Hello and welcome to the Sonnet Studio website.  I'm Steven McNamara (aka Sound Steve) and if you're looking for help with  recording, sound engineering or mixing then you're in the right place!

 

I have always loved music and grew up in a home where music was  the soundtrack to our lives. I loved listening to my Dad's rock and roll vinyl LPs and fondly remember trying to multitrack with two cassette recorders side by side as a child. My passion led to me learning the guitar and song-writing, and inevitably to forming and joining bands, too many to name! With festival appearances, vinyl record releases and radio play, the stage was set to eventually open my own music venue.

 

My wife and I founded the Mess Room Venue in Skipton in 2019, an independent bar and music venue, which played host to such greats as Albert Lee (Eric Claptons favourite guitarist), The Bluetones, Chris Helme, Nigel Clarke from Dodgy, and guitar virtuoso Remi Harris. Here is where I really cut my teeth on live sound engineering, 4 gigs a week for over 6 years, mixing a variety of genres and styles and becoming adept in artist liason and PR.

 

I always kept up my passion for studio mixing and production, and having mixed vinyl releases in the past, I felt the itch to delve back in. Now armed with the vast experience live mixing gave me, I opened up Sonnet Studio on the edge of North and West Yorkshire boundary in early 2026. Sonnet Studio is where I can be found most days, working on my current mixing projects, or inviting budding artists round to help record, mix and elevate their music to help them on their music journey.  I also like to get out and about on the road , and also spend my time heading off around the country in my campervan to mix live gigs!