dr. Fergus O'Connell...
starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Mister Frost
Mister Frost
Mister Frost is a 1990 psychological thriller film starring Jeff Goldblum. The film was directed by French filmmaker Philippe Setbon, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Derry Hall, Brad Lynch and Louise Vincent.-Synopsis:...
starring Jeff Goldblum.
Rutherford’s music has featured in many films, including Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen (1998 film)
Hell's Kitchen is a 1998 film starring Rosanna Arquette, William Forsythe, Angelina Jolie, Mekhi Phifer, and Johnny Whitworth. The film was written and directed by Tony Cinciripini...
, Blood Brothers (by producer John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
),
Peace One Day
Peace One Day
Peace One Day was founded by British documentary filmmaker and actor Jeremy Gilley in September 1999. The charity promotes the idea of one day a year free of conflict and war, one day of a global truce regardless of all kinds of conflict. The UN had already declared the third Tuesday of September...
and Sacred Planet
Sacred Planet
Sacred Planet is a 2004 documentary. Robert Redford provided narration for the film. It was released on April 22, 2004, and grossed $1,108,356....
. He has composed the music for some award winning short films and his compositions can be heard in numerous documentaries and dramas.
For the feature film This Is Not a Love Song
This is Not a Love Song
This is Not a Love Song is a 2003 British film directed by Bille Eltringham, the first film to be streamed live on the Internet simultaneously with its cinema premiere....
, written by Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
and directed by Bille Eltringham
Bille Eltringham
Bille Eltringham is an award winning British film and television director. She is a graduate of Bournemouth Film School.Her most recent film is Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution...
, Rutherford was required to give this British thriller a hard hitting, edgy soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
. On its release, This Is Not a Love Song became the first film to be streamed live on the Internet simultaneously with its cinema premiere.
Rutherford created the full orchestral score for Aliens vs. Predator
Aliens vs. Predator (video game)
Aliens vs. Predator is a science fiction first-person shooter video game, developed by Rebellion Developments, the team behind the 1999 original PC game, and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is based on the Alien vs...
,
the video game. This project required over 70 minutes of orchestral music which he recorded at the Bratislava Radio Studios in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
; additional recording, mixing and mastering were all done at his London studios.
Rutherford's latest scoring credits include...
Panic Button - feature film - social networking British horror, Devil’s Bridge - feature film - a thriller come survival - horror, the award winning film - Dust, Rogue Warrior - video game - Bethesda, Aliens vs. Predator
Aliens vs. Predator (video game)
Aliens vs. Predator is a science fiction first-person shooter video game, developed by Rebellion Developments, the team behind the 1999 original PC game, and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is based on the Alien vs...
(2010) - video game - SEGA, NeverDead - video game - Konami, Sniper Elite V2 - video game - Rebellion and 505 Games.