warne livesey is a record producer and mix engineer with over twenty years experience in the music business. in that time he has worked with many successful artists and musicians all over the world and has amassed sales in excess of 15 million. originally from the uk he now lives in vancouver, bc, where he has his recording studio the command centre.

livesey started playing music in london, england amidst the punk and new wave revolution of the late seventies. originally a bass player in many bands and on the session scene he soon realised that his main passion was for recording. although self taught he soon established himself as an up and coming engineer, working with producers such as david lord, rhett davis and robin miller. through his work with the specials he broke into production by recording projects for their ground breaking two tone record label and other indies such as some bizzare. during the early eighties he collaborated with jim thirlwell, who's various revolutionary projects under the foetus unbrella were to become the fountation of industrial music that would later inspire nine inch nails amougst others. more immediately though, this work came to the attention of matt johnson of the the, who gave livesey his first major label break by asking him to produce half of his 1986 release' infected'. livesey also mixed all but one track on this album, which reach number 4 in the uk charts, was critically aclaimed and went on to sell 1 million copies wordwide. "it was like over night success", says livesey. "before infected i had no major label work offers, and then after the release i was getting about 70 project offers a month. and still to this day, people seek me out because of those records". he also worked on the the's 1990 follow up album 'mindbomb'.

meanwhile, on the opposite side of the world, the ears of autralian band midnight oil were twitching. livesey's work with foetus was too extreme for some of the band's members, but others saw potential. the release of 'infected' was all that was needed to convince all the band and in 1987, livesey and his family packed their bags and headed for the winter sun of sydney, australia. "it was a crazy time. i was talking with the oils for about six months. there was some procrastination; songs weren't quite ready, schedules conflicted, and then all of a sudden my wife barbara, our two young kids and i were on a plane. i remember i was in the studio with julian cope (formerly of teardrop explodes). we finished our last mix at about 3am and at 10am we were at heathrow airport".

the album that ensued was 'diesel and dust' which became midnight oil's break out record establishing them as an internation force; the first real alternative rock band with their distinctive brand of politically charged anthems and a live show second to none. the single 'beds are burning' was a hit all around the world and the album went on to sell 5 million copies. livesey was again used to produce the follow up, 'blue sky mining' and after working with other producer's for two records the partnership was rekindled for the band's last two discs, 'redneck wonderland' and 'capricornia', before singer peter garrett decided to leave the music industry for a life in politics. "i have always hoped that music has the potential to positively effect the wider world. the fact that midnight oil were an important voice in pursuading the australian government to say 'sorry' to the aboriginal community and that peter is now the minister for the environment and the arts in the australian cabinet supports that. i am proud to have played my small part".

many other production projects followed. deacon blue's number one album in the uk 'when the world knows your name', the house of love's 'babe rainbow' and co-writing with mark hollis formerly of talk talk for his eponymously titled solo album are just a few. "one project i have sometimes been critisized for was when i worked with the soulful pop singer, paul young'. i guess people don't get how that fits into my more rock based career. but i've always loved soul music and paul has a great voice. besides, the musician line-up on that record was amazing: manu katche, pino palladino, chaka kahn, dave gilmore, stevie windwood to name a few. why would you not want to do that? that's why i got into this business; to work with amazing musicians, singers, songwriters and artists".

livesey's life took an unexpected turn in 1997 when he hooked up with the vancouver based matthew good band. the band had previously recorded and released their debut independently when they hired warne to produce 'underdogs'. the album went platinum in canada and the follow up 'beautiful midnight' went straight in at number one and reached double platinum. the band lasted one more record before self distructing but matthew worked again with livesey for his first two solo records. five albums in total. the frequent visits to vancouver introduced the livesey family to beautiful british columbia, and they liked it so much that in 2002 they moved there. after spending 3 years living in downtown vancouver, they moved to victoria on vancouver island where they now live most of the year and have a studio. "the recording industry has changed so radically over the years. but i still want to make world class recordings. i am lucky to have been able to make investment in a lot of equipment over the years, and i now have the command centre so i can offer top quality recording at a fraction of the budgets we were used to spending up until 4 or 5 years ago.