Steve Harris (musician) - Other Interests and Talents

Other Interests and Talents

In addition to playing bass and writing music/lyrics for the band, Steve Harris has taken on numerous other roles, such as:

• music production/mixing
• music video directing/editing
• live video directing/editing
• keyboards
• backing vocals
• string/bass synthesizers

Harris began contributing keyboards to Iron Maiden's studio albums from Virtual XI onwards. Until that point, Michael Kenney, Harris' bass technician, had provided the keyboards, and still does so live and acts as a supervisor in the studio. Along with guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, Harris experimented with synthesizers on the Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son albums, credited as "string synth" on Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

Steve Harris is also known for playing an increasing role in mixing the band's albums and produced most of their 1990's output, with recording taking place at a studio he owned at the time, located in a barn on his property, named "Barnyard Studios". Since 2000's Brave New World, at Bruce Dickinson's insistence, the band did not record again at Barnyard, which Dickinson claims had limitations due to its size, and hired Kevin Shirley, with whom Harris co-produces.

Harris also directs and edits many of the band's live videos, beginning with Maiden England in 1989. Although not intending to himself, Harris edited the Rock in Rio DVD as he was unsatisfied with the results produced by the band's hired production crew. In undertaking the project, Harris had to teach himself how to use digital editing software with equipment he had installed in Barnyard Studios, and went on to edit Iron Maiden's next DVD, Death on the Road. On top of this, he has contributed to the production of thirteen of the band's music videos, with "Infinite Dreams", "Holy Smoke", "Tailgunner" and "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" being directed and edited by Harris alone.