Rik Dowding is a professional Freelance Producer/engineer, based in Bristol in the South West of 
England.  Rik has been a working sound engineer for the past 12 years, working at some of the best
studios in the area.  He is fully versed in the traditional methods of Analogue 2" tape recording 
as well as the modern methods of Pro Tools and hard disk recording.  


Rik started his apprenticeship in 1992 under the guiding eyes of Andy Allan at the Coach House studios,
the home to the Bristol Sound of Massive Attack and Portishead.  After 2 years of tape opping 
and assisting he became a freelance engineer, working closely with the Coach house and also at 
other studios in Bristol (Pentagon studios, Rizound).  During this time he worked with such 
producers and artists as Neil Davidge(DNA, Massive Attack), William Orbit, Adrian Utley, Geoff Barrow.

Following a year sabbatical from the studio, in order to set up and run a rehearsal studio in St.
Pauls, he returned to studio life as the In house engineer/studio manager at the Coach house.
During this time he did a lot of work at it's sister studio the larger ex-BBC building Christchurch
Studios.  He successfully ran the Coach house till 1998 when it closed down, continuing to freelance
at Christchurch studios.

Through his work on Portishead's 1994 album "Dummy", Rik was asked by Geoff Barrow to convert 
Portishead's private 24 track studio into a commercial studio.  After 6 months of building work
with studio manager Stuart Matthews, the newly refurbished SOA studios was opened to the 
public in 1998.  Such producers as John Parish and The Insects were quick to utilize the new 
studio, and after a successful first year the decision to go digital was made.  The 
Soundcraft 2" machine was augmented with the closest analogue sounding digital hard disk recorder,
"Radar24". The ability to offer 24 tracks of both formats gave the studio the edge.  The studio is 
still owned by Portishead and continues to make  albums under the guidance of its chief 
engineer Rik Dowding.

During the last 8 years, Rik has also been working studiously on the live engineering scene.  This 
is something most studio engineers tend to steer clear of, as the two disciplines can be quite
different.  Experience in studio engineering is by no means a guarantee of success in the live 
business.  Studio work requires patience and also a degree of psychology.  Live work requires
quickness of mind and the ability to adapt to situations instantly.  As a result most studio engineers
don't make very good live engineers.  Rik was determined this was not to be the case and thrived
at the challenge to be able to work well at both.  His determination paid off and he now engineers
in most of the main venues in and around Bristol as well as having had extensive touring experience
all over the UK, Europe and Scandinavia.  He has engineered at Glastonbury Jazz Stage, Womad Reading 
several other large festivals throughout the uk and abroad.

He is currently runing SONICMASTERING, an all digital mastering studio in Bristol, he set up in 2007.  He is
 still active on the freelance scene, both in studios and on the live circuit, currently engineering for The Flies.