Dave’s fascination with recording music came at a young age. When he was ten years old he went to a recording session with his Dad (Alan Rhodes, co-founder of Hamilton County Bluegrass Band), and fell in love with all the flashing lights and sounds.
Before he became a sound engineer, he was the drummer for popular Kiwi nu metal band Stylus, who released two albums Painkillers (2003) and Gain Control (2006). Gain Control was co-produced and co-engineered by Dave and Stylus bassist Paul Matthews.
He was also the drummer for rock outfits 29 Blackbirds (2007 – 2009), and Static Era (2010 – 2015).
After completing a Diploma in Audio Engineering at SAE in 1995, he spent 9 years working for Pagan and Antenna Records where he made NZ music radio programs for commercial radio. There he worked alongside Tadpole, Darcy Clay, Pluto, Voom and other bands on the label. During this time he also recorded bands at York Street and The Lab including Blindspott, Stylus, These Four Walls, and others.
From there he moved to Stebbing Recording Studio where he spent 8 years working alongside the country’s top sound engineers and honing his skills in a large multi room recording facility. He worked with many talented artists including Hollie Smith, Six60, Tama Waipara, The Topp Twins, John Rowles, Shane and more.
He then became studio manager of Depot Sound in Devonport, which is part of the Depot community artspace. During his 6 years there he produced epic recordings for Head Like A Hole, Brendon Thomas and the Vibes, Push Push, John Rowles, Blue Ruin, The Warratahs, Hamilton County Bluegrass Band plus many more emerging bands of all genres. Additionally he mentored multiple emerging music producers including Jess Haugh and Morgan Allen.
In 2019 he moved from Auckland to his hometown Whitianga to become a freelance music producer and build his own boutique recording studio. He officially launched his studio in December 2020.
Dave is incredibly passionate about music production, he lives and breathes it, and with over 25 years of recording, production, performing and studio management experience, you’d be hard pressed to find a better producer for your project! Listen to some of Dave’s work, and/or get in touch with him for a chat.
- NZMA Best Jazz Album 1998 for The New Loungehead – Came A Weird Way (engineer)
- VNZMA Engineer of the Year 2002 for Blindspott – Blindspott (engineer/mixing)
- VNZMA Best Country Music Album 2016 for The Warratahs – Runaway Days (engineer/mixing)
- VNZMA Best Country Music Album 2017 (nominee) for Hamilton County Bluegrass Band – These Old Hands (engineer/mixing)
