Ian Cooper

As a boy Ian dreamed of being a film cameraman… but instead he started at PYE studios in 1971 using the Scully Lathes and from there he moved on to Neumann Consoles. During this time Ian discovered how important the mastering engineer is in improving the sound of records.

Ian’s recent clients include: Sting, Oasis, Eleanor McEvoy, The Fratellis, Nick Cave,
The Nick Ross Orchestra, Lesley Garrett,
The Verve and Nigel Kennedy.
International artists include ERA, Melendi, Dover, Damien Saez, Herman Dune, Cabas, Asha Puthli, Presuntos Implicados, Vanessa Paradis, Julio Iglesias, Herbert Groenemeyer…

While at Utopia in 1976 there were times when their work accounted for 50% of the UK charts! Then in 1979 Ian started up Townhouse Studios cutting rooms which introduced 3M digital and ½ inch analogue as well as building the world’s first independent cutting room with DMM disk cutting.

In 1993 Ian, Tim Young and Tony Cousins built the state of the art Metropolis Mastering Studios where you’ll find him today.

Just a few of Ian’s music business Firsts:

• Ian had his first Japanese meal with Iggy Pop.
• Ian mastered Acker Bilk’s 1976 “Ariaâ€?, the first quadraphonic single to make the UK charts
• And he mastered the first ½ speed DMM single cut for “The Word Girl” by Scritti Politti
• The world’s first SACD Single for Eleanor McEvoy “Did I hurt you” was mastered by Ian
• And most importantly Ian Cooper’s work does not stop on earth!!! Four tracks mastered by Ian were played 4 billion kilometres away on Titan (one of Saturn’s moon) as the Huygens Space Probe landed in January 2005. The songs were written by Julien Civange and Louis Haeri for Siliwood Music.