Haydn Bendall

Haydn Bendall (born 13 April 1951, Essex, England) is an English record producer, audio engineer and mixer. He was Chief Engineer at Abbey Road Studios for ten years and was awarded the Audio Pro Industry Excellence Award for Best Studio Engineer in 2009.

Bendall started out at Orange Studios, moving on to Steinway & Sons as a piano tuner. He joined Ken Townsend's Abbey Road team in 1973 as a part-time assistant, taking on a full-time position a year later.

Initially partnering with Tony Clarke, Bendall worked on albums by Herbie Flowers, BeBop Deluxe, Steve Harley, Alan Parsons, Cliff Richard and Camel, developing a close working relationship with Sky. In the 1980-90s, he worked with Kate Bush on five albums, including Hounds of Love in 1985. Further Abbey Road work included engineering or producing for XTC, Bonnie Tyler, Tina Turner and Massive Attack. Film soundtrack work included The Long Good Friday and Ryuichi Sakamoto's pieces on the Oscar and Grammy Award-winning soundtrack to The Last Emperor.

Leaving Abbey Road in 1991, Bendall became an independent producer/engineer. As an independent, Bendall has worked with Pet Shop Boys, Everything but the Girl, Pat Metheny, Chris Botti, Leona Lewis, The Priests, Mike Batt and Katie Melua.[10] In 1992, Bendall engineered[11] the Grammy Award-winning album Secret Story[12] for Pat Metheny. He also worked with Eric Woolfson on the development of three musicals: Gaudi, Gambler and Poe.[13]

He is currently based in Strongroom Studios located in Shoreditch, London.[14]

Recently Bendall mixed and engineered La Voce for Russell Watson and Noël for The Priests. Other projects include engineering and mixing the Vatican album Alma Mater featuring the voice of Pope Benedict XVI,[15] recording orchestral tracks for Andrea Bocelli and mixing tracks for Siphiwo Ntshebe.

In 2012, in collaboration with Walter Afanasieff, Bendall recorded the Grammy-Award-winning album Impressions for Chris Botti.[16] Bendall also recorded Secret Symphony for Katie Melua.[17]

In 2015 Bendall engineered and mixed Duets for Van Morrison which included collaborations with Bobby Womack, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Ginger Baker, Mark Knopfler, Mick Hucknall and Roger Daltrey.[18]

2016 saw Bendall credited with the mix for Tom Ford's film Nocturnal Animals.