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With over 20 years, experience and having worked at Metropolis, Townhouse and Whitfield Street Studios, Frank brings a wealth of mastering know-how to Abbey Road.
Growing up, he played electric guitar and keyboards, which led to a fascination with music production and, inevitably, the recording studio. His first job was runner at Pink Floyd's studio Britannia Row. From there he moved up to the role of tape op and learnt to edit before getting into mastering and vinyl cutting.
"I've always loved the vibe here at Abbey Road...it's one of the best studios in the world...lots of very talented creative people making amazing music through the years...you can feel the history of the building. It's inspiring."
Frank's discography is a musical Who's Who. He's worked with Arcade Fire, The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Coldplay, Oasis, Snow Patrol, Primal Scream, Blur, Mogwai, Bryan Ferry, Johnny Marr, Biffy Clyro, Lucy Rose, Birdy, Ash, Belle and Sebastian, Frank Turner, Scott Walker, Sunn O))), Morrissey, Rudimental, The Charlatans, Electronic and Fatboy Slim.
A specialist in vinyl cutting, Frank uses a mixture of analogue and digital gear and loves spending time in the studio with creative people. High spots include working with Sir George Martin and Elton John on Candle in the Wind the biggest selling charted single of all time, sharing lunch with Iggy Pop, winning a Mercury Music Prize, and discovering an unheard version of The Smiths How Soon Is Now with Johnny Marr and Paul Weller.
Frank is just as skilled at mastering current releases as remastering the classics. Two of his recent major remastering projects ,The Smiths Complete and Blur 21 both won awards for Best Re-Issue/Remaster of the year and there are a couple more expected soon.
Hi-Fi Choice described him as "England's greatest mastering and remastering engineer for contemporary rock music".
“I always work with Frank on my records. Mastering the entire Smiths catalogue was a huge undertaking, but we have a way of working together and it turned out perfectly. Frank Arkwright is one of the elite top mastering guys in the world.” – Johnny Marr
“Frank did a great job on our last studio album, Office Politics, so it was a no-brainer to use him for our 30th anniversary reissue project. I really like his warm and immediate sound. Remastering nine albums, originally recorded over a span of twenty years initially seemed a massive undertaking! Thanks to Frank's thoughtful and receptive approach (and a few late nights) we came away from the process with everything sounding fantastic.” – Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy
“I always feel my music is in safe hands with Frank - he brings out the best in the mix.” – Bryan Ferry
Highlights:
Elton John & George Martin - Candle In The Wind
Coldplay - The Scientist
Blur - remastering all their albums
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
The Smiths - Complete
The Verve - A Northern Soul
Joy Division/New Order - mastered or remastered all their records
Abba - Gold
System Of A Down - Mezmerize
The Killers - Somebody Told Me
