Last wednesday morning 17th July, I received the news I hoped I would never hear, that  my good friend and colleague Mike Moor had lost his battle with lung cancer. The news shocked and saddened so many people.  He had been doing OK we thought, but sadly in the last four days his condition deteriorated very rapidly, and he died peacefully in the early hours of Wednesday. 

Mike Moor (left) with Howard Evans (centre) and Jim Gray (right)

during the recording of Steve's 'Locomotion' CD in Bournemouth, UK

Mike was the sound engineer behind virtually all my recordings, those that I made with Polyphonic, (all of the World of the Euphonium series, four of the British Tuba Quartet albums), Oration, Bravura, Tribute, Euphony, The Essential, and all of the Bocchino CDs up to Audacious.  To say that I trusted him completely with sound is an understatement.  He was a creative genius both in the recording and  editing studio.  The Euphonium Magic CDs were very much a partnership and he opened up so many possibilities that I couldn't have imagined.  He came and recorded all the albums with the Brass Band of Battle Creek and was there sound engineer in a relationship that can be traced back to a chance meeting with the Gray brothers in Michigan during the recording of the Tribute CD.  The respect that he got from so many top professionals in this band was so heart-warming, but not surprising.  Was the consummate professional, always keeping come and solving any problems there were in the way.  He did it with good grace, humour, and always totally impeccable with manners.  He was good company and knew the answers to just about any questions, particularly of a scientific nature.  His creative collaboration with the composer/producer Philip Sparke will go down in history as perhaps the most successful duo in brass band recording.  It was them who inspired me not only to record, and achieve the very best possible results in the studio, and motivated me to go on and be fascinated by all areas of editing and production.

I have learned so much from Mike, and it was he who captured my euphonium sound for the last 17 years, and who brought so much pleasure to other people.

At this time we remember the wonderful calm master of his trade, Mike Moor and his widow Susie.