Bob Mackenzie

really special day today. mr @jamesblake has released his album ‘trying times’ and i couldnt be prouder and more greatful to have been a part of it. he is truly one of the uk’s greatest artists and we are so lucky to have him too many special moments to mention. the live recording of trying times in the big room, the first time i heard dave’s verse on doesnt just happen, recording the strings for just a little higher… basically every vocal take james put down.. the first time we sat and heard the album as one.. the laughter, snacks, stupid jokes, snuggles with the dogs .. literally everything ! such a ridiculously talented team .. firstly james, thanks for having me. for making it so much fun. and for believing in me. thanks for the front row seat to the creation of this record … you elevate everything and bring us all up with you. the journey you have taken me on will be with me forever and i can’t thank you enough for that. i could record you with a tin of beans and it would still sound amazing. @dom_maker , the bossy. this record breathes with your genius. your intuition and energy is so special and a real blessing to be around. thanks for every sample, edit, sound, detail and all the racket sport wars along the way. @jameelajamil , thank you for your authenticity always. your pursuit to the highest standard. thanks for making me die laughing at least twice a day and for making us all better humans in the process. thanks to barold and winnie for being the best studio dogs you could ever ask for. @mixedbyjoncastelli - your ears elevated this beyond our imagination. your mixes are a real gift. and love to @trackedbybrad for making the mixing process so smooth. all musicians and collaborators @joshstadlen , @khushimusic , @airheadmusic , @mrassister , josh smith, @ciara_ii , you’re all legends. love to @soundslikemaisy and @robertsellens for your assistance during the sessions. to monty, john and amy for making it all happen. and love to the features @monicamartin and @santandave - i always love our time in the studio. album engineered by me (with help from james + josh smith) with production on 'doesnt just happen' + 'days go by' atmos mixed by me

signing off on another bonkers year of pressing record 2025 ! the year i made a big & slightly scary leap from studio life into freelance world, and from village calm to the big smoke chaos. turns out it is mad how fun a new place is when you have the right people around you. love u jess !! some proper pinch-me firsts this year that i’m so proud of. first uk number 1 album (love to @santandave ), a US top 5 on the billboard charts (nice one @danielcaesar ), prog magazine re-issue of the year - cheers @genesis_band 🫶🏻, and a first time contributing to a movie soundtrack (nice one @sinnersmovie ) some cool milestones. the 11th year with jess right by me. my 2nd year on a brick phone. the 1st year i discovered the tascam portastudio and got a victory royale on fortnite. and the 13th year of learning how to record sounds massive thank you to every human who trusted me with their music, it is never lost on me. special mention to my music family, @dom_maker and @jamesblake i love you two a bunch, thanks for making it so fun anyhow, until next year. here are some of my fave pictures took on my film camera from this year. plus some mad stats which are extremely mind boggling. wishing everyone a jolly christmas, i hope santa gets you an sm57 xx

very exciting day today. two massive projects im so proud to have played a small part in king of london, @santandave , thank you for having me. ‘the boy who played the harp’. a real blessing to have contributed engineering to ‘history’ and additional production to the vinyl version. special love to @jamesblake and @dom_maker for having me on this - working with you guys is truly meant to be ! this tune soundtracked my summer in london & im so glad everyone can now enjoy it. credited alongside my angel @louisrogove aswell, it's really beautiful how life works out. love to @jonnyleslie and @sethrtaylor for all your help on this <3 all the way back in 2023 i spent a blissful few weeks with @danielcaesar and crew. a couple of those tracks made it to his new record ‘son of spergy’. a real blessing to have spent time with your music family. some special memories made between the english countryside and the greek islands and these songs take me right back. congratulations on your beautiful album legend - it was a pleasure to play a small part on tracks 5 + 10. love to the crew @dylanpatricewiggins , @migui_maloles , @trentmunson , @mustafathepoet , @clairo ❤️ anyhooo, onwards. upwards. back to earth ! x first pic @joshinfilm

i spent a large chunk of 2024 mixing and producing Genesis for the 50th anniversary of ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ and it was totally mind blowing. today feels very surreal, it has now come out and is available for your immersive listening ears when we started this project, @itspetergabriel was sure that for this to really work, the entire immersive album had to be re-approached and thought of separately from the stereo. i knew i really didn’t want to be that guy who ruined the great stereo mixes with a botched atmos job, so a different approach seemed sensible to me ! we therefore created these mixes from the original 24track tape recordings, recorded over 50 years ago, working in surround from the get-go having access to these multi-tracks was like heading down a rock and roll time machine. i felt like i was in the room with the band.. so many hours were spent mesmerised - peter’s live vocal takes, phil colllins’ insane drumming, tony’s keyboard solos, the pre-take chat and noodling - the tape recordings were so special. no click, no separation, no perfectionism. just genesis in a room playing together. so simple, so brilliant and so refreshing turning such an iconic double album into the world of atmos was really no easy task. the biggest thank you to legendo @soundslikemaisy who assisted me on this entire project. thank u for all your help, the hours on pro tools, and for making me laugh so much along the way. thank you to mike large & matt osborne at @realworldrec who supported me so much throughout. thanks to @puttingitonwax for mastering it. to @realworldstudios for having the best sounding atmos spaces. to @dolby_unitedkingdom for all their support and for hosting the playback. a massive thank you to the band. and special thanks to peter and @tony_banks_music - for the trust you put into me, for having such good energy in the studio and for making this process so fun. and extra double thanks to peter for all the warmth, generosity and belief you have shown me over the years. x rock on @genesis_band !! x Pics 1+2 📸 @yorktillyer

