Eugene "Gene" Martynec (born 28 March 1947) is a Canadian musician, composer and record producer.

Career

Martynec first came to prominence as a guitarist in Toronto group

Bobby Kris & The Imperials Bobby Kris & The Imperials were a 1960s Toronto folk-rock band, that had a local hit with Burt Bacharach and Hal David's " Walk On By". Origins The band was originally called J.S. & The Imperials and was led by singer Jim Snowdon and featured ...

in August 1965. He left the group in May 1967 to form

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...

with singer/songwriter Keith McKie, bass player Alex Darou, and drummer Jimmy Watson. He played acoustic guitar, bass and synthesizer on

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

's 1973 album ''

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

'', along with providing the vocal arrangement on "The Bed". As a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, he won the

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for Producer of the Year in 1981 for his work on

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, po ...

's "Tokyo" and Rough Trade's " High School Confidential". His work with

Edward Bear Edward Bear was a Toronto-based Canadian pop-rock group. The band is best known for its chart-topping singles, "You, Me and Mexico", " Last Song", and " Close Your Eyes", used as the signing-off song for Delilah's radio show. History The Edward ...

for "Last Song" was also recognized with a Juno in 1973. Martynec also produced the top 40 single "Listen To The Radio" recorded by

The Pukka Orchestra Pukka Orchestra was a Canadian new wave band based in Toronto, Ontario in the 1980s. The group released two albums, an EP and several singles, and won a CASBY Award in 1985. History The Pukka Orchestra was formed in Toronto in 1979.

in 1984 Martynec has performed, composed or recorded with pop groups, pit orchestras, and created music for visual media and live theatre. He studied electronic music, composition and orchestration with

Samuel Dolin Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...

The Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

where he received two scholarships to study

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

and composition (1970–1975). He has been awarded

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

and Toronto Arts Council grants for music composition. He taught

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as audio signal processing, sound, image processing, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniq ...

, principals of

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, sa ...

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

, studio production,

synthesis Synthesis or synthesize may refer to: Science Chemistry and biochemistry *Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors ** Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organ ...

, and studio orchestration at the

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle of ...

and Trebas institutes in Toronto. His current interests are improvised new music, performing and composing live interactive

electro-acoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instrumen ...

using alternate controllers and interactive music software. Recently he has added a video component to his improvisational performances. In late 1997, he released ''Silica'', his first solo of composed and solo interactive electro-acoustic music. ''The Barcelona Duets'' was released in 2002. In 2004 he co-composed series of duets for a variety of instruments and interactive computer music called ''Toronto Duets'' which was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. From 2000 to 2004 he curated ''Eugene's Sunday Series'' an exploration of new music and other art forms at Artword Theatre. In 2004 Martynec moved to Beijing for two years where he performed in Yunnan Province with Yan Jun, a sound artist, music critic, poet and organizer and in Beijing at several music and art festivals such as the Dashanzi International Arts Festival and at the Bookworm Beijing, a venue for performance. Based in London, England from 2007 through 2010 he performed with the London Improvisers Orchestra and many small ensembles including string trio Barrel and Triptec. He played with Amsterdam's Royal Improvisers Orchestra and Wuppertal Improvisers Orchestra in 2009 and 2010. Back in Toronto in 2010, he organized the formation of the Toronto Improvisers Orchestra. Since then he has been involved with the Toronto improvising community playing at Somewhere There and with and

Bruce Cassidy Bruce James Cassidy (born May 20, 1965) is a Canadian hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He is the current head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously served as the head coac ...

in So Nu and other Toronto music improvisers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martynec, Gene 1947 births Canadian composers Canadian male composers Canadian record producers Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists Living people The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni Canadian keyboardists Canadian expatriates in China Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award winners