Matthew
Cocker

Archiving & Transfer Engineer

Matthew
Cocker

Archiving & Transfer Engineer

Matthew joined Abbey Road in 1988 as an honours degree music graduate of Goldsmiths College and accomplished concert pianist. He was head of the editing department until 1996, when he went to work for Sony Music UK for some years.

After returning to Abbey Road in 2005, Matthew took up his current position as Archive Engineer, heading up Abbey Road's irreplaceable music archive, which is one of its major assets. Very familiar with all of the necessary equipment, Matthew is responsible for restoring audio from a wide range of sources, working with both analogue and digital in order to preserve the recordings for the future on secure formats, making sure that it is transferred to the highest possible standard and without altering the original recorded sound.

Over the years he has worked on a very diverse range of recordings, from classical, rock and pop to opera, with many high profile artists including The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Bernard Haitink, Kiri Te Kanawa, Murray Perahia, Moby, Stephen Schwartz, Martha Argerich and Malcolm McLaren.

Several recordings which Matthew worked on have gone on to win Gramophone Awards and he also worked closely with pianist Murray Perahia on his acclaimed recordings of Bach's - English Suites and Chopin's - Etudes, which both won Grammy Awards in 1999 and 2003 respectively.

Besides his archiving work, Matthew has also produced a number of recordings for both EMI Classics and Sony Classical and he also played the piano on the chart-topping 2009 album, Words for You; featuring British actors Joanna Lumley, Brian Cox and Samantha Morton.

Discography

Nux Vomica - The Veils
Star Fleet Sessions - Brian May + Friends
Rachmaninov Complete Symphonies & Piano Concertos - Mariss Jansons
Live At The BBC The Collection - The Beatles
On Air Live At The BBC Vol. 2 - The Beatles
The Great Operas (EMI) - Verdi
Black Gold - James Horner