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Stephen William Tayler was born in Buckinghamshire (UK) in 1953. Having taken up the clarinet and piano, he gained a music scholarship to Shrewsbury School, followed by three years at the Royal College of Music in London studying the clarinet with Colin Bradbury and also studying organ. He taught himself to play the guitar and bass guitar, as well as playing saxophone, recorders and penny whistles. He played in many orchestras, ensembles, experimental groups and bands, but he felt that life as a performer was not for him. During all this time he had developed a fascination with recording, and decided to pursue a career in the audio world.

As a mixing and recording engineer, music producer and sound designer he has contributed towards albums by Suzanne Vega, Peter Gabriel, Underworld, Duncan Sheik, Howard Jones, Stevie Nicks, Milla Jovovich, Rush, Bob Geldof, Rupert Hine and Tina Turner. Stephen works closely with producer, filmmaker and artist Sadia Sadia. Starting with analogue and tape techniques, and subsequently an early adopter of synthesis, sampling and digital technology, he is based out of one of four long-term project spaces at Real World Studios in Wiltshire, UK.

In 2010, Stephen mixed most of the tracks for the album Director’s Cut. In 2011, he did all of the mixing on 50 Words for Snow, as well as recording contributions from Steve Gadd, Elton John and Stephen Fry. In 2012, he mixed Running Up That Hill 2012 Remix.
In August 2014, Stephen returned to work with Kate at the Hammersmith Apollo, for the show Before The Dawn. Stephen was brought on board to specifically control Kate’s vocal sound, processing and effects. He joined the sound team of nine people, and the preparations for the show took many months. The resulting shows were recorded and released on the album Before The Dawn. Stephen mixed the album with Kate, as well as doing the audio postproduction on the project.
He also created the ‘Remastered Shimmer’ treatment for Wild Man on the album The Art of Peace – Songs for Tibet II (2015).

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