Lewis James brings two studio lives into his music: sound design for films and games, and records that explore the edges of drum and bass. Originally from Dublin and based in London, he has released through Astrophonica, Exit Records, Low Riders, and None60, with halftime an important part of his production.
He began working in film and television at Soho’s Hackenbacker studios in 2003, then moved into games with the Burnout series. Later roles took him to Montreal and Amsterdam before he established his own North London studio in 2014. That work taught him how much music could be found in sounds that were not instruments.
The beginning of Turbo, for example, uses a recording of metal reacting with dry ice. He described the technique to UKF as part of a wider love of Foley: recording real objects and finding a musical use for their noise. It is a practical connection between the two sides of his work, without reusing commissioned game audio in his own records.
Tracks such as Ferro and Praying Out Loud belong to that recording catalogue. He has also spoken about learning instruments so that he could sample himself, keeping the physical act of making a sound close to the production. The results sit comfortably between beat music, halftime, and less conventional drum and bass.
