Biography
The music of Waveform is composed, performed and produced by Steve Blenkinsopp. Steve lives with his wife in Scarborough, on the coast of North Yorkshire in the UK.
Steve’s musical background began with he took up classical guitar at the age of 10. Things were to change forever, however, with the arrival of the EDP Wasp – an 18th birthday present. This revolutionary British Synth began his long standing love affair with the synthesizer, and set Steve off on a wide-ranging career within the music industry.
In the 1980’s, Steve became live sound engineer at the Futurist Theatre – these were exciting times with concerts from artists such as Spandau Ballet and David Essex. Later on, Steve worked as a freelance recording engineer in 24 track studios throughout the North of England. Keen to establish his own recording facilities, Mainstream studio was born. Initially a 16 track setup, Steve provided jingles and idents for radio and DJs, along with bespoke music for video productions throughout the 1980s.
Mainstream’s formidable arsenal of synths saw the arrival of classics such as the Roland Jupiter 8, TR808 and the modular System 100m. Early adoption of computer based systems by Apple and Atari paved the way for the complex and multi layered sound that was eventually to become the hallmark of the Waveform sound.
Moving more and more into the field of production, Steve attended a Producers Masterclass by Rupert Hine (Tina Turner, Howard Jones, Camel, Anthony Phillips, Rush, Stevie Nicks, Suzanne Vega) which provided invaluable experience and was a stepping stone in Steve’s production work that would eventually lead to the formation of Waveform.
Steve embraced the arrival of Sampling with enthusiasm, and attended a course by Fairlight legend and Art Of Noise Member JJ Jeczalik (Yes, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Kate Bush, ABC), amongst whose credits is the score for the 1987 movie Dragnet. Steve experimented with the layering of samples: fusing elements of sound together in early recordings such as “Haunted House” and on cassette releases by Waveform such as “Gently Does It” and “When Penguins Learn To Dance”
In 1990 – The Waveform track “In Search of New Horizons” was featured on the CD “Surreality” on the Surreal to Real Label. Featuring the cream of UK Synthesists, the CD also contained tracks by Mark Shreeve, Ian Boddy, Paul Ward & Stephan Whitlan and remains to this day, an excellent showcase for UK Synth artists.