Robert Burbidge – Full Member

.I came from a musical family. My mum went to the Royal Academy of Music and won the Raymond Russell prize for harpsichord.

I started learning trumpet at around 7 years old, then started learning piano in senior school.  I was then taught cornet, which led to involvement in local brass bands, including Hebden Bridge Brass Band, Yorkshire Building Society Brass Band, and Todmorden Olde Brass Band, with which I attended the national championships. I successfully auditioned for the national children’s wind orchestra, in which I was lucky enough to play at the Royal Albert Hall. I had some great teachers at school who taught me jazz improvisation and classical music, passing Cornet Grade 8 before I went on to study at Leeds College of Music.

From there I branched out, playing in original blues/jazz/funk/electronic bands at festivals such as Beat-Herder and Soul Fest, plus playing live alongside DJs such as Plump DJs, Louie Vega and Utah Saints. Shortly afterwards, I performed in Poland with my band, The Dirty Fakirs, leading to a drunken night in the hotel bar, during which a friend suggested I should get into producing.  Later that summer I bought a PC and started playing with Cubase, Reason and Fruity Loops.

My first studio recordings were made at Calder Recordings in Mytholmroyd, where I met Steve Gligorovic who began giving me lessons initially in Pro Tools, then later in recording, mixing and production techniques.  We still work together today, with him assisting and engineering for me. Fast forward a couple more years, and I was releasing my self-produced music via an array of independent record labels, initially under the pseudonym Rubberlips, then later under my own name.

Initially, the vibe was mostly focused around dancy/jazzy electronic house music, mostly sample-driven, but with my own self-performed and self-recorded Trumpet and Keys.

Over the years the style has developed, becoming more varied, more polished, and accomplished, whilst working with a wide range of international artists and performers.

I have never looked back, and music brings me a clear focus and passion for life.

I got into House music at school, partly from friends, and partly from my older brother, who gave me an old pair of belt drive decks, with which I started DJing live.  That was when I wanted to start making my own music, but didn’t know how. At college, I had been shown Reason and Cubase, but I didn’t have anything at home beyond a portable mini-disc recorder.  I bought a 2nd hand sampler and started tinkering. I guess my inspiration is everyone I’ve worked with over the years.  I’m always interested to see and hear what different people do in different ways, and how I can take ideas or techniques from anyone I collaborate with and use it to develop my own style. In later years, my long-term collaborator “Winter” has been a massive influence and inspiration both in music and life.

Recently I was played nationally on BBC Radio One for the first time, however on a personal level, the thing that has thrilled me the most is having Cold Cut remix an upcoming album track called “Salvation”.

Remixing a Sugardaddy track for Tom Findlay (of Groove Armada) is also up there.

Believe in your work, work hard and you will get results.  I strongly believe that even when producing solo material, it’s beneficial to build a team around you.  \

This could be other musicians, technical people who can give impartial advice, or even non-musical people, such as artists (web and album art) and writers (press releases and biographies).

The best advice I could have had in my early years would have been about the legal side of the music industry.

Really understanding contracts and how to quickly spot a red flag before it’s too late.

Thank you for this opportunity.  I am currently nearing the end of an album project with Winter, called “Cold Hearts and Bad Debt” that we intend to release at some point next year. My website with all of my contact details and work is: https://robertburbidge.co.uk/