Tahu Parkinson
- Sound Department
With over 20 years dedicated to sound production, Tahu has committed more than half of his to life to the craft of audio engineering and continues to forge a meaningful understanding of sound in our lives.
"I'm deeply inspired by music, sounds and song of our ancient cultures, there is so much to discover in the essence of sound and the relationships of frequency, harmony and it's effects on our emotions."
From Invercargill, New Zealand, Tahu Parkinson is an innovative audio specialist that has worked with audio and music production since 1997. Tahu spent his early years as a professional teenage musician and mix engineer with local bands. In 2005 he completed a Bachelor in Audio Production in connection with School of Audio Engineering (SAE) HQ in Byron Bay. Tahu interned at the prestigious Studio 101, mastering his skills of sound recording, engineering and mixing on vintage analogue and state of the art digital technology. The same year Tahu completed his first full length album titled Purity Rising, which he wrote, engineered, mixed and mastered.
From 2007 Tahu spent two years as a freelance audio technician and engineer in Melbourne, Australia. Then a move to Sweden saw Tahu continuing live audio production before moving into a a fixture of producing, mixing and mastering Ancient Tales of Wisdom (2009 ) a podcast series of children's stories. This included a double CD and an international education audio book for primary school children (2010). Later that year Tahu completed a 12 month program in Music Composition for TV and Film with Berklee Collage of Music propelling his mastery of composing and mixing orchestral music production. The following year Tahu began a stint of audio production roles with independent film makers as recording engineer on projects such as: Little Sister (2012), Super Lenses (2012), The Hunger Artist (2012), Dem some Gräver en Grav (Dig Ones Own Grave) (2013), Double Trouble (2014), The Slaughter (2014).
Back to NZ 2014, Tahu continued as a sound engineer and composer, soon commissioned as Executive Producer/Audio Producer on major community project, Ages Unite (2014). Tahu produced the project including: a documentary, animated film and music video, covering a remarkable level of audio production throughout production-audio recording, editing and mixing, voice recording, original score composer, co-writing, and performing narrative and singing roles.
For the next three years Tahu worked independently as an audio producer in advertising and video production, while branching out into more immersive media production within cultural arts experiences recently reaching a pinnacle as Executive Producer/Audio Producer for the Southland Regional Matariki Festival and an innovative Maori cultural sound and light experience - Te Timatanga Hou, Te Ara Hou (New Beginnings, 2019).
Inspired by the sacred composers of the renaissance, the greats of the classical period and the modern film composers of the 20th century. "I personally find this current period to be the most creative time of my life with the possibilities simply endless. With the emergence of technology and ever-growing access to the deep history of music and sound there is simply no limit to what can be achieved with the right combination of wisdom and talent."
For the past two years Tahu has been working with Swoop Films, scoring original music and audio producing for the feature documentary Finding Courage due for release 2020.
As a sound specialist Tahu handles sound engineering, sound design, and original scoring for the film, as well as mixing and mastering. The role requires providing creative solutions for sonic movements that support the story and the emotions it conveys. Tahu has a remarkable talent for audio production with a unique ability to combine the tradition of classical composition with technology and all the possibilities it presents. Tahu has committed over two decades to master the process and is constantly learning.
"As an audio professional I'm deeply honored to support human rights throughout the world. The film 'Finding Courage' tells the story of Falun Dafa practitioners in China; one of the most tragic and brutal persecutions of our modern history, this film can truly make an impact."
Tahu has been head audio department engineer for an international podcast production network which produces three weekly podcasts and a daily show. The role maintains an extensive sound archiving and production library, involves composing original themes, audio recording, editing, mixing and mastering for streaming services.
Tahu is also well experienced in many genres of music production and works with independent musicians to mix and master songs and singles.
Tahu is deeply inspired by sound and music of ancient cultures and has a remarkable drive for learning to be an audio professional that can make a positive difference.
"Music is a universal language that transcends all barriers and can touch people to the depths of their being. The science of sound is simply astounding resonating from the depths of the universe to the inner resonance of our brains during meditation, it is simply a foundation of life and our ancient civilizations are believed to have found even more profound uses for sound. I'm only just touching the surface of a deeper understanding. The benefits of sound, music and harmonic resonance has been understood by ancient cultures for millenia, this is truly a new and exciting realm of discovery for me, I look forward as the journey is sure to reveal more magic in the time to come."
