Stuart Wood

Composer | Musicals | Sync

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I have been making music for theatre, film and commercials most of my life. I now live and work by the sea in Cleethorpes, having lived in both London and LA as a music artist and musical theatre creator.

My passion is in creating music that uplifts and synchronises with the moment - be that on stage, on film or on record.

Let's chat about your project.

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Music created for the British Museum's training films.

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Showreel for commercials

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I created the musical 'fantasy' sequence for Dairy Queen's summer commercial. Thanks music agency, HiFi Project, Los Angeles.

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Here I speak about my work with TV commercials, musical theatre and choirs.

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Audi A4 'Symphony' Commercial for BBH Advertising Agency, London Recorded with live orchestra at Lansdowne Studios, London. See a short clip of the making of here.

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I composed and orchestrated this TV and Cinema commercial for Shell for Jeff Wayne Music. It was recorded at the famous C.T.S. Studios in Wembley, North London. Find out more about the studios history.

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The first 45' from The Swinging Sweethearts who are Katy Leigh, Loula Geater and Brenda Moore-Wait. Written and recorded at Hoxton Works, London, Summer 2012. Available on iTunes in a few weeks! Follow them on Twitter!

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I created the arrangements and produced the recordings for the first 6 Go Compare commercials, the most successful TV spots in a generation of ads. I was also involved in the casting. All actors seen in the ads actually sang on the recordings. Based on George M Cohen's Over There, I worked closely with the brand and creatives.

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I wrote and produced Frank's Closet which opened in July 2009 at Hoxton Hall. It celebrated queer culture and gay marriage and was a huge hit at London's summer fringe. Photos by Spencer Cartwright. See the archive of the show on Pinterest.

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Intelligent Life Audio Branding

I was commissioned to create a musical sting for the arts & culture section of the Economist Magazine’s new app ‘Intelligent Life’. Needless to say, creating 3-seconds of music is so much more tricky than 3-minutes.

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Part 3 of the New River Cantata.  I was commissioned by Arts Council England to compose a work to celebrate the 400th anniversary of London's New River. It was sung by a specially formed choir of people who live around the North London section of the New River. Recorded at Angel Recording studios on 21st September 2013 and mixed at Strongrooms on December 6th. To see the full project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KUoCF9r3Qc

Film by http://www.sintheticboi.co.uk/

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I crowdfunded and produced The Mask of Joy pop-up performances for the London Pleasure Gardens, July 2012. Part of London's celebration of the 2012 Olympics. Deborah Ripley  photography

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Listen to the BlueSpot Knee Clinic Radio Jingle Read my blog post about how the jingle came about http://tmblr.co/ZtpTLxwMlOSI

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Case study: BlueSpot Knee Clinic Jingle

At the start of the Summer my colleague, James Taylor, casually mentioned that his knee surgeon, Shameem Sampath, was looking to create a radio jingle for his BlueSpot Knee Clinic in Lancashire, England. At that time he was going down the route of a re-record of The Chordettes classic Mr Sandman, sung on occasions at the surgery by staff, as a play on Shameem's name. Licensing this song, however, was expensive and complicated as it was already being used by Wonga for their radio campaign.

I suggested a bespoke jingle would be a more flexible and enduring way and in the hands of the right composer (i.e. me) he could have an original music asset to add the emotional dimension to his brand that music provides. I had worked with vintage girl group, the Swinging Sweethearts, on their first single and was able to draw on the vocalists to create the jingle.

The five point plan worked liked this.

In consultation with Shameem, James and I established a set of key words for the jingle and jammed around these at the piano and vibraphone.

I recorded a demo with West End actor, Amelia Cormack which was played to Shameem on a visit to London.

With some adjustments to the tempo and arrangements, the vibraphone, played by James Taylor, was recorded and Amelia returned with West End actors Brenda Moore-Wait and Katy Shorten.

Voice-over artist, Amanda Alexander added the 'call to action' Text Knee to 84433! 

An extended version of the jingle was also recorded and will be available on iTunes in October.

Film-maker, Melanie Melherbe filmed a video of the single with choreographer Kirsty Davide with 3 different girls, due to availability.

The jingle airs on SmoothRadio in the Manchester region from October 7th.

For a company like BlueSpot to approach a composer and film-maker and work on a commercial campaign is rare. But, cutting out the ad agency makes a more creative experience for the client and is a prudent move. Communication and clarity of purpose kept everyone in the loop and it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I have worked on.

Hear the completed Jingle!

For news of the single and video release follow me on Facebook.

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BlueSpot Knee Clinic jingle starts on @Smoothradio next week. See my blog post for the story. #fixmyknee