Made by craftsmen not machines
Unwind is a British Audio start-up rooted in a love of music and an obsession with sound built over 30 years.
Michael Whiteside, inventor of AirSoft cables, is a self-professed sound obsessive, who has worked for 30 years building sound systems and specialist components for music studios and live venues across the world.
Dave Allan, is a fellow music lover and tech investor drawn to the subject of sound and the profound emotional connection that's created when we hear music we love.
Michael oversee's a small team of local engineers and craftsmen who build the product by hand.
In year one we expect to produce about 50 sets of our system - interconnect, USB, speaker and power cables.
We are looking for 50 fellow audioholics to be pioneering owners of our system .
We’ll work them one-on-one to ensure we deliver on our promise, while sharing future developments as the product evolves.
about THE team
Michael whiteside
FOUNDER
Michael has spent the last 30 years in a love affair with music, its creation, recording, reproduction, and live performance.
His early career was as a student sound engineer, putting on live events at Kingston Polytechnic in London. Some of his favourite nights include U2, Au Pairs, Bauhaus, Tears for Fears, Weapon of Peace, Echo and the Bunnymen.
This led to work in music studios as a technician. First at Rendezvous Studios where he recorded the demo for AHA Take on Me, then Wave Studios, recording demo tracks for The Cure (Ariel) and Julian Lennon. This led to Michael becoming the in-house technical engineer at cult studio, The Garden, owned by John Foxx of Ultravox.
A prolific period of recording ensued. Bronski Beat (Small Town Boy), Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (Rattlesnakes), Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Matt Johnson (The The), British Electric Foundation, Brian Eno, Trevor Horn, The Cure, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tina Turner, and Tuxedo Moon and, of course, John Foxx.
The Garden became a springboard to technical work across London. Clients included EMI Abbey Road, Air Studios, Sarm, The Strong Room, Opus, Beethoven Street, Westside, Olympic Studio, De Lane Lea, Pinewood and the BBC. And growing relationships with world leading sound engineers, Cenzo Townshend, Matt Johnson, Olympic, and Milo.
Alongside technical work Michael consulted on the build of studios and live venues. Elton John, Renate John, Nina Hagen, and producer Robin Millar all used Michael for home studios. EMI Abbey Road, Marshall Amplification and King’s College Cambridge used Michael for completely new builds.
Michael also became Managing Director at Kelsey Cables, designing and supplying audio systems to many world class professionals, West End and nationally regarded Theatres, and Live acts such as Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones.
Throughout his career Michael was fascinated that cable design was one of the most underdeveloped yet powerful factors in audio reproduction. So, Michael began to design and manufacture bespoke cables for audio professionals and HiFi enthusiasts.
His cables are now installed in studios across the UK including multiple EMI Abbey Road facilities, Air Studios, Marshall Amplification Studios and Cenzo Townshend’s Decoy Studios.
Unwind Audio is the culmination of this adventure. In recent years understanding of how the brain processes sound and critical the role of entrainment has become much better understood.
Michael has taken this learning and designed cables that remove the parasitic effect of electromechanical signal entrainment, so that the brain can process reproduced sound as if it were real.
DAve Allan
FOUNDER
Dave has none of the technical expertise and knowledge of Michael, but he loves music.
Born in Leicester and a regular of the De Monfort Hall, Dave grew up on a diet of early eighties bands. Beginning with the Undertones and followed by Squeeze, The Jam, OMD, The Boomtown Rats, Genesis, and Hazel O’Conor, supported that night by Duran Duran.
This was followed by stints as an enthusiastic, if not gifted DJ, at Birmingham University. Dave’s working life was built around What If, the innovation business he founded with friend Matt Kingdon. Twice voted the best place to work in the UK, What If helped companies build new businesses.
This led to a fascination with entrepreneurs and new technologies. Dave met Michael three years ago at a party. Captivated by his understanding of sound and stunned by the listening experience, he decided to invest and help Michael develop the AirSoft cables.
The deep emotional connections music creates are at the core Dave's desire to build Unwind for the love of sound.