Talking Shop: IN-IS

Composer Sheridan Tongue on his studio set-up

Sheridan Tongue is a Bafta-nominated composer who has worked on TV projects including Spooks, Silent Witness and the Brian Cox-fronted Wonders Of The Solar System. His latest project, as IN-IS, sees him stepping away from TV and film for an album of electronic-tinged ambience, titled Seven Days. FM: Tell us about your studio… IN-IS: “I have always had a writing room (currently a building in the garden) but I reached a point about eight years ago where I needed an additional studio for mixing and a place where my assistant could work full time – so I had a second studio built to my specification that is set up for mixing in Dolby Surround 5.1. Both studios have the same Mac and PC rigs so projects can be easily transferred between them.

“I am using analogue gear more and more these days (keyboards and outboard) and usually commit these parts to audio tracks at the writing stage. Once everything is in Logic Audio then I tend to use mainly plug-ins for mixing so that mixes can be easily recalled and tweaked if necessary. In the world of music for film and television sometimes mixes have to be changed at very short notice – so speed is important.”

What's the latest addition to your studio?

“Actually it’s an upright piano. I know that is not really ‘gear’ but it is lovely to play and so inspirational when composing. It is also beautiful to record and I used it a lot on my album Seven Days. You can hear it in the track Opus Einn.” IN-IS’s essential production advice

Don’t overcomplicate tracks

“When I first started out working on film and television soundtracks I used to think that by adding more parts to a track the whole thing would just get better – but now I feel quite the opposite is true. I pay very close attention to each part. Everything is carefully considered: timbre of sound, reverbs, delays. I mainly use my own bespoke sound library when composing tracks. This is a library of sounds and unusual instruments I’ve built up over many years with various musicians and engineers. I would rather listen to a track made up of fewer classy sounds than a track full of mediocre sounds. Less is more!”