finally given in and become a fully fledged londoner and almost a full form city slicker. more accurately: a yorkshire man lost in london. or when im with jess: two yorkshire numb nuts hilariously lost in london it has been mental moving from a village to camden. i’ve gone from zero stimulation to an absolute chaotic maximum and i've loved every minute - especially as im now reunited with my favourite human. here are some photos of london so far. most of our pictures have been random street signs, places to put bikes and map screenshots with pins - really quality stuff with an epic move comes an epic release, let’s be having you @sinnersmovie ! extremely amazing to have been apart of the soundtrack. ’séance’ by @jamesblake and @ludwiggoransson , surreal to have contributed engineering and additional production to this one. such an incredible tune and james’ vocal is especially mind blowing. thanks so much for having me james, ludwig and @dom_maker . you’re the goats 🙏🏻❤️ so i’m here now and trying to digest it all. trying to give all things - projects, pursuits, relationships, friendships - the time and space they need to unfold as slowly and as beautifully as they should. it can be hard to do that in a world that moves so quickly, but we might as well give it a good go. the village life has prepared me !

after 3 beautiful years, last week i completed my last day as house engineer at real world studios as i embark on a new chapter in the big smoke this place really is the greatest ! thank you to all the souls i met there, every single session was an absolute dream. thank you to the real world team, you are amongst the best humans i will ever meet. and thank you to every artist who trusted me with their precious studio time the biggest thanks to the captain, @itspetergabriel . thank you for creating such breathtaking spaces. thank you for all your kindness and support. thank you for allowing me to be apart of it the past 3 years have had such a positive impact on my life and the studio was right at the heart of it. i’m so grateful to have played a small part in the history of such an iconic space .. some of the best memories of my life ! now onto a new adventure that i’m so excited about. i’m now in london, a freelance legend, and reunited with my love. more on that soon .. x -- thank you @yorktillyer for the parting pics and @soundslikemaisy for making mini versions of the studio team

just finished my final day in the studio for this year and wanted to reflect on what a beautiful 12 months it has been. so many incredible things that i will cherish forever and another year of being involved in the most bonkers music - exactly what i’ve always dreamt of since being a small sprog the biggest hug and thanks to each artist who has trusted me with their sacred process and for inspiring me to no end, to all the crew at @realworldstudios who make everyday at the studio so much fun, and to all studio humans for keeping our beautiful craft alive and kicking ! so many days spent inside beautiful studios this year. mostly at the mothership, real world, but also some away days including @abbeyroadstudios and @blackrockstudios . there is no place i feel more at home than in the studio, especially if i’ve got a good brew and my crocs. using these spaces to facilitate creativity is my favourite thing in the entire world and im so grateful i get to spend so many hours inside such special rooms this year i also passed 10 years of being with my love, we agreed to get married and i watched her become a Dr of tropical medicine. jess, you are simply incredible, so inspiring and the best cheerleader. you bring stillness in storms and laughter out of nowhere. you’re my favourite human and im so proud to have you in my life <3 time to now shut off for a bit to eat mince pies and reset for 2025. a merry xmas to all and wishing everyone a happy, healthy, lovely and snuggly 2025 xx

on the day we celebrated 10 years together, i asked my soulmate if she’d like to get married. we are now engaged and i’m officially the luckiest human on earth 🥰🥰🥰

today marks 2 years since i joined the team at @realworldstudios . the most beautiful studio in existence and a place im lucky enough to call home from home. thank you to the universe for having me and this space exist at the same time. thank you to the team for making every day so joyous. thank you to every person who has come through and made my time here so special. the best two years of my life <3

just wrapped up in the studio for 2023 and reflecting on a wholesomely bonkers year packed with loved ones and music galore ! 🥰 some incredible firsts this year that i’m super proud of ! first full year at real world, first involvement in a number 1 album (nice one @itspetergabriel & @buffwerk ), and picked up the first disc to go on my wall 🥲🥲💿 … stuff that i have been dreaming about my entire life ! i actually recently found a note from 2020 with a list of released tunes i’d worked on. there were 5 tunes on there which i used to send about hoping it would lead to more music and eventually enable me to do music as a job. i was chuffed with this list!! it’s crazy how much things have changed in 3 years. 200ish tunes later it’s still bringing music to life that gives me the biggest buzz. forever grateful to be able spend most days hitting record and pissin about in the studio ! a huge hug & thanks to every single human who has trusted me with their music & studio time this year. without your music my job wouldn’t exist ! biggest love to my real world family for always making the place such a joy. all the love to my jess who fills me with love and happiness every single day ! appreciate you more than anything 🫶🏻 anyway, that’s me until the new year. cheers to 2023, the year i seriously expanded my footy shirt collection, made a deep bond with crocs, learnt you could auto rename playlists in pro tools (couldn’t believe it !!), grew my houseplants to another dimension, created a fudged up rubber bridge guitar, made a debut at glasto, saw a little bit more of the world and all with jinkle right by my side ! could be worse !! wishing everyone a jolly xmas. i’ll be knee deep in mince pies. xxx

big day… 9 whole years with my love !! jess, ur the best human on this planet thank you for always making everything better ❤️ together we’ve done school, college, university, the start of adult life, we’ve lived apart, lived together, and lived apart again - both constantly growing, changing, learning and evolving. no part of our lives is ever consistent except us ! always together ❤️ cheers everyone 🍻🥂 … to NINE years together & to many more years to come❤️🥰❤️

from the greatest studio to the greatest stage !! huge love to legends @gunsnroses who rocked up to @realworldstudios last week and had me along to their glasto party 🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻 !! a week i will never ever ever ever ever forget !!!!