"I'm deeply inspired by music, sounds and song of our ancient cultures, there is so much to discover in the essence of sound and the relationships of frequency, harmony and it's effects on our emotions."
From Invercargill, New Zealand, Tahu Parkinson is an innovative audio specialist that has worked with audio and music production since 1997. Tahu spent his early years as a professional teenage musician and mix engineer with local bands. In 2005 he completed a Bachelor in Audio Production in connection with School of Audio Engineering (SAE) HQ in Byron Bay. Tahu interned at the prestigious Studio 101, mastering his skills of sound recording, engineering and mixing on vintage analogue and state of the art digital technology. The same year Tahu completed his first full length album titled Purity Rising, which he wrote, engineered, mixed and mastered.
From 2007 Tahu spent two years as a freelance audio technician and engineer in Melbourne, Australia. Then a move to Sweden saw Tahu continuing live audio production before moving into a a fixture of producing, mixing and mastering Ancient Tales of Wisdom (2009 ) a podcast series of children's stories. This included a double CD and an international education audio book for primary school children (2010). Later that year Tahu completed a 12 month program in Music Composition for TV and Film with Berklee Collage of Music propelling his mastery of composing and mixing orchestral music production. The following year Tahu began a stint of audio production roles with independent film makers as recording engineer on projects such as: Little Sister (2012), Super Lenses (2012), The Hunger Artist (2012), Dem some Gräver en Grav (Dig Ones Own Grave) (2013), Double Trouble (2014), The Slaughter (2014).
Back to NZ 2014, Tahu continued as a sound engineer and composer, soon commissioned as Executive Producer/Audio Producer on major community project, Ages Unite (2014). Tahu produced the project including: a documentary, animated film and music video, covering a remarkable level of audio production throughout production-audio recording, editing and mixing, voice recording, original score composer, co-writing, and performing narrative and singing roles.
For the next three years Tahu worked independently as an audio producer in advertising and video production, while branching out into more immersive media production within cultural arts experiences recently reaching a pinnacle as Executive Producer/Audio Producer for the Southland Regional Matariki Festival and an innovative Maori cultural sound and light experience - Te Timatanga Hou, Te Ara Hou (New Beginnings, 2019).
Inspired by the sacred composers of the renaissance, the greats of the classical period and the modern film composers of the 20th century. "I personally find this current period to be the most creative time of my life with the possibilities simply endless. With the emergence of technology and ever-growing access to the deep history of music and sound there is simply no limit to what can be achieved with the right combination of wisdom and talent."
For the past two years Tahu has been working with Swoop Films, scoring original music and audio producing for the feature documentary Finding Courage due for release 2020.
As a sound specialist Tahu handles sound engineering, sound design, and original scoring for the film, as well as mixing and mastering. The role requires providing creative solutions for sonic movements that support the story and the emotions it conveys. Tahu has a remarkable talent for audio production with a unique ability to combine the tradition of classical composition with technology and all the possibilities it presents. Tahu has committed over two decades to master the process and is constantly learning.
"As an audio professional I'm deeply honored to support human rights throughout the world. The film 'Finding Courage' tells the story of Falun Dafa practitioners in China; one of the most tragic and brutal persecutions of our modern history, this film can truly make an impact."
Tahu has been head audio department engineer for an international podcast production network which produces three weekly podcasts and a daily show. The role maintains an extensive sound archiving and production library, involves composing original themes, audio recording, editing, mixing and mastering for streaming services.
Tahu is also well experienced in many genres of music production and works with independent musicians to mix and master songs and singles.
Tahu is deeply inspired by sound and music of ancient cultures and has a remarkable drive for learning to be an audio professional that can make a positive difference.
"Music is a universal language that transcends all barriers and can touch people to the depths of their being. The science of sound is simply astounding resonating from the depths of the universe to the inner resonance of our brains during meditation, it is simply a foundation of life and our ancient civilizations are believed to have found even more profound uses for sound. I'm only just touching the surface of a deeper understanding. The benefits of sound, music and harmonic resonance has been understood by ancient cultures for millenia, this is truly a new and exciting realm of discovery for me, I look forward as the journey is sure to reveal more magic in the time to come."
