Veneration Music Ltd

Veneration Music Ltd is a Uk based Music Production and Film Score coordination company. Since 2008, it has also been involved in the development and production of feature films including the raising of finance and development monies. The company was formed in 2005 and since 2007, it has been managed by James Edward Barker (born February 14 1980), a British music composer and music producer for film and television.

Biography

Veneration Music Ltd has been involved with the coordinating of scores for feature films, shorts, commercials and television productions across the globe. The company is managed by James Edward Barker, who oversees all the company's activities. With music, the processes involved with the delivering of the score can include: composition, orchestration, performance & recording, mixing (5.1, 7.1, stereo) & mastering. The company also supports the talents of UK music engineer: James Loughrey, who has been involved with mixing and producing artists as varied as : Robert Plant, Bjork, Scott Walker, Sophie Ellies Bextor, Hope Of The States and My Vitriol. Veneration Music Ltdalso supports UK film composers and arrangers: Tim Despic and Natalie Ann Holt. Since 2005 Veneration Music Ltd has been involved with coordinating the scores for over eleven features, as well as raising and financing the music budgets for films such as Extraordinary Rendition (2007) and the production of shorts such as Consuming Love (2008).Veneration Music Ltd has recently been packaging a slate of features including two films with Altitude Entertainment in the US (The Boss Always Sits In The Back & Untitled Space Ninjas Comedy), one film with the Bureau (UK) (The Vanishment), one film with Universal (4321); and two independent UK horrors (The Wishing Tree and St.Mary's).

AbOUT James Edward Barker

James Edward Barker is a film composer and music producer from the UK. He is also a relation to Benjamin Frankel, one of Britain's most prolific and most successful film composers of all time. As well as being a self-taught musician from a young age, James is classically trained, after being schooled at Newcastle University in the UK. His music suggests influences from an eclectic mix of genres from: Jazz and Blues, Rock, Classical and more contemporary styles of Electronica and Dance. He is also a multi-instrumentalist, performing as a guitarist, percussionist, pianist and vocalist. Throughout his scores there he performs a variety of alternative and ethnic INSTRUMENTS including: Tibetan Singing Bowls, Thai Saw Duang, Dilruba, Hammered Dulcimer, Glockenspiel and Egyptian lutes. His performances have also included an array of African drums and flutes; and most distinctively, he often uses many leftfield techniques for his tones and sounds, including using items such as detuned music boxes, match boxes, bamboo and he has been quoted for using a number of modified live sampled recordings taken from various atmospheric locations around the world. He quotes Matthew Herbert and film composer Christopher Young as some of his main influences with the latter inspiring him to "experiment with children's toys".

Other influences can be heard in his work, fromf bands such as The Crystal Method and Aphex Twin. He uses techniques such as recording traditional and authentic instruments through a variety of collectible guitar pedals and analogue machines. He stated: "Much of my work has been the result of trial and error with working for many years alongside the chief designer for Vestax, Steve Hills, who worked there during the late 1980s and 1990s. We spent time remodelling a number of already rare and vintage pedals in order to attain certain sounds and uses. These have included the rebuilding and modifying of pedals such as the Roland GR-300 and the 1980's Morley Pik series, including the ultra rare Pik-Percussion and Pik-A-Wah pedals. Steve also encouraged me to experiment with the Vestax pedals which he introduced me too".

Prior to University,his late teens were spent touring the UK in a highly acclaimed Big Band as lead guitarist and recording early demos as a singer/songwriter at Abbey Road Studios, where he worked with childhood friend and music engineer - Charlie Andrew, drummer and founding member of The Laurel Collective. After honing his production techniques at one of the UK's leading studio environments, James moved to Newcastle Upon-Tyne University, in the North of England, where he received his classical training in music composition, performance, orchestration and technology. After receiving a BA Honours Degree in Music, he joined rock outfit, Revere, as manager and lead guitarist and toured the UK's top venues supporting acts such as The Futureheads, Maxïmo Park, Simple Kid and Martin Grech. He then moved to London and formed his current dance collective, Liberation Jumpsuit, who secured a residency at Ginglik Club, Shepherd's Bush, in west London (UK). They continue to perform around Europe and have played with dance acts such as Andy C, Four Tet, Shut Up and Dance!, Alex Paterson (The Orb), Aphrodite, Cylob and Nicky Blackmarket.

In 2005, he produced music for commercials for brands such asShell, HSBC, UNICEF and started Veneration Music Ltd, a UK based music production company, through which he coordinates scores for feature films. Having trained in all areas of music and music production, James handles all areas of composing, orchestrating, performing, recording, mixing and mastering of the score and to this day, still retains complete oversight of these elements for his scores.

His first feature, 'Unhitched', was an $11m romantic comedy starring: Seth Green, Stuart Townsend, Amy Smart and was directed by 'Shooting Fish' director, Stefan Schwartz. He then went on to work with veteran director Robert Young, known for his comedies such as 'Fierce Creatures', the sequel to 'A Fish Called Wanda'. James followed these films with a number of dark and moody scores, including the 2009 releases 'Psych 9', starring Sara Foster, Carey Elwes and Michael Biehn, and the British low budget horror, 'Reverb', starring Leo Gregory, Margo Stilley and Eva Birthistle.

In 2007, James also scored the $7m British ITV television production, 'The History Of Mr Polly', starring Lee Evans, and the DVD/BBC release of Jim Threapleton's 'Extraordinary Rendition', starring Andy Serkis and Omar Berdouni. The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for a number of awards and festivals including the British Independent Film Awards, Locarno and Edinburgh Film Festivals.

In 2008, James went on to work with BAFTA nominated director Martin Radich on the WARP Film and UKFC production, 'Crack Willow'. This was swiftly followed with two films scores, one for Adrian Vitoria's gritty urban thriller 'The Crew', with Stephen Graham and distributed by Momentum Pictures, and the other, a dramatic score for Ashley Judd's role as a manic depressive in the Sundance selected 'Helen' - directed by the critically acclaimed Sandra Nettellbeck of 'Mostly Martha'.

James continues to secure films as a prolific film composer and in 2009 he is attached to work with some of the UK industry's most exciting and talented director's and actors including, 4321, a film for Noel Clarke - winner of 2009 Orange Rising Star Award at the BAFTAs. He is also signed to a psychological thriller, The Vanishment (Produced by Veneration Music Ltd & The Bureau), which will see him co-compose alongside his greatest influence, Christopher Young, who has scored Hollywood films such as 'Spiderman 3' and 'The Exorcism Of Emily Rose'.

Veneration Music Ltd's Filmography

  • The Best Man
  • Bye Bye Harry
  • Dog's Mercury
  • Pocket Thief
  • Reverb
  • The History Of Mr Polly
  • Extraordinary Rendition
  • Psych 9
  • The Tournament
  • The Crew
  • Helen
  • Five Miles Out
  • Greek Pete
  • Crack Willow
  • Powers Of Three
  • No Way Through
  • War School
  • The Boss Always Sits In The Back
  • The Vanishment
  • 4321