A talented photographer and videographer is celebrating his life in the music industry,
Martin Maynard moved to Southport in 2014.
Before this, Martin ran Sounds Good a, Audio Cassette and CD / DVD manufacturing plant in Berkshire, where the focus was very much on the greasy manufacturing end of the music business, actually making the product. This included mastering the audio to fit the media and designing the associated packaging; many millions of CDs and cassettes were printed and duplicated from Pavarotti to Oasis.
Physical product declined as the online delivery of music took over, so Martin refocused back on his core skills of recording and mastering sound and filming and editing video.
Martin reflects back to the days of tape recording, wet film processing, filming and using a Bolex, and there’s more technology in your mobile phone these days than we had in the 70s.
These days Martin runs Sounds Good with his partner Sarah Love, a renowned Graphic Designer.
The focus now is on creating video and audio programmes rather than manufacturing programmes and websites.
Martin said: “We still make a few CDs and cassettes too!”
COVID produced a real change in direction with Martin being asked to produce videos for the Methodist church on a weekly basis which as well as focusing on the Sunday service also produced some interesting children’s stories like The Rabbit Listened.
The restrictions in travel and numbers at gatherings made YouTube viewing of ceremonies a respectable way to attend a funeral. However, YouTube has strict copyright control and knocks the stream off when it hears ‘Simply the Best’ and ‘Always Look at the Bright Side, popular closing hymns!
To resolve this, Martin set up OBIT, which has its own private servers and invested in equipment that ensures an internet connection where no internet or wifi exists. Martin is exasperated by the poor quality of video coverage in the funeral sector and writes about it in his blog.
Schools provide quite a lot of work for Martin and examples of school plays can be seen here where the pupils at Farnborough Road Junior school were videoed for their Christmas nativity. The Drone is also in big demand for school photographs.
Martin said: “We can very quickly assemble the children in the playground, take a high-resolution picture and video all within a budget of £150 and make a 360 image of the school in its catchment area.”
Sacred Heart School in Crosby wanted both a school picture and a Prayer for Ukraine, which led to this little production which took little more than 15 mins to make and had over a thousand views on youtube and social media in the following week.
360 imaging is now becoming a big part of the business. From the Drone with shots like this one of the Pyramid at Glastonbury Festival and inside walk around tours like this one of Ainsdale Church showing not only the church but also all the rooms for hire, the cafe and Kitchen.
Martin said: “I produced a good 360 tour of Ainsdale Methodist Church café in Southport. You can virtually ‘walk through, and have a look inside the church, and all the various rooms in there.”
Martin goes on to say: “Adding images and 360 virtual tours to Google Maps is a good way to show potential customers what a shop has to offer, but the resolution is quite low and people can’t easily access them from their phone.
“It is much better to have a high-resolution spot tour and feature it on their website, like this one of Flooring Uk’s Southport showroom where you can view not only the product range but also check out the warehouse too!”
Martin is happy to throw in the Google Street View upload free of charge too.
Everyone is making websites these days, and you can do it for free using Google sites, but as Martin says: “Everyone thinks they are a photographer or graphic designer these days, as they play with their phone apps, and that goes for websites too.
“It’s easy to make a site but to make one that works for the business requires a good understanding of SEO (search engine optimisation) and knowing what grabs attention in those few seconds; you have to engage with the customer as people flick through.”
This attention to detail has led Martin and his partner Sarah to have a client base that includes Community Groups, Local Government, Schools, and the Legal Profession.
Martin is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and holds a diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors and was awarded an Associateship to the Royal Photographic Society. His partner Sarah Love MA, was a university and college lecturer teaching graphic design and media. Together they make a formidable team!
For more details, please visit: SoundsGood.co.uk or email: Martin@soundsgood.co.uk or phone: 01704 264 720.
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