Don Gould
He can conduct three orchestras while drinking his cappuccino.
A very young Don reached fame for the first time in 1964, with his band the Applejacks. “Tell me when” and “Like Dreamers Do” are their most memorable hits. After the band split, he decided to study composition and orchestration.
Since then Don has worked as composer and arranger for over a hundred top selling artists. The list is too long, and Don is too modest for name-dropping, which makes writing his CV a nightmare. Georgie Fame, Cat Stevens The Marmalade, Sandy Shaw, Dave Berry, Love Affair, Guys and Dolls, 10 cc, Christine Holmes, Lynsey De Paul…
The eighties saw Don pointing his magical baton towards TV, film and advertising projects, associating with David Mindel and creating the famous Mingles music company. “Jim’ll fix it” is then born. Mingles re-invents itself in the nineties as Music By Design.
You’ve heard Don’s music in “Between Iraq And A Hard Place”, “Bob’s Weekend”, “Coogan’s Run”, “Flying Medics” and “Stewart”. You’ve seen him in Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and in Hello magazine.
Don is our chairman, and supervises all composition projects. He coaches our composers, but still is responsible for most of the composing and arranging within MBD. If you are lucky you can catch him performing with his mate Barry Mason at a European venue near you!
Steve Charles
Give Steve some cables, plugs and tools, and he’ll make you a bike.
Steve trained at Paddington College with the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians). He then served as an apprentice at Mark Angelo recording studios, learning all different tricks and techniques of sound recording. The tea boy became a studio director, a very good studio director, an outstanding studio director… and finally a member of the Music By Design team! He is well known for his high tech skills, but Steve is also a brilliant musician who has toured extensively with his band Spoon Curve. Steve has a taste for rock and electronic music, motor bikes, cycling and karate! Having worked as a producer, engineer and composer for almost two decades, Steve’s experience has won him the job of managing director at MbD. Besides bossing us around, Steve is one of our writers. He has recently composed the titles for the O2 Wireless Festival TV show.
Sarah Edwards
Share your music brief, your gig wish list and your lunch with our latest acquisition – she always has an exciting recommendation or story up her sleeve.
Sarah joined Music by Design as to kick the team into shape, as a production manager, music adviser and researcher. She keeps everyone up to date with the current music scene and loves sharing the gems she finds. With a degree in Animation production from The Surrey Institute and a rock-solid passion for music, Sarah started her career in the music business a decade ago when she wrote, designed and produced her own music magazine while studying and working in a record company in London. Since graduating she has worked for many major and successful companies in the UK, including: MTV, VH1, Q Magazine, Nickelodeon, Loose Moose and Tandem Films. Sarah is the first point contact when you need music, whether it is for a commercial, a TV sitcom, a computer game, or for your iPod. She is also the person to send your demos to. But, be aware, with her roots devoted to music she is honest and very picky.
Sharon Maisey
Get Sharon to play Deal or No Deal with your music quotes!
Sharon joined Music By Design in 2001 as our Office Manager, and has kept us all in line since then. Having worked in the TV departments of many big advertising agencies in London (DDB, Griffin Bacal, Bates, Publicis…), Sharon knows how to deal with budgets and last minute dramas.
She is in charge of negotiating singers’ and musicians’ fees, and keeping our accounts on track. Sharon looks after our publishing and record catalogue and is the person to contact for re-licensing quotes.
Please note taking Sharon out for lunch can have a positive impact on your quote.