About

Welcome to Brown Riot podcast. In this series, Ant Melder speaks to a bunch of creative industry leaders from a range of ethnic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. It’s a celebration of diversity that offers inspiration, insight and some pretty cool role models. Not all guests are strictly ‘brown’ but they are all awesome.

All episodes are recorded in Smith & Western’s dedicated podcasting studio in Redfern, Sydney. As was the Brown Riot theme music, which was composed and recorded by Smith & Western and features throughout the podcasts.

Dan Higson
Showrunner

Dan has worked in the music and recording industry all his life, having worked as Executive Producer at some of the world’s most successful music and sound companies before moving to Sydney to join forces with Nick to form Smith & Western. Smith & Western are a highly regarded award winning sound house creating world class music and sound for all types of media. Dan has been a key player in the shaping of the vision for Brown Riot podcast, and bringing it to life.

Ant Melder
Brown Rioter

Possibly the only ECD on the planet from a Bangladeshi-Cockney background, Ant’s a passionate champion of diversity in the ad industry. In his 20-year career, he’s worked at world-class agencies in London and Sydney, winning pretty much every advertising award there is to win. Career highlights include a decade of award-winning anti-smoking campaigns and the life-saving porn film Game of Balls. His voice has been described as “like Russell Brand but without the poetic charisma and undercurrent of sexual shenanigans”.

Nick West
Creative Director

Starting his music career as a DJ in Tokyo, Nick soon focussed on music production and created various electronic music projects including Shades of Gray (an internationally touring house act). Whilst continuing to release, produce and tour internationally with the various projects he is involved in, Nick is also Smith & Western’s Creative Director and as senior audio post engineer is responsible for the recording of each Brown Riot podcast.


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