Biography

Simon Franglen is a Grammy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated composer and producer. His credits include four of the top films of all time and six of the best-selling albums of all time. He received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for his production of the smash hit single “My Heart Will Go On” from James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’, and he received both Golden Globe and Grammy Award nominations for work on Cameron’s ‘Avatar’.  

Simon began as a synthesizer programmer in London in the late 1980's for producer Trevor Horn.  After striking out on his own, US chart success persuaded him to move to Los Angeles in the early 90’s. Over the next decade, he built a reputation as a top synth programmer and arranger, working with an array of pop and R&B artists including Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Celine Dion and Madonna. Over a five-year period, Franglen’s credits included a quarter of all US Billboard No.1 records.

His film credits include work with John Barry, Howard Shore, James Horner, Tom Newman and Alan Silvestri, with projects as diverse as David Fincher’s seminal 'Se7en', and Sam Mendes’ ‘Skyfall’.

In a diverse career, Simon has worked successfully with South London grime rappers and with operatic tenors.  He accompanied Barbra Streisand at the inauguration of President Clinton, he was vocal producer for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Moulin Rouge’ and scored the soundtrack to One Direction’s chart topping – ‘This is Us’. He earned a platinum album for restoring Glenn Miller’s ‘In The Mood’, and he remixed Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard To Through The Grapevine’ and Thin Lizzy’s ‘Live And Dangerous’ in 5.1.  He’s worked with Mongolian Mourin Khuur ensembles, Tunisian Malouf and Indian Bhakti singing stars.

Simon has just finished scoring MGM’s upcoming ‘The Magnificent Seven’, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt. His is currently composing a fully immersive orchestral and choral suite for the 3D hall 2000ft up at the top of the Shanghai Tower.

Product Reviews

  • Brainworx bx_console N

    I grew up in an analog world that I thought was long gone inside the computer. Today I found an analog desk in a plugin. bx_console N nails the sound of the Vx. The proof that the new ‘analog’ feel works was when I switched TMT on across 64 tracks; I switched it straight back and I kept it on for the rest of the day. Having tried out the bx_console N, it is remarkable how much a little random tolerance adds to the warmth and width of a mix.

  • Lindell Audio TE-100

    In my youth, if you were very very lucky, you could strap two of these across your master buss and smile as 4 billion valves did their work on bringing joy to your mix. The real thing is rarer than hen’s teeth nowadays, but the TE-100 in plugin form brings back that same smile.

  • ENGL E765 RT

    Deeply loving the ENGL, scarily real. It’s not just for guitars; it does wonderful things to synths and drums.

  • Millennia TCL-2

    I am the devoted owner of several of John Le Grou’s spectacular Millennia modern classics. The TCL-2 is nearly identical to the hardware and that’s a VERY good thing.

  • Paul Frindle has forgotten more about digital audio than I will ever know. His decades of experience have made the truly unique DSM into one of those essential "Desert Island Plugins" that I have to have.

  • Brainworx bx_subsynth

    The dbx120 was basically the .1 in 5.1 until we went purely digital. I've missed it. The bx_subsynth brings back a flavour unlike any other for low end. Essential.

  • Dear Reality dearVR PRO

    I can count on one hand the number of VR and Ambisonic plugins that I actually want to use, and that list got smaller because dearVR just replaced three of them. It’s completely brilliant, utterly intuitive, excellent.