Vincenzo "Cenzo" Capellini Townshend (born 25 March 1963) is an English

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, mixer, and

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

, and has worked with artists and bands including

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

a-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

, U2,

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), and Johnny McDaid (piano, guitar, keyboards, backi ...

Florence + the Machine Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Jamie T,

Friendly Fires Friendly Fires are an English indie rock band from St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. They are currently signed to Polydor Records. Their self-titled debut album was released on 1 September 2008, and was announced as one of the shortlisted twe ...

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

, Franz Ferdinand, the Maccabees,

Jamie Cullum Jamie Paul Joseph Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He h ...

Mystery Jets Mystery Jets are an English indie rock band, formed on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, London. The founding members still part of the band consist of Blaine Harrison (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Henry Harrison (lyrics), and Kapil Trivedi (dr ...

Sophie Ellis-Bextor Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is an English singer and songwriter. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s as the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo and ...

, and

Thirty Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Let ...

. Townshend was awarded 'Mix Engineer of the Year' for two successive years by the Music Producers Guild Awards in 2009 and 2010, and nominated again in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Early life

He is the only child of Antonio Capellini and Lady Carolyn Townshend, the eldest daughter of George Townshend, 7th Marquess Townshend. After his parents divorced in 1971, his mother remarried to

Edgar Bronfman Sr. Edgar Miles Bronfman (June 20, 1929 – December 21, 2013) was a Canadian-American businessman. He worked for his family's distilled beverage firm, Seagram, eventually becoming president, treasurer and CEO. As president of the World Jewish Congr ...

in 1973, but they separated after only 10 days and the marriage was annulled in 1974. Townshend was educated at

Milton Abbey School Milton Abbey School is a private school for day and boarding pupils in the village of Milton Abbas, near Blandford Forum in Dorset, in South West England. It has 224 pupils , in five houses: Athelstan, Damer, Hambro, Hodgkinson and Tregonwell. ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes''.

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003 volume 3, page 3923.

Career

Townshend began his career by working at

Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the late 1980s, eventually working as an assistant engineer for

Alan Moulder Alan Moulder (born 11 June 1959) is an English record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. Early life Moulder was born on 11 June 1959 in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Boston Grammar School. He had an interest in music from ...

and Mark 'Spike' Stent. Following this, Townshend worked independently with producer

Ian Broudie Ian Zachary Broudie (born 4 August 1958) is an English musician and singer-songwriter from Liverpool. After emerging from the post-punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to produce albums (somet ...

for 8 years and then joined producer

Stephen Street Stephen Brian Street (born 29 March 1960 in Hackney, London) is an English record producer best known for his work with the Smiths, the Cranberries and Blur. Street collaborated with Morrissey on his debut album '' Viva Hate'' following the ...

at The Bunker in

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a British independent recording studio based on Church Road, Barnes, Church Road, Barnes, London, Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st ...

in London where he maintained residency until its closure in 2009. As of 2012, Townshend mixed from his Decoy Studios in Woodbridge

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

Selected discography (mixing)

References

External links

Spotify Playlist

AllMusic Discography

Decoy Studios
{{DEFAULTSORT:Townshend, Chenzo English audio engineers English record producers Mixing engineers Living people 1963 births People educated at Milton Abbey School English people of Italian descent