A former music producer for the Rolling Stones is hosting a music workshop with Kingston University this week.

Chris Kimsey will host the Winter School 2019 at Kingston University's Tony Visconti studio, from today (February 11) through February 15.

Mr Kimsey worked with some of the biggest names in contemporary rock and pop during his career, and is perhaps best known for co-producing two Rolling Stones albums - Undercover (1983) and Steel Wheels (1989).

Kingston University said: "The Visconti Studio Winter School is a week-long practical recording and production workshop. The first Winter School was held in February 2017, where 10 lucky participants worked alongside Tony Visconti to produce a track with the band Artbreak.

"This time we will be tracking a whole album, to tape, working under the expert guidance of legendary producer and engineer Chris Kimsey (Olympic Studios, The Rolling Stones, Marillion, Led Zeppelin, Peter Frampton, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Duran Duran, The Cult, and so many more). Participants will also receive on-the-job training from our in-house analogue experts Rob Plummer & Ebby Acquah."

The course will focus on multi-track recording techniques and hardware popularised during the 1970s, and has been subtitled "Pure Analogue", a nod to the extensive use of hardware like 24-track recorders and tape machines attendees will get with the course.

Chris Kimsey said: "It's a delight it is to be at Kingston University’s Visconti Studio recording these wonderful musicians and for the students to see the process of working with analogue tape and all of these wonderful instruments. It’s a joy to be in this incredible space."

The band taking part this year are as yet un-named and are producing an album over the course of the week in our analogue/digital hybrid studio based around an extraordinary 300m2 octagonal live room, stocked with vintage and rare recording equipment (Studer, Neve, Neumann, Universal Audio, Roland Space Echo).

The band is made up of Ollie Clark – guitar/stringed instruments, James Larter – percussion and Stuart Zender – bass.

Mr Visconti, who worked with David Bowie on some of his most influential albums including The Man Who Sold The World (1970), is widely regarded as a legend in music production and praised his namesake studio after attending last year's inaugural event. 

Mr Visconti said: "This studio is the real deal.  I would love to have made a David Bowie record here because of its sonic possibilities. There's a special sound here that you can't get in smaller studios."

For further information about the course, get in touch with Alex Evans at A.Evans@kingston.ac.uk.