BIO

#past

Tim was born in Ashburton, New Zealand on the 24th August, 1965. Number three of four chiuldren, his parents Derek and Jeanette Prebble owned a crop and sheep farm near the mouth of the Rangitata River, 30 minutes drive from Ashburton. Along with a brother and two sisters, Tim attended primary school at Lowcliffe School and started weekly piano lessons with Joan Perkins (& her twin sausage dogs) in Ashburton, which also coincided with visits to the Ashburton public library – a source of much inspiration. Youthful hobbies included teaching his dog Crash to be an anarchist, and exploring the braided  Rangitata riverbed on his motorbike.

Growing up on a farm directly contributed to his love of nature, peaceful quiet ambiences and sparked his imagination and creativity. Childhood sonic memories include creating thunder by playing in empty grain silos, the sound of blue gum nuts dropping onto the roof of the shed and rolling down… and waking in the early morning and waiting to hear the dawn birds begin.

Tim attended secondary school at St Andrews College in Christchurch. Somehow he ended up in the top class and was forced to study Latin amongst other things. Thankfully about this time computers were introduced and he started learning to use TRS80 and Apple II computers. After secondary school, Tim started a degree in Electrical Engineering at Canterbury University, but by the third year realised that it was not a career or life that held any interest to him. This was reinforced by hanging out with art school friends, playing bass guitar in indie band The Unknown and sneaking into university film studies screenings…

The result was a slow motion process of dropping out of university, playing in bands and starting to learn music & sound recording. Thanks to the Christchurch Arts Council via Hamish Kilgour, a $500 grant was secured to record & release a cassette, and instead of blowing it in a studio, the bands Cashel Street flat was converted into a studio for a weekend, renting in a mixing desk, mics & a Teaac A3340 4 track reel to reel (thankfully none of those recordings have survived)

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990 Film School

1991 Moved to Auckland
1991 Started work as Trainee Sound FX Editor
with John McKay, Soundworks Studios

1995 Wellington for The Frighteners at NFU

1997 Wellington for Saving Grace at Pacific Sound

1998 Auckland at Inside Track with Chris Burt

1998 Released album Solid State as SHORT FUSE on incoming label

1990

1995

2000.01.01 2am Break leg
2000.01 Move Auckland to Wellington
2000.01 Substation at Jessie Street, Wellington
Stickmen, Toy Love

2004 first trip to Japan

2005 second trip to Japan

2006.02 Berlinale Talent Campus
2006.02 Starts MUSIC OF SOUND blog

2007 30 Days of Night
2007 third trip to Japan

2008.10 my first eurorack modules
2008 Warriors Way
2008 Japan

2008 Bali – Nyepi, gamelan lesson

2008.11 Bought apartment in Kilbernie, Wellington
Substation studio at Park Road

2009 Under the Mountain, Home by Christmas and Boy

2000

2005

2010 Substation to Ropa Lane, Miramar
2010.04 HISSandaROAR launches VEGE VIOLENCE

2011 The Orator, field trip to Samoa x2, first film score
2011 Vietnam

2012 Papa New Guinea
2012 Japan x2
2012 second film score: Everything We Loved

2013.09 Artist Residency – Shodoshima Japan
2013.11 Artist Residency – Little Huia, New Zealand
2013.12 Move to Plimmerton

2014.11 Japan

2015.09 Japan
2015.10 Standing in the Stream

2016 Third film score: One Thousand Ropes
2016.09 Japan –  XPAN II

2017 APRA Award for Best Film Score:
One Thousand Ropes

2018.10 Hokkaido, Japan

2020.03.25 COVID Lockdown

 

 

2010

2015

#present

Tim now lives & works in Karehana Bay, Plimmerton, New Zealand.

now