Charles Reeves

Charles "Chicky" Reeves
Background information
Also known as	Chicky, Edmund Squeeze, The Aklamate
Born	(1978-10-10) October 10, 1978 Atlanta, Georgia
Genres	Acoustic Rock Electronic Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Recording engineer, musician, producer
Instruments	Vocals, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, programmer
Associated acts	OMD Barry Adamson Grace Jones Ray Charles Prince UB40

Charles "Chicky" Reeves is a producer, recording, mixing and mastering engineer^[1] working with famous artists such as Prince, UB40, Ray Charles, Tito Puente, Johnny Cash, and Radiohead—as well as MTV's Live at the Ten Spot, VH1 Storytellers, Boyz II Men, Apollo Heights, D-Lite, 247Spys. In 2004, Reeves moved to London with his New-York-schooled-style. He continues to collaborate with artists in the studio as well as mixing front of house for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Grace Jones, Francesca Longrigg, Scarlett Etienne, Dana Boulé, BEF (formerly Heaven 17), Onetwo, Skye Edwards (of Morcheeba), Prince, Rachael Cormack, UB40, and the Icelandic band Trabant. His studio, Sublime Studios, is located in Islington, London, England. His music is published by Extreme Music.

Early life

Born in Griffin, Georgia, Reeves spent his early life in Georgia and Texas and was educated in Europe. He studied contra-bass clarinet, double bass and conducting, with a focus on 20th century French music. Afterward, Reeves returned to America and composed music for Fox Television network. He opened a nightclub, 6th Street Records, which was also a live venue for Austin's well-known 6th Street and its bands. He subsequently began focusing on engineering and production throughout the early 90s at well known Austin recording studios, The Hit Shack, Arlyn Studios, and Audio Image, and eventually converting his three-bedroom house into his own recording studio where he recorded many well-known Texas acts such as Loose Diamonds, Beaver Nelson, The Ging'bread Men, Troy Campbell, Michael Ramos, Pop Poppins, Laurie Freelove, Claude McCann, JoCarol Pierce, Rich Brotherton, Champ Hood, and Walter Tragert.

In 1996, Reeves moved to New York City, where he became chief engineer of Manhattan Center Studios/Hammerstein Ballroom. During this time, he also ran his own studio out of the Hotel New Yorker, where he worked with Lisa Left-Eye Lopez (TLC), BoyzIIMen, Beans, 247Spyz, Dee-Lite, Apollo Heights, Tru Life, Paul Sorvino, Amy Atchley, Morgan Taylor, Jeff Byrd, Broose Dickinson, as well as mixing for Ray Charles, Tito Puente, MTV, VH1, and many others.

In 1997, he collaborated with British singer and songwriter, Francesca Longrigg of True Noise, producing and recording her album for Reprise. The extended project eventually (in 2003) brought him to London, where under the management of One Fifteen, he began working with clients such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Grace Jones, Barry Adamson, Paul Humphreys (OMD), Claudia Brücken (Propaganda), Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, Jools Holland, Ben Waters, Ivor Guest, Skye Edwards (Morcheeba), Patrissia, Sam Sallon, Dana Boule, Adam Green, Natalia DiSario, David Frazier, Gambling Hearts, The Cavaliers, Danny Valentine, Saint Jude, Anne Garner, Robert Logan, and Look, Stranger!.

In 2007, Reeves put out his first solo CD, Help Is on the Way, under his creative sobriquet, The Aklamate, and began composing tracks for Extreme Music. He continues to release music and make remixes under the names of both The Aklamate and Edmund Squeeze, as well as in 2010 releasing a series of videos (under both names as collaborative material) featuring lengthy single shots, sometimes as long as twenty minutes in length, with musical scoring.

In October 2010, he travelled to Shanghai to mix Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2010 World Expo, just before beginning a world tour with OMD. Early Spring 2011 saw a continuation of touring with OMD throughout the US and with Grace Jones in Australia and New Zealand, and further remixing under the moniker of Edmund Squeeze and The Aklamate. In the Summer of 2011, he mixed two releases by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: "Live In Berlin" (recorded at Berlin's Tempodom and released as a special booklet and CD) and "Live In New York" (recorded at New York's Terminal 5 and selected tracks released on DVD). In the Autumn of 2011, he did another US tour with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

In early 2012, he worked with New York, NY, based band The Snow mixing their third album, as well as February 6 release of long-term collaboration with Francesca Longrigg, a high-production-value children's record, The Land of Sometimes.

2013 saw another world tour with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, finishing in August in Toronto, recording and mixing of albums by Scotland-based Jakil and Malta/London-based Nellie Bell. He has since been concentrating on mixing and remixing for varied acts in the UK and the US, such as Cary Nokey, ZZ Ward, The Hush Sound, and Lewis

In 2014, he mixed acts such as Prince, Rachael Cormack, and UB40, then turned his attention to building a new studio complex Sublime Studios to accommodate the influx of mixing and recording work.

Sublime Recording Studios

Reeves connected with his calling of owning and operating a studio when a band approached him at his nightclub in Austin, Texas, 6th Street Records, saying that he did a great job mixing their show and wanted to know whether he knew how to work a 24-track studio. A quick study, Reeves used this opportunity to work his first session, figuring out the ropes along the way. After several incarnations, his current studio now is Sublime Recording Studios in London and is located in a Grade II listed historical crescent in Islington, London, where he says his first priority is to provide a place of artistic and creative safety to his clients.

His influences include Boards of Canada, Sigur Rós, Goldfrapp, Cocteau Twins, The Beatles, early 20th century French impressionist music, Trevor Horn, Flood, Kraftwerk, Can, and Neu!, among others.

References