Stephen O’Brien
Music Production Tutor
A former DIT student, Stephen is a member of the band Hal, who were signed to Rough Trade Records and whose eponymous debut album was released to critical and commercial acclaim, charting in the Irish Top 10 and the UK Top 30.
The album was awarded a European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) for the most debut record sales outside of their home nation, and was proclaimed ʻBest Album of 2005ʼ by the French magazine ʻMusicʼ. In Ireland it won ‘Best Irish Album of 2005’ from the Irish Independent, and was nominated for the Choice Music Prize, with Hal also being shortlisted for ʻBest Band of 2005ʼ at the Meteor Awards.
Stephen toured worldwide with the band and enjoyed extensive television and radio promotion all over Europe, performing headline and support shows with the likes of Doves, Grandaddy and Brendan Benson. He now runs Jangle Studios, and along with engineering and producing Hal’s latest album, he’s also engineered and played on several acclaimed records, including Fionn Reganʼs ‘The Shadow of an Empire’.
