Under the Dome - History


Beginnings

Grant Middleton started recording electronic music in January of 1990. This was in the form of four-track cassette. If you want to listen to the individual tracks in isolation, or fancy attempting your own remix, please head over to the The Under the Dome Tape Archive Project.

Grant released a C-90 cassette of these tracks as "The Grant Middleton Collection" to a few friends and family members, but thought that that would be the end of things.

The Digital Revolution

Fast-forward five years, and Grant was employed by DMA Design in Dundee, to work on the audio for the very first version of Grand Theft Auto. Two significant events happened as a result of this:
1. Grant met Colin Anderson, who was at that time the head of the audio department at DMA.
2. DMA bought a full hardware Pro-Tools 3 system, which members of the audio dept could use in free time.

Grant used the Pro-Tools system to clean up the cassette master tapes he had recorded around 1990-1991. He then made up CD-Rs of the results. After discussion with an e-mail friend, Grant decided on the name "Under the Dome" as his recording 'band name'. One of these CD-Rs was sent to Dave Law at Synth Music Direct, and Under the Dome was signed as an artist to the Neu Harmony label.

Grant then asked Colin if he would join Under the Dome full-time, and the rest is history.

Under the Dome are still creating new music. In fact, their latest album, Almagest, was released in July of 2020.

An Introduction to the Music of Under the Dome

If you're new to the music of Under the Dome, here are some recommended tracks from different angles:

Melodic Tunes

Earthrise (from Almagest)
Return (from Bellerophon)
Dream Sequence (live at Hampshire Jam 7)
C-57D (from Bellerophon)

Sequencer-Driven

Sonar (from Almagest)
Beach Train (from Almagest)
Flüssiger Vier-Takter (from The Demon-Haunted World)
Launch (from Bellerophon)
Watch the Skies (from Wot No Colin?)
Solar Gravity (from Bellerophon)

Sweet Ambient

The Blind Watchmaker (from Almagest)
Drift (from Bellerophon)
Love Park (from Over the Pond)
Nightfall (from Bellerophon)
Title 10 (from Over the Pond)

Dark Ambient

The Naiads (from Almagest)
Event Horizon (from Bellerophon)
White Dog (from Over the Pond)
Thirteen Bells (from Almagest)
Altair IV (from Bellerophon)
Beast In The Cellar (from Over the Pond)


E-Mail Grant