Andy
Walter

Mastering Engineer

Andy
Walter

Mastering Engineer

Andy is a degree educated engineer, musician and composer who joined Abbey Road Studios back in 1991 and has just celebrated 30 wonderful years (so far!) at the studio. He studied engineering at Spirit Studios in Manchester for many years recording various Factory Records bands in the late '80s.

In his pre-studio life, Andy was a classically trained musician and composer, but also the bass player in the feted 1990’s pop glam rock band The Trash Can Junkies who featured heavily (and humorously) in the critically acclaimed book Hell Bent for Leather by Seb Hunter, that was turned into a short comedy film starring Tim McInnery and cast.

Andy is one of the world's foremost mastering and restoration engineers, with four Gramophone awards and two Grammy nominations to his name as well as numerous other accolades and awards. A pioneer of digital restoration processes and using state-of-the-art technology like CEDAR (much of which he helped in the process of early development), Andrew has applied his skills and knowledge to working on recordings as early as 1897 on 78 records to vinyl, tape, CD, DVD, SACD, Bluray and filmscores through to modern 7.1 surround sound audio restorations for classical, jazz, spoken word and all genres of pop music.

As a surround mastering engineer he has also worked on CD and DVD projects for some of the biggest names in the pop and rock world including numerous projects for David Bowie, Jimmy Page, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, U2, The Cure, Robbie Williams, Radiohead, The Bee Gees, The Who, Simple Minds and The Beatles. Andy transferred the first (and thought ‘lost’) studio demo acetate recording of The Beatles’ Love Me Do, which was owned by Sir George Martin and was restored and released for the first time ever on The Beatles Anthology box set.

Andy has proved himself a popular Online Mastering engineer at the studios working with engineers, artists and producers on the Abbey Road Online portal on recordings from around the world from South America, America, Russia and China. He also QC produces numerous recordings for Decca Records and has produced and mastered a wealth of catalogue artists for many labels around the world, including Capitol Records (Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra & Crosby & Nash to name a few)

Andy is also in great demand as a mastering engineer for the film and stage industries, mastering numerous soundtrack albums for Hollywood blockbusters including Harry Potter, Everest, Cinderella, Shadow Recruit and V For Vendetta and the BAFTA winning film Atonement, which received the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score.

Andy has also worked for many award-winning ‘hit’ musicals including The Lord Of The Rings, Dirty Dancing and Phantom Two: Love Never Dies for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (also remastering Lloyd Webber's classic Jesus Christ Superstar and numerous other projects). In the classical world he has worked exclusively on a series of recordings with the world famous cellist Mtislav Rostropovich and on a musical audio history of EMI Classics, the complete recordings of Maria Callas and The Centenary Box, for which he was Grammy-nominated.

He has recently worked with Snow Patrol and Kasabian on film projects, with the director Mel Brooks on the London cast CD soundtrack of The Young Frankenstein and with the composer on the 2018 filmscore release of Yardie and film The Bees, where the audio for the first time has been mastered ‘pre film edit’. He was delighted to complete a 5.1 mix of the classic album Hemispheres by Rush in its 40th anniversary edition, as well as mastering all the surround streams for SACDs of every Rush album ever recorded, as this is a band he loves.

Andy is a world expert in audio restoration and also forensic restoration work and has worked with the British police, the UK government as well as business clients as a respected engineer in cleaning up audio for legal and private investigations. He regularly gives expert lectures to industry groups around the world namely in the USA, Hong Kong, Berlin and the UK, talking about audio restoration, the mastering process and the state of the art restoration technologies involved, for which Abbey Road is a pioneering alumni. He has also appeared on the media on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and local BBC Radio stations talking about restoration and mastering work. He has recently undertaken several unique wildlife projects, notably restoring sound clips of ‘tropical fish talking’ and ‘trees drinking water’ which has proved a fascinating and world-breaking audio first.

Occasionally he works as an independent producer for Abbey Road, working with our recording teams at the studios and elsewhere on a rich diversity of projects like a university choir Christmas concert, a pop symphonic piano album in Studio 2 and the world premiere recording of Palintropos by the internationally famous eclectic composer and friend of John Lennon & Ringo Starr, Sir John Taverner.

When not at Abbey Road, he owns and runs a small sheep farm and exclusive woodland camping site in Norfolk and sails a rare Nicholson yacht on the Norfolk Broads.


