Jim Mason
Senior Lecturer
Biography
Jim is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Music Production, and has worked in roles similar to his current role at University of Chester since 2001. In his University of Chester role, Jim has developed a number of student-led industry projects, and has helped students achieve three major club chart hits, in 2016, 2022 and 2025. Jim has worked professionally as a composer, lyricist, producer, engineer, remixer, performer and music chord transcriber. In various capacities, he has had key involvement with sixteen hit singles on major UK club charts (including two No.2 hits), and key involvement with Top 40 hit singles on the Official UK Singles Chart. He has also had success worldwide, including writing and producing a No.1 hit single on one of France’s major club charts, which also spent 7 weeks in the main French singles chart. Although Jim’s success has mainly been in commercial dance music, he has undertaken a wide variety of paid and non-paid music work, including playing piano on an alternative folk album, recording 16th century lute and viol music for a notable film, choir recording, performing as part of bands playing both “covers” and "originals", and writing and producing corporate video music, documentary theme music, telephone “on-hold” music and many other projects. Jim has also worked as a music chord transcriber and undertaken consultancy for a major University research project. He has worked as a music researcher on behalf of the Performing Right Society, a songplugger for a record label / publisher, and for the Drake Music Project, a project helping disabled people make music with the help of technology. Jim has presented a number of academic papers at music conferences, and has undertaken other academic work including contributing a chapter to an academic book on Pink Floyd in 2022. In 1992, Jim toured Germany as a member of the National Youth Choir of Wales.
Teaching and Supervision
Jim has led music production at the University of Chester for many years, and teaches across a range of areas including computer music creation, recording, mixing, remixing, music and sound for moving visuals and the music industry. He has also taught radio production and popular music studies.
Research and Knowledge Exchange
Jim's research interests include the popular music of the 1980s, and he has presented a number of conference papers on this subject covering areas including harmony, production and industry. He has also written a chapter for a recently-published book about Pink Floyd, covering aspects of production and technology.