Les Bateman is a seasoned musician - [helluva B3 player], sound engineer, computer technician, producer - you name it. During his tenure in the music industry he has managed large studios [Sounds Interchange], developed studio equipment [SMPTE analyzer, SoundFX retrieval systems] - to put it briefly, Les has certainly been around. Probably because his father was a watchmaker and jeweler, Les developed an intense attention to detail. This may have have become a family trait - Les' brother developed the "Black Box" that records each and every detail of the commercial aircraft we all fly on.
Starting out his career as a touring musician in 1969 on the B3 Hammond with a band called Witness Inc., Les fronted this band and they produced several hit singles, and as well as head-lining their own shows they toured with other acts as big as Cream. As a young teenager Les began modifying and repairing his own Hammond and did the same for fellow organists. His technical aptitude eventually lead him from the stage to mixing sound [for the likes of Led Zeppelin, and Frank Zappa] and then into the recording studio. This was back when 16 track tape recorders where a rarity in any studio so he’s been in the music production game from the beginning.
Naturally, Les has been working with digital audio since it all started, and it would be hard to find anyone out there with more knowledge and experience than Mr. Bateman. He has done everything in a studio from acoustic design to large console modifications to tracking string for disco records in the late 70s.
Les has lived through all the successes as well as all of the ridiculousness associated with the computer technologies in the recording studio.
He has been in the thick of things since the days of the Commodore 64, Mac Plus and Atari to the Synclavier, Fairlight and Waveframe. During the mid 90s Les began building computer systems for film composers and recording studios. His clientele soon included some of the most successful composers and studios in Canada and he quickly gained a reputation for being "the guy" to turn to for dozens of composers, producers and studio operators.
Les continues to be one of the most sought after technicians for major professional recording studios. When it comes to computers for the music technology industry he’s seen it all; the cheap parts and the quality parts, the rip-offs and good deals, the uninformed consumerism and the professionalism, and he has distilled all this madness into a computer system that truly works. He’s put his name on it, and he wouldn’t be stepping up unless the MusicXPC computer was ready for the professional.
The MusicXPC represents the culmination of more than 30 years of his experience in the audio industry. Its time has come. Buy it, forget about the computer, and start making music again.
Starting out his career as a touring musician in 1969 on the B3 Hammond with a band called Witness Inc., Les fronted this band and they produced several hit singles, and as well as head-lining their own shows they toured with other acts as big as Cream. As a young teenager Les began modifying and repairing his own Hammond and did the same for fellow organists. His technical aptitude eventually lead him from the stage to mixing sound [for the likes of Led Zeppelin, and Frank Zappa] and then into the recording studio. This was back when 16 track tape recorders where a rarity in any studio so he’s been in the music production game from the beginning. Naturally, Les has been working with digital audio since it all started, and it would be hard to find anyone out there with more knowledge and experience than Mr. Bateman. He has done everything in a studio from acoustic design to large console modifications to tracking string for disco records in the late 70s.
Les has lived through all the successes as well as all of the ridiculousness associated with the computer technologies in the recording studio.
He has been in the thick of things since the days of the Commodore 64, Mac Plus and Atari to the Synclavier, Fairlight and Waveframe. During the mid 90s Les began building computer systems for film composers and recording studios. His clientele soon included some of the most successful composers and studios in Canada and he quickly gained a reputation for being "the guy" to turn to for dozens of composers, producers and studio operators.
Les continues to be one of the most sought after technicians for major professional recording studios. When it comes to computers for the music technology industry he’s seen it all; the cheap parts and the quality parts, the rip-offs and good deals, the uninformed consumerism and the professionalism, and he has distilled all this madness into a computer system that truly works. He’s put his name on it, and he wouldn’t be stepping up unless the MusicXPC computer was ready for the professional. The MusicXPC represents the culmination of more than 30 years of his experience in the audio industry. Its time has come. Buy it, forget about the computer, and start making music again.
Les Bateman
• Artist, Hammond B3 Player, Computer Designer
• 1940s - Born in Canada to a watchmaker
• 1950s - Modifies his first Hammond B3
• 1960s - Keyboardist Witness, toured w/ Cream, Roy Orbison
• 1970s - Mixed Jeff Beck, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, ...
• 1980s - Built $70m Sounds Interchange Studio Complex
• 1990s - Built PCs for composers that worked
• 2000s - Built the first MusicXPC
• NOW - You deserve a computer built by a legend