Highlights:

The Elgar Edition (Gramophone winner)

Noel Coward - The HMV Collection (Grammy-nominated CD box set)

Rostropovich - The Russian Years Edition (Grammy-winning CD Box Set)

EMI Classics - Centenary Edition 1897- 1997: 100 Years of Great Music (Grammy-nominated CD Box set)

Maria Callas - The Complete Opera Recordings (97 CD set)

U2 - U2 Go Home: Live From Slane Castle (DVD), Zoo TV Live from Sydney (DVD)

The Beatles - Anthology Edition (CD)

Roger Waters - The Wall Live in Berlin (DVD)

The Cure - The Cure: Trilogy DVD (Live In The Tempodrom Berlin November 2002), 40 Live - DVD Set (Curaetion 25 and Anniversary)

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber - Phantom of the Opera – Love Never Dies (London show CD), Stephen Ward (London show CD)

John Williams - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (CD)

Patrick Doyle - Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, Brave, Eragon (CD)

Dario MarianelliAtonement (Academy Award winner), Pride & Prejudice, V for Vendetta, Everest.

Mel Brooks - The Young Frankenstein (London Show) CD

Rush - Hemispheres 40th Edition (SACD/DVD/CD)

Discography

Classic Rock Renaissance - London Symphony Orchestra
Dire Straits - Live 1978-1992 - Dire Straits
Laughing with Liza - The Vocalian and Deram Singles 1964-1967+ - David Bowie
Imagine - Patrick Roberts
Time - Jess Gillam
The Space Orchestra - Samuel Sim, Paul Sanderson, Tom Furse
Hemispheres - 40th Anniversary Edition - Rush
Yardie -  Original Score
The Young Frankenstein - Mel Brooks
Griffons at the Gates of Heaven - Sons Of Hippies
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Anna Karenina
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Parklive - Blur
Symphonies Nos 3 & 4 and Schumann Symphony No 4 - Mendelssohn
The Cabin In The Woods (OST) - David Julyan
Something Is Wrong: Vintage Recordings From East Africa - Various Artists
To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings From Istanbul - Various Artists
Everybody's Fine (OST) - Dario Marianelli
Marvellous Boy: Calypso from West Africa - Various Artists
Open Strings: 1920s Middle Eastern Recordings, New Responses - Various Artists
The Last Station (OST) - Sergey Yevtushenko
Igor (OST) - Patrick Doyle
Living Is Hard: West African Music In Britain, 1927-1929 - Various Artists
Messages: OMD Greatest Hits - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Nim's Island (OST) - Patrick Doyle
Sprigs of Time: 78s from the EMI Archive - Various Artists
Becoming Jane (OST) - Adrian Johnston
Miss Potter (OST) - Nigel Westlake
The Best Of The Imperial Recordings 1965-1968 - Cher
William Shakespeare's As You Like It (Music From The HBO Film) - Patrick Doyle
Nanny McPhee (OST) - Patrick Doyle
V For Vendetta (Soundtrack) - Dario Marianelli
Wah-Wah (Original Score) - Patrick Doyle
Deep Velvet / Old Gold and Ivory - George Shearing
Feoffee's Lands - Jacqui McShee's Pentangle
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (OST) - Patrick Doyle
Pride & Prejudice (OST) - Jean Yves Thibaudet
The Return (OST) - Dario Marianelli
The Romantic Approach / Sophisticated Approach - Stan Kenton
I Shall Not Remove 1975-1980 - Cornell Campbell
Shanty Town Determination 1976-1978 - Trinity
The Children Of Jah 1977-1979 - The Chantells
129 Beat Street Ja Man Special 1975-1978 - Junior Byles
Dreader Dread 1976-1978 - Johnny Clarke
Forward The Bass: Dub From Randy's, 1972-1975 - Impact All-Stars
Good Vibes 1975-1979 - Horace Andy
Jesus Dread 1972-1977 - Yabby You
Morwell Unlimited Meet King Tubby's Dub Me - King Tubby
Dub In The Roots Tradition - Scientist
Heart Of The Congos - The Congos
Only Love Can Conquer 1976-1979 - Prince Alla
Termination Dub - King Tubby
Voodooism - Lee "Scratch" Perry
Duran Duran - Duran Duran
In The Light / In The Light Dub - Horace Andy
The Best Of Saxon [Caroline] - Saxon
Seven And The Ragged Tiger - Duran Duran
True - Spandau Ballet