Reviews

Recommendations

It has been my great fortune and privilege to work with Ben Connellan since 2012. To date, we have recorded 12 solo piano albums together at Potton Hall for the American label MSR Classics. Ben is, without doubt, a world class sound engineer and editor. His tremendous skills have brought out the very best in my piano recordings thus far. Always professional and supportive in the studio and beyond, Ben also has great musicality and ears that I trust to make my recordings sound natural and inspired. I realise how special his talent is and of course hope we will continue to make many artistic recording projects together in the future. A wonderful colleague and friend who I can thoroughly recommend to every musician interested in producing recordings of the very highest calibre.

James Brawn – Pianist

Ben Connellan is the perfect engineer and editor because he thinks like a musician. During playbacks he is incredibly quick in finding particular takes, even if one’s description of what one liked is not clear. He has a fine appreciation of music and an instinct for what sounds right. Ben is a perfectionist who always gives 100% to the performer, but at the same time he is very efficient and quick. He is also extremely kind and very good company.

Nicholas Walker – Pianist

Ben Connellan has been a joy to work with, recording for various companies as well as on my own label. Always quietly supportive, he is so flexible, so helpful and so quick to respond, both in sessions and in the editing process, but best of all, he captures a wonderful sound, to present our performances at their absolute best. Annabel’s bright personality, positive guidance and keen ears provide clarity and together they make an admirable team.

Rachel Brown – Baroque flautist

My first recording with Ben Connellan, Giraffe Productions, was in 1998 at St George’s, Brandon Hill Bristol, with the Bath Camerata. I was immediately struck by the clear, natural and warm sound he produced. I was also gratified by his unstinting support at every stage of the recording process from beginning to edited master. I have since worked with Ben on many recordings for SOMM  in every possible genre and reviews of our recordings together have been uniformly excellent. I can’t recommend his work highly enough.

Siva Oke – Founder and Recording Producer, SOMM Recordings

“Nearly all my recordings for the past 15 years, whether in Britain, Europe or Australia, have been engineered and, in most instances, also produced by Ben and Annabel Connellan of Giraffe Productions. For many years before that, I worked regularly with Ben when he was one of the top sound engineers for Chandos Records.

The levels of expertise and experience Ben and Annabel bring to their work simply could not be bettered.

They apply these qualities to a very complete service, from planning, through provision of first class recording equipment, the smooth running of sessions, to comprehensive editing and production of the final master.

Over and above all that, there is a personal, warm concern that any stress should be shouldered and dealt with by them, not by the performer, and they will go to whatever lengths necessary to ensure that this is the case.

Utterly reliable and absolutely committed to excellence, they are a joy and a pleasure to work with.”

Howard Shelley OBE – Conductor, Pianist

Ben [Connellan] has been my first call recording engineer for twenty years. He manages to come up with the perfect sound and balance for repertoire ranging from violin sonatas to choral works and he always achieves this in a remarkably short amount of time. His editing work is also second to none. He’s a pleasure to work with and I can’t recommend his work highly enough.

I have also worked many times with Annabel as a record producer. She is unfailingly helpful in her feedback and excellent at ensuring that the sessions work efficiently. Ben and Annabel are a fantastic team and are brilliant at what they do!

Adrian Butterfield – Violinist

“Ben is not only a gifted and very experienced engineer and editor but a wonderful colleague as well. His unfailing friendliness, humour and enthusiasm, his level-headedness in difficult situations, his discretion and willingness to please, coupled with his unsurpassed engineering and editing skills ensure that he is held in great esteem by all who work with him.

Nothing is too much trouble for Ben. I have been working with him for many years now on a variety of CD recording projects, ranging from solo instrumental and small-scale chamber and song to large-scale orchestral and in many different venues. I always enjoy the sound he gets, as do the musicians we work with, which means that much valuable time is frequently saved at recording sessions. Ben is so dedicated, always well-prepared, everything is set up and ready to go in plenty of time and he is relaxed and alert to what might be needed; often one step ahead, making drinks or numbering bars and so forth.

Ben is also an outstanding editor and his keenness to work and the speed and skill with which he turns edits round after receiving marked-up scores is unique in my experience and greatly appreciated by all involved.

I recommend Ben without reservation and look forward to many more years of collaboration with him.”

Jeremy Hayes – Record Producer

“Ben and Annabel are a top team—professional, warm, good-humoured and patient. They make recording—which has every chance of being a horribly fraught process—into a creative treat. Our sessions were truly collaborative: everyone striving for the best result. Ben and Annabel showed great enthusiasm for, and understanding of, the repertoire we were recording. I knew we were on the same wavelength artistically, in terms of what we wanted the recording to be. As producer, Annabel was efficient and patient. Her tact and good humour when addressing technical problems, such as intonation, were much appreciated by the choir. Her editing work is painstaking and detailed—no shortcuts!—always preserving the essential spirit of performance. Ben, who engineered our recording, was discreet and unflappable. Our recording is beautifully balanced thanks to him. The choir Treasurer appreciated Giraffe too—Cantores strives for professional standards on limited finances, so we valued the security of signing up to a fixed-cost, ‘all-in-one’ production and editing package. We embarked on the project knowing our final budget—no nasty surprises later on. Ben and Annabel are lovely people to work with, and they certainly brought out the best in Cantores. We will work with them again.”

Dr David Allinson – Director of Cantores 

“I’ve worked with Ben and Annabel of Giraffe Productions for over six years on all sorts of projects ranging from a cappella vocal music, string quartet and chamber groups, through to large ensembles and full orchestra. In this specialised business you need complete confidence in the production team, and with Giraffe I feel I’m in safe hands. It’s more than a knowledge that we’ll get a great sound and an ability to deal with technical issues; it’s seeing the whole project through, a thorough competence with the highest-calibre equipment, an efficient and painstaking attitude in post-production, and an ability to help develop the relationship between musicians and production team, which is essential. I look forward to many future collaborations with them.”

Adrian Hunter – Record producer 

“Annabel and Ben Connellan are a terrific production team—I enjoyed working with them both. Annabel could always be counted on to keep calm—even in the face of airplanes, haymakers and whatever else making noise! She provided excellent feedback and kept recording schedules on-track. Ben’s brilliant engineering skills continue to impress everyone—I look forward to working with ‘Giraffe’ again soon.”

Jackie Ross – Violinist 

“As a producer, Annabel sees both the wood and the trees. She possesses not only an uncanny ability to get straight to the heart of a piece of music, but also the necessary communication skills to enhance any performance. Coupled with Ben’s technical expertise they make a remarkable team.”

Nicholas Unwin – Pianist 

“Ben Connellan is an ideal sound engineer for me to work with: efficient, versatile, musical, panic-proof, consistent, reliable, and possessing a medium-dry sense of humour.”

Annette Isserlis – Record producer, viola player 

“I have known Ben and Annabel Connellan for a number of years and have worked frequently with them. They are an outstanding team who bring the whole gamut of experience to bear on a project. They combine real recording experience in as big or small a situation as required with the outstanding ears necessary to make it work well right from the start. They also have all the care needed at the often problematical ‘afterbirth’ stage of editing. More than that, however, they are two of the nicest people I know—and that’s really important when the stress factor is often high on location. Once you have worked with these two, you will return to them—often! I can’t recommend the Giraffe team strongly enough. Head and neck above the competition!”

Paul Spicer – Record producer, composer, conductor