About Me

Personal Background

Hi. My name is Steve Bunting, I am 24 years old, was born in Nottingham and lived there until the age of 18 before moving to Guildford to learn about audio.

I graduated from the Tonmeister degree course at the University of Surrey with a 2:1 (Hons) with admittance to the Associateship of the University of Surrey (AUS) with distinction in the summer of 2005, and have been working as a freelance live sound engineer full-time ever since.

Audio Background

I have been interested in music from an early age, taking up the organ when I was 7 before starting to learn to play the guitar at age 12 and migrating to bass guitar a few years later. I started taking it more seriously when I was 13, started a band and learned how to use the school PA system for rehearsals and gigs. Soon I started learning how to use sequencers, recording equipment and was running the sound for bigger school productions from behind my bass and keyboards!

When I was 16, I had been playing in the Nottingham youth city big band for 2 years and was operating their sound as well. I started a Music Technology 'A' level course at my school to gain experience and learn technical theory about audio, and continued to play gigs around Nottingham with various bands.

I went to university to study music and sound recording full-time when I was 18. I joined the Student's Union Stage Crew after just one week, starting out in the deep end with a huge amount of equipment at my disposal, mixing loads of bands and learning the hard way how not to do things! I soon after started working at the Guildford Civic, doing sound for their local bands nights, shows touring with no sound engineer, but also doing lighting, follow spot and general local crew work for bigger tours until they closed down for refurbishment in December 2003.

I moved to London on a work placement for my third year at an audio company called Technical Earth, where I worked as a trainee technical engineer. I learnt a lot about more practical techniques used in professional audio such as equipment repair, studio installation and wiring, as well as gaining a good insight to how the pro audio industry works.

I graduated from my degree course in June 2005, moved back to London and have been working as a freelance live sound engineer full-time ever since. I have gained a lot of real world experience in touring and one-off theatre gigs, corporate and functions. When not on the road, I work in various PA companies warehouses prepping/de-prepping shows or just sitting on the wiring bench. I feel I have gained a lot of relevant, varied experience from my past and I have ambition of moving onto bigger and better things.