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Information About

Hugh Banton





CAREER


Banton trained as an audio engineer at the BBC before joining Van der Graaf Generator in May 1968 . In peformance 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 16Hz played through 24-inch Subwoofer s.

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 Makins company in Oldham , Lancashire . In 1991 he set up The Organ Workshop, at Lymm in Cheshire . His organs use individually 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 .


DISCOGRAPHY



Solo


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



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)



Other Collaborations




EXTERNAL LINKS


  • The Organ Workshop

  • [http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/hb_oct01_1.htm interview by Tim Locke at Van der Graaf Generator fan site]