Headliner Radio

For the past 50 years, Sparks have blazed a trail as one of the most influential acts in the business. Here, brothers Ron and Russell Mael reflect on half a century making music together and discuss the brand new Edgar Wright directed documentary film The Sparks Brothers.

Catherine Marks, award-winning producer and engineer for the likes of Wolf Alice, Foals, The Big Moon, Alanis Morissette, The Amazons and Manchester Orchestra, takes an in-depth look at six of the records that shaped her into one of the industry's most sought after talents. 

Engineer, producer and mixer Fiona Cruickshank talks about her work on The Grand Budapest Hotel, Sex Education 2 and Supernova, and her history with AIR Studios and Neve consoles.

What do you get when you combine a marketing genius, a studio engineer, a pianist and a cellist? The answer is The Piano Guys, “a bunch of ordinary guys” playing classically influenced instrumental music in viral Youtube videos. The band’s music producer Al van der Beek talks divine intervention, ‘the Disney test’, and Cubase.

Jamaican artist, OMI reflects on his huge hit, Cheerleader, which he wrote in 2008 – getting a new lease of life in 2015 when it was remixed and reached number one in 20 countries, spent six non-consecutive weeks at number one, went five-times Platinum, and garnered over four million Spotify weekly streams. OMI reflects on how the song changed his (and his family’s) life, taking some time to recharge in Jamaica, and reveals what inspired new song, Make It Now.

The Oscar and Grammy-nominated Dustin O'Halloran has seen his nomadic life take him from his native Los Angeles to Italy, Berlin, to now spending the entire pandemic in his new home of Iceland. The last time Headliner caught up with O'Halloran, he was desperate to return to his hugely popular solo compositions, having spent the last decade working on films such as Lion, and most recently Netflix's The Old Guard and the Kate Winslet/Saoirse Ronan-starring Ammonite. And with his first album release on Deutsche Grammophon, Silfur, we discuss him revisiting his beloved older material, with some stunning new pieces also.

After a long wait due to the pandemic, country artist Halle Kearns recently played to a live crowd again in her hometown, and describes the “pinch me” moment when a young girl in the audience sang her words back to her. The rising star talks about what inspires her music, getting radio support, and new single, Plans, which has resonated strongly with her fans.

Acclaimed German artist Felix Räuber reflects on the time his band, Polarkeis 18’s No. 1 hit, Allein Allein became one of the most successful German-language songs of all time, and how his song Après Minuit (feat. Schlindwein) was used in the Emmy-nominated ABC and Netflix series How To Get Away With Murder. His recent release, Scared To Be Human takes a look at toxic masculinity – he explains why.

Headliner chats to senior director of engineering at iZotope, Lisa Ferrante-Walsh about the important role she plays at the company, fostering innovation amongst its teams and ‘finding the genius in the geniuses’. She reveals how they have adapted during the pandemic and discusses the new opportunities that have arisen as a result.

Composer and filmmaker Mark Crawford discusses his role as the sole composer for the seven-time Emmy-nominated feature length documentary, The Social Dilemma, which was watched by 38 million households in its first 28 days on Netflix.