Hamilton Smith has a broad experience of the recording industry both in music recording and audio post-production. His career started at Olympic Studios in Barnes under the stewardship of Keith Grant where he was involved in recording every conceivable kind of music. A five-year spell as a freelance engineer/producer preceded joining Complete Video as head of sound where he stayed for 12 years, becoming a director, before leaving to open his own facility, China Blue, which has recently launched a new 5.1 Surround Room.
In a statement to mark his election DHS said: "I am genuinely touched and honoured to have been invited to be the new chairman of the APRS. I accept this role knowing that I have enormous shoes to fill. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the whole APRS Board to thank, Phil Dudderidge, for his exemplary work during his tenure as chairman. He will be a very hard act to follow, and I will need all the help and support my fellow Board members can give me to do justice to the faith they have placed in me to be his successor.
"I grew up seeing the APRS logo in the various studios I was fortunate enough to visit from the tender age of six. It was the first sign I saw in reception when I joined Olympic studios. To me the APRS badge has always been a symbol of excellence in recording. In such challenging times for all the audio industries, I am hoping to take the Association into a new era of development, by providing focussed professional and new business advice to individual audio practitioners, and by reinvigorating the APRS profile throughout the industry."
The APRS is the trade association that represents the professional recording industry in the UK - its President is Sir George Martin, CBE.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
