Haydn Bendall

Haydn Bendall (born 13 April 1951, Essex, England) is an English record producer, audio engineer and mixer. He was Chief Engineer at Abbey Road Studios for ten years and was awarded the Audio Pro Industry Excellence Award for Best Studio Engineer in 2009.

Career
Bendall started out at Orange Studios, moving on to Steinway & Sons as a piano tuner. He joined Ken Townsend's Abbey Road team in 1973 as a part-time assistant, taking on a full-time position a year later.

Initially partnering with Tony Clarke, Bendall worked on albums by Herbie Flowers, BeBop Deluxe, Steve Harley, Alan Parsons, Cliff Richard and Camel, developing a close working relationship with Sky. In the 1980-90s, he worked with Kate Bush on five albums, including Hounds of Love in 1985. Further Abbey Road work included engineering or producing for XTC, Bonnie Tyler, Tina Turner and Massive Attack. Film soundtrack work included The Long Good Friday and Ryuichi Sakamoto's pieces on the Oscar and Grammy Award-winning soundtrack to The Last Emperor.

Leaving Abbey Road in 1991, Bendall became an independent producer/engineer. As an independent, Bendall has worked with Pet Shop Boys, Everything but the Girl, Pat Metheny, Chris Botti, Leona Lewis, The Priests, Mike Batt and Katie Melua. In 1992, Bendall engineered the Grammy Award-winning album Secret Story for Pat Metheny. He also worked with Eric Woolfson on the development of three musicals: Gaudi, Gambler and Poe.

He is currently based in Strongroom Studios located in Shoreditch, London.

Recently Bendall mixed and engineered La Voce for Russell Watson and Noël for The Priests. Other projects include engineering and mixing the Vatican album Alma Mater featuring the voice of Pope Benedict XVI, recording orchestral tracks for Andrea Bocelli and mixing tracks for Siphiwo Ntshebe.

In 2012, in collaboration with Walter Afanasieff, Bendall recorded the Grammy-Award-winning album Impressions for Chris Botti. Bendall also recorded Secret Symphony for Katie Melua.

In 2015 Bendall engineered and mixed Duets for Van Morrison which included collaborations with Bobby Womack, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Ginger Baker, Mark Knopfler, Mick Hucknall and Roger Daltrey.

2016 saw Bendall credited with the mix for Tom Ford's film Nocturnal Animals.

Selected discography

 * 1979 Cliff Richard – Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile
 * 1981 Camel – Nude
 * 1982 Sky – Sky 4: Forthcoming
 * 1982 The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky
 * 1982 Kate Bush – The Dreaming
 * 1982 Camel - The Single Factor
 * 1984 Camel - Stationary Traveller
 * 1985 Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
 * 1985 Alan Parsons – Vulture Culture
 * 1986 Everything But the Girl – Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
 * 1986 Paul McCartney – Press to Play
 * 1987 Ryuichi Sakamoto – The Last Emperor – Grammy Award
 * 1987 Marc Almond – Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters
 * 1989 Kate Bush – The Sensual World
 * 1990 a-ha – East of the Sun, West of the Moon
 * 1990 Kate Bush – This Woman's Work: Anthology 1978–1990
 * 1990 Gary Moore – Still Got the Blues
 * 1990 Pet Shop Boys – Behaviour
 * 1991 Camel – Dust and Dreams
 * 1992 Pat Metheny – Secret Story – Grammy Award
 * 1999 XTC - Apple Venus Volume 1
 * 2002 Everything But the Girl – Like the Deserts Miss the Rain
 * 2003 Pet Shop Boys – PopArt
 * 2004 Chris Botti – When I Fall in Love
 * 2005 Chris Botti – To Love Again: The Duets
 * 2005 Katie Melua – Piece by Piece
 * 2007 Leona Lewis – Spirit
 * 2008 Il Divo – The Promise
 * 2009 Andrea Bocelli – My Christmas
 * 2010 Russell Watson – La Voce
 * 2012 Chris Botti - Impressions - Grammy Award
 * 2012 Katie Melua - Secret Symphony
 * 2013 Sarah Brightman - Dreamchaser
 * 2015 Van Morrison - Duets
 * 2020 Andrea Bocelli - Believe

Selected singles

 * 1981 Elton John and Kiki Dee – "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"
 * 1981 Olivia Newton-John – "Physical"
 * 1986 Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush – "Don't Give Up"
 * 1986 Freddie Mercury – "Time" and "In My Defence"
 * 1991 Tina Turner – "Simply the Best"
 * 1991 Massive Attack – "Unfinished Sympathy"

Soundtracks

 * Brazil (1985) – sound engineering
 * The Last Emperor (1987) – co-production. The soundtrack received an Oscar for the best sound-recording and a Grammy Award for the best album.
 * Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) – sound engineering.
 * Crusoe (1988) – sound engineering.
 * Scandal (1989) – sound-engineering for the theme song 'Nothing Has Been Proved' with Dusty Springfield and Pet Shop Boys.
 * Twin Peaks (1990) – sound engineering.
 * Strike It Rich (1990) – sound engineering.
 * White Squall (1996) – sound engineering.
 * Victory (2009) – sound engineering.
 * Touchback (2011) – sound engineering.
 * Nocturnal Animals (2016) - mixing.