Tim Olden

Tim Olden has worked with Somewhere in many capacities (!) from technical to emotional support ... his main role is as Musical Director for all our projects though ...

His recent personal and somewhere projects have included:

release June 2008: Living with the Tudors
Composed, Arranged and Mixed the original score for this feature length documentary. A Somewhere Film by Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie, co-funded by Britdoc and Arts Council England

For this project we worked again with 'Roads to Siam', who wrote and recorded some of the 'songs' in the film - I could then combine these with digitally generated sounds & music to support the films diverse aesthetic styles. Karen & Nina even feature humming/singing (!) at some points.

2008: Musical collaboration with Nina Pope
A Song for a Circus

2008: Music for the short film
Little Deluxe Living
A Somewhere Film shot in Japan & England

2008: Music for Elizabeth Hobbs animation project
Skeleton Dance
Made with the pupils of Mulberry School for girls

2007: Created the music for
Almanac
A Somewhere project permanently installed in Cinema City, Norwich, developed with programming by Dorian Moore.

This was a commission for the new Cinema City in Norwich. The project is essentially a database of timelapse images, sounds and music. Each day a new 1 minute 'trailer' is generated from these elements - specific to that day. The music is 5.1 surround sound and combines binaural recordings made at the locations with short musical 'themes'.

2007: Musical Director/Composer/Musician original score for
The Old, Old, Very Old Man
Award winning animation by Elizabeth Hobbs, this micro-budget short animation was a finalist in the 2008 British Animation Awards, and won best animation at Flip, Aurora, the International Programme at LIAF & best independent film at BAF.

2006: Composer in Residence
Seven Samurai Project
A Grizedale Arts project in Toge & Tokyo – Japan

2006: Musical Director for the documentary
Teenland
A BBC4 commission by director Jeanie Finlay

2005: Composed, Arranged and Mixed original score for feature film
Bata-ville: We are not afraid of the future
A Somewhere project by Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie, developed by Commissions East.

For ‘Bata-ville’ we experimented (very successfully) with writing and recording performances from a wide variety of both amateur and professional musicians, which were then combined with sampled and digitally generated sound.

2005: Composed, Arranged and Mixed Original scores for exhibition
HearWear: the future of hearing
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Four, quadaphonic sound pieces, exploring new approaches to hearing aid design – In collaboration with Dominic Robson.

2004: Edited mixed and produced sound work (including original music)
Celestial Radio - How the Universe Sang Itself into Being
A ‘Coast’ Commission by artists Neil Bromwich and Zoe Walker

2003: Composed, Arranged and Mixed original score for short dance film
Welcome To
A Somewhere Film by Karen Guthrie

This short film combined interesting local dance groups from Cumbria (such as clog and garland dancers and a troupe of majorettes) with a small professional troupe in an alternative ‘welcome’ to the Lake District. For the sound track I worked closely with the choreographer, film maker and local dancers to create a dense 5 minute track.

2002: Sound designer & Composer of the theme tune & incidental music TV swansong
A Somewhere project by Pope & Guthrie

2001: Anecdotal Evidence
A collaboration with artist Nina Pope

This commission was produced as part of the Year of the Artist. the 35 minute sound work is designed to be listened to on Grafham Water – a reservoir in Cambridgeshire. The piece mixes interviews with local residents who formerly lived in the houses now below the water mixed with samples from the 60’s when ‘the lake’ was built.

2001: Composer in Residence at Grizedale Arts, Cumbria
In addition to running a series of Youth Music workshops, I developed a new piece White Label with a local Dutch Street Organ builder/restorer.
White Label uses a fairground organ controlled by a MIDI interface to play a DJ set and original contemporary music created for the organ.

2001: 1949 – ’78rpm
Original Commissioned work created for A Public Auction of Private Art Works by Nina Pope (see lot 51)
Created in response to a 1949 Auction Catalogue entry, the track uses only samples from 1949 – this was cut onto a single dub plate, questioning its long-term value when resold in the 2001 auction.

EDUCATION

1986-1989 University of Brighton BA Fine Art (Alternative Practice)
1985-1986 Winchester School of Art (Foundation)

EMPLOYMENT

1997-2007 Self Employed Artist/composer
1997-2007 Part-time Network Manager, Design Interactions,
Royal College of Art.
1994-1997 IT Tutor and technical demonstrator City and Islington Adult Education College London. Also Graphic Tools tutor for young Adults with Learning difficulties.
1989-1992 Visiting Lecturer for Slade & Camberwell Art Schools.

CONTACT

tim.olden 'at' rca.ac.uk