Darren Mullan is a Record Producer & Audio Engineer currently residing in Adelaide, South Australia. Darren’s specialty and niche in the industry is working with artists of ALL genres and assisting with the process developing and nurturing their particular product (i.e. the music) specifically in terms of their sonic identity and brand. To date, Darren has accumulated an impressive resume of artists that he has worked with and is a name that has been prominently credited to an extensive catalogue of released singles and albums worldwide. Furthermore, in terms of achieving radio airplay, Darren has a solid track record locally, nationally and globally. At present, Darren primarily operates at his own hand-built studio, Adelaide Recording Studios, however, depending on the nature of project at hand, also frequently works at external studios.

What Darren Does
The first step for an artist on a release is ultimately both figuring out and discovering their ‘artistic premise’, which is essentially: 1) who you are; 2) what you stand for; and 3) where you want to go.

Accordingly, if an artist is starting out, it’s absolutely critical that the product itself (i.e. the music) is coherent with that artist’s premise. If, on the other hand, the artist is already developed, it’s even more critical that the product be coherent with that artist’s premise and respectful of the artist’s existing brand of music.

As an example, if on one end of the spectrum there is an artist who is simply all about being viable in the commercial market and on the other end of the spectrum there is an artist who wants to make music purely for the sake of being artistic and expressive, the way in which the sonic brand (i.e. the overall vibe of the sound) ought to be developed and produced in a completely different manner. Namely, one would be about creating a mainstream and catchy product and the other would perhaps be more so about creating an organic, arty and unusual sound.

For this reason, for any kind of release, whether it be a single, EP or album, before focussing on any of the glamorous stuff like video clips, getting radio play, building websites, selling CDs, getting print media coverage, touring etc, an artist MUST focus on getting the music right as the buck ultimately stops with the music. Darren Mullan’s specialist skill and expertise is just that, helping to get the music right!

As a Record Producer & Audio Engineer, Darren’s fundamental role is to work with the artist, or in cases of signed artists their label’s A&R consultant, to embrace and understand the premise at hand, develop a vision for the project in a way that nurtures the artistic premise and then administer the vision in terms of the entire recording and production process. Once the agreed direction is fully embraced, understood and developed, in practical terms, the kinds of duties that Darren typically would assume may include:

• Assisting with the creative aspect in terms of developing the songs (pre-production);

• Providing advice in terms of song selection;

• Managing, conducting and directing the recording process;

• Managing the technical aspect of the recording process;

  • e.g. studio selection, equipment/microphones used etc:

• Coaching the artist and musicians in the studio;

• Engaging session musicians for the project on behalf of the artist;

• Sonic Branding;

  • Helping develop a sonic brand (where artists are starting out); or

  • Maintaining coherency between sonic brand and artistic premise (where artists are already developed);

• Audio editing (post-production); and

• Audio mixing.

What Else Darren Does
Apart from working with artists, Darren also produces television and radio advertising jingles as well as custom backing tracks. Please click the relevant links for more information.

History
Darren has been playing the keyboard since he was eight years old and has been performing for over 30 years Australia wide for a large range of audiences of all ages.

Notable bands that Darren has performed with on vocals and/or keyboard include “Extreme Motown,” “The Replacements,” “Robbie Supreme” and “New Romantics.” Despite touring around Australia for years, he has finally settled in Adelaide. The long years of dedication to music and all its genres has helped mould his versatile and creative musical mind.

Born in Mount Isa, Queensland (Australia) in 1969, Darren's family moved to the east coast town Maroochydore where he went to school.

When Darren was 8 years old, his mother caught him playing the household organ and as a result decided to get him some proper lessons. By the time Darren was 9 years old, he was performing on television and working part time for a local music store. It was at this point that Darren knew that music was his calling in life as he genuine love for the art and it just seemed to come ever so naturally.

By age 13 Darren had finished most of the then 8 grades of theory through the Australian Music Examination Board (AMEB) and was performing in local pubs and restaurants (thanks to his father Albert Mullan who was his driver and roadie).

Once Darren had his drivers license, he started working full-time in a retail keyboard business in Nambour during the day and performed at night whenever he could. The job honed his technical skills with the latest gear (hardware sequencers were appearing for the first time) and his travels took him closer to Brisbane where he could then work in the bigger venues and mix with the 'big boys'.

At age 19, Darren spent 6 months at WORLD EXPO88 and touring nationally as a
solo act before settling down in Adelaide where he is today.

In 1997 Darren began working for Peter Vitek at Derringers Music Pty Ltd in the hi-tech department selling equipment to studios and assisting in the design of control and live rooms etc. At the time Darren, at heart, wanted to be a producer so much that he worked for free until he was irreplaceable. It was in 2000 when Darren began his professional career as a producer and audio engineer when he started contracting for Timms Tunes Pty Ltd. In 2002 found a new home at QEM Studios with producer/writer Quentin Eyers.

In 2007 Darren parted from QEM and branched away to start up his own studio, Adelaide Recording Studios, where he has primarily operated from ever since.

Darren’s passion for technology in music has led him to master the software-based recording studio in great depth. This combined with his addiction to music and talents in vocals and keyboards have made him the highly sought after Record Producer & Audio Engineer that he is today.