Walk into Sensible Music Studios in London and there is a good chance you will find Jon Moon at the helm, producing, engineering, mixing, or mastering with the same quiet authority that has defined his career since the 1980s. He has been part of the studio’s DNA for so long that it is hard to separate the two.
From Hire Company to World-Class Recording Hub
Jon first arrived at Sensible in 1987, when it was primarily a hire company supplying gear to artists and producers across London. Back then, he was as much a piece of “hired equipment” as the samplers he accompanied on location. Clients renting an Akai S900, S1000, or Roland S50 sampling keyboard would also get Jon, both to operate the machine and to ensure creative results.
Over time, Sensible expanded from gear rental into recording, with Jon helping to build the first small studio room. He remembers early voiceover work with actor Martin Clunes, all while juggling keyboard gigs on the cabaret circuit, sometimes supporting future stars like Lee Evans and Eddie Izzard.
By the early 1990s, Sensible was tackling large-scale live recordings. Jon’s first major job of this kind came in 1992 with Earth, Wind and Fire in Brunei. Soon, he was capturing performances by Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Elton John, and Sting, always with redundant tape systems running long before Pro Tools could handle such demands.
In 1994, the business moved to its current home on Brewery Road, London N7, expanding into a purpose-built studio facility. A Euphonix CS2000 digital control and analogue signal console became Jon’s weapon of choice, offering snapshot recall and full dynamics and EQ per channel.
Amy Winehouse and the Art of Capturing Performance
By the early 2000s, Sensible had built a reputation as a comfortable, performance-focused space where developing artists could create without pressure. That environment led to one of Jon’s most celebrated collaborations, Amy Winehouse.
Amy arrived at the studio to rehearse, but her management also wanted Jon to record the sessions. She famously brushed aside his Neumann U47 in favour of a Shure SM58, proving she knew exactly what she wanted. Jon recorded early rehearsals with her live band, capturing takes that would become part of Back to Black sessions, including live-in-the-room versions of tracks like Tears Dry on Their Own.
There is still a vault of unreleased material from that period, including two-tone covers, Valerie in its formative stages, and other gems that showcase Amy’s energy and authenticity. For Jon, it was all about translating that live magic into a finished record.
Live Credits That Rarely See the Light
Jon’s discography contains plenty of household names, yet many of his proudest credits are live recordings that never reached wide release“ The memory and the experience of working on these things is rewarding enough,” he says.
Roger Waters, Pink Floyd, and a Lesson in Timing
One of Jon’s more colourful career chapters came working with Roger Waters on Dark Side of the Moon live productions. As the Pro Tools programmer responsible for syncing pyro, video, and click tracks, Jon was running full production rehearsals at Bray Film Studios when a stray click track reached Waters’ in-ears at the wrong moment. The show stopped and Jon got a public dressing down, something the veteran crew had warned him would happen sooner or later.
A few days later, in a corridor outside the toilets, Waters offered an unusual reconciliation: “You have always been Jon Moon, haven’t you?” Jon replied in kind, and the pair moved on. That same week, he witnessed an even rarer event, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Roger Waters in the same room for the first time in 25 years, foreshadowing their Live 8 reunion.
Surviving Change and Carrying the Torch
When Shelby and Grace took over Sensible Music, they inherited not just the building but Jon himself. The transition came at a crucial time, post-lockdown, with rising rents threatening the studio’s future. Jon was determined to stay, to “continue the legacy” of the place he had helped build over decades.
Today, his PMC monitors, the same ones he has trusted for over 35 years, still sit in his mix room, a constant in a career that has adapted to countless shifts in technology and the industry.
From carrying samplers to live gigs in the 1980s to shaping some of the most compelling recordings of the past few decades, Jon Moon’s story is a testament to the power of craft, adaptability, and the relationships built in the studio. As he puts it, “I do not regret anything. It has been a great ride so far and let us hope it continues.”
