Mark Rutherford (composer)

Mark Joseph Rutherford is a classically trained British musician, composer and producer. He has worked with, and for, some of the world's most prominent producers, directors, artists and writers including Peter Gabriel, Steve Levine, William Orbit, Goldie, Mike Oldfield, Simon Beaufoy, John Woo, Tony Cinciripini, Bille Eltringham and John Hughes.

Although Rutherford has worked extensively in the music industry, he now mainly composes and produces music for films and video games. Since 2009 Rutherford has scored three feature films; The Darkest Day^[1] Panic Button^[1] and Devils Bridge^[2] As well as scoring the award winning^[3] short film Dust.^[4]

He has also composed for the following video games:

• Aliens vs. Predator – SEGA^[5] which at the time of its release became Sega's fastest selling game in the company's history and also reached number one in the charts.^[6]
• "Rogue Warrior" – Bethesda.^[7]
• "NeverDead" – Konami.^[8]
• "Sniper Elite V2" – Rebellion – 505 Games. Chart position number 1 – Develop Audio Award Nominee^[9]
• "LittleBigPlanet PS Vita Marvel Arcade – Sony.
• "Sniper Elite 3" – Rebellion – 505 Games.
• "Batman: Arkham Origins" (Multiplayer) – Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment.^[10]

Early years

From the age of nine, Rutherford studied classical guitar and classical music theory. He studied the Segovia Technique for around 12 years under the guidance of tutor Leslie Nicholls (LGSM BA Hons), a former pupil of the highly acclaimed Professor Adele Kramer. He learnt to play the piano while studying composition and classical music history. He also won a number of classical music competitions with his playing.

Musical career

Record industry

Rutherford was a key member and songwriter with Jimmy The Hoover, a band managed by the legendary punk impresario Malcolm McLaren. As well as having a top 20 hit,^[11] they also toured with bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bow Wow Wow.

Following this early success, Rutherford travelled to Central and Eastern Africa in order to live with, and record, the native tribes people. He devised and configured a high quality and lightweight mobile system that could be used discreetly to record tribes people in challenging and sometimes dangerous environments. In the year and a half spent there, he absorbed many musical styles and rhythms which remain a valuable source of inspiration.

Rutherford went on to establish his own recording facilities at William Orbit's Guerrilla Studios in North London. He soon began remixing, co-producing and co-writing alongside Orbit, and together they worked on a number of projects with artists such as Beth Orton, Yothu Yindi, Bassomatic,^[12] The Christians, Peter Gabriel, Ellie Lawson^[13] and Strange Cargo III.^[14]

It was in this studio that Rutherford began his collaboration with artist and friend Goldie that led to the creation of Metalheadz and the Rufige Kru. Together, their production and writing skills brought massive underground success.^[14][15]

Peter Gabriel invited Rutherford to compose and produce an album using contributions from a variety of artists at Gabriel's Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire. The result, Way Down Below Buffalo Hell, was the critically acclaimed album by 'Jam Nation'. The album featured artists including Daniel Lanois, Jah Wobble, Billy Cobham, Karl Wallinger, Ayub Ogada, Galliano. Jane Sibery, Lucky Dube and Peter Gabriel.^[16][17]

Rutherford has also worked with Mike Oldfield,^[14] Arthur Baker, Jon Caffrey,^[18] Vivienne Westwood, Joseph Arthur and Einsturzende Neubauten.^[19]

Film and video games

An opportunity to learn all the technical aspects attributed to music production for feature films came when Grammy award winning producer Steve Levine invited Rutherford to work alongside him in his state of the art London studio. Together, they worked on feature films including the Grammy Award-winning Planes, Trains and Automobiles, directed by John Huges, starring Steve Martin and John Candy, Eversmile, New Jersey starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Mister Frost starring Jeff Goldblum.^[20]

Rutherford's music has featured in many films, including Hell's Kitchen,^[21] Blood Brothers (by producer John Woo),^[22]

Peace One Day^[20] and Sacred Planet.^[20] He has composed the music for some award winning short films^[23][24] and his compositions can be heard in numerous documentaries and dramas.^[25]

For the feature film This Is Not a Love Song,^[26] written by Simon Beaufoy and directed by Bille Eltringham, Rutherford was required to give this British thriller a hard hitting, edgy soundtrack. On its release, This Is Not a Love Song became the first film to be streamed live on the Internet simultaneously with its cinema premiere.^[27]

Rutherford created the full orchestral score for Aliens vs. Predator,^[5][20][28] the video game. This project required over 70 minutes of orchestral music which he recorded at the Bratislava Radio Studios in Slovakia; additional recording, mixing and mastering were all done at his London studios.^[29]

Rutherford's latest scoring credits include... Panic Button – feature film – social networking British horror,^[1] Devil's Bridge – feature film – a thriller come survival – horror,^[2] the award winning^[3] film – Dust,.^[4] Video games such as Rogue Warrior – Bethesda, Aliens vs. Predator (2010) – SEGA,^[5] "NeverDead" – Konami.,^[8] "Sniper Elite V2" – Rebellion – 505 Games. Chart position number 1 – Develop Audio Award Nominee,^[9] "LittleBigPlanet PS Vita Marvel Arcade – Sony, "Sniper Elite 3" – Rebellion – 505 Games and "Batman: Arkham Origins" (Multiplayer) – Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment.^[10]

References

External links

• Official website
• Mark Rutherford at the Internet Movie Database
• Mark Rutherford discography at Discogs
• Mark Rutherford at AllMusic