Hugh Banton

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Hugh Robert Banton (born 1949) is a British organist and organ builder, most widely known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator in the 1970s.

Contents 1 Career 2 Discography 2.1 Solo 2.2 Van der Graaf Generator 2.3 Other Collaborations 3 External links 4 Reference

[edit] Career

Banton studied piano and organ at Wakefield Cathedral in Yorkshire under Percy Saunders. He then trained as an audio engineer at the BBC before joining Van der Graaf Generator in May 1968. In performance with this group he played Farfisa and Hammond organs, adding a wide range of effects including phasing, tape echo, distortion and overdrive. He later modified a Hammond E112 organ to allow separate amplification, with different effects, of the output from the two keyboards and pedalboard, and added a remote reverb unit. He also played piano and bass guitar on recordings.

In 1975 he began building a custom organ based on a Hammond but with added electronic oscillators to closely approximate a full pipe organ sound, with bass notes down to 16 Hz played through 24-inch subwoofers.

Banton left Van der Graaf Generator at the end of 1976 to work on the development, design and installation of electronic church organs for the Makin Organs company in Oldham, Lancashire. In 1992 he set up The Organ Workshop, at Lymm in Cheshire. His organs use digitally generated waveforms to emulate the sound of given organ stops; they often incorporate these custom-designed electronic generators with existing ranks of pipes, and can be played from MIDI files as well as by a player at the traditional console.

He has continued to contribute to recordings by former members of Van der Graaf Generator, and a reunion of the group in 2005.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Solo

• J.S. Bach - The Goldberg Variations (2003)

[edit] Van der Graaf Generator

• Aerosol Grey Machine (1969)
• The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other (1970)
• H To He, Who Am The Only One (1970)
• Pawn Hearts (1971)
• Godbluff (1975)
• Still Life (1976)
• World Record (1976)
• Time Vaults (1982)
• Now and Then (1988)
• Maida Vale (1994)
• Present (2005)

[edit] Other Collaborations

• Fool's Mate (Peter Hammill) (1971)
• Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night (Peter Hammill) (1973)
• The Long Hello (Hugh Banton, Guy Evans, David Jackson, Nick Potter) (1973)
• The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage (Peter Hammill) (1974)
• Nadir's Big Chance (Peter Hammill) (1975)
• Psi-Fi (Seventh Wave) (1975)
• Skin (Peter Hammill) (1985)
• Everyone You Hold (Peter Hammill) (1997)
• The Union Chapel Concert (Guy Evans, Peter Hammill) (1997)
• Curly's Airships (Chris Judge Smith) (2000)

[edit] External links

• The Organ Workshop
• interview by Tim Locke at Van der Graaf Generator fan site

[edit] Reference

• Christopulos, J. & Smart, P. (2005) 'Van der Graaf Generator - The Book' (Published by "Phil and Jim") ISBN 0-9551337-0-X