In a nutshell can you describe what you see as the role of the producer?<\/em><\/p>\n Because of the genre I work in, which is mainly with bands, I\u2019ve always kind of thought of it as taking a kind of aural snapshot of that particular group of musicians at that particular point in their history and capturing it and presenting it in the best possible way. I don\u2019t mean in the best possible way that absolutely smooths out all of the little things; little imperfect things that make them special. I think it\u2019s just capturing, to the best of my ability how I really see them at that point in their history. It often surprises me that you\u2019ll get a bunch of girls and guys who\u2019ll form a band and they\u2019ll create a bit of buzz because of what they do and they get snapped up by a label and they want to try and smooth out some of those little things which make them special.\u00a0 So my involvement as producer is just to bring out the best of that group of musicians the best that I can, and hopefully make it come out the same way to the public.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Do you think generally that your former description is what can be considered the role of the producer, or is that something that you\u2019re\u2026\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Well, for me I mean, that\u2019s the way it\u2019s been. You\u2019ll get some producers who\u2019ll perhaps work with a solo artist and they\u2019re working much more in a co-writing kind of way and so on, and they might actually prepare the backing tracks as such for the (artist)\u2026.. I mean the only time I really did that was when I worked with Morrissey on his solo record, so obviously that was stepping more into that domain, but to be honest with you for most productions I\u2019ve done over the last 20 years or so there\u2019s been a little more of a just \u2018being there\u2019 as kind of big brother – and not a big brother as in 1984 big brother. Someone like, \u2018if I was you I\u2019d do it this way\u2019 you know what I mean. Or \u2018have you thought about doing it this way\u2019, or just guiding a band through the minefield of making their record.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Can you describe some ways in which your role has changed throughout time?<\/em><\/p>\n Well to be honest with you I don\u2019t think it has changed greatly. I think we\u2019re all as producers these days in awe of people like George Martin who were pioneers – I mean the first guys who were producers in a modern sense as opposed to the old fashioned sense of going out finding the artists, putting them in the studio you know. George Martin was the first one who realised he was working with a great talent, and so his thing was not to get in the way of it, but to nurture it and to see it thorough and let it portray itself in the best possible way. So I think he set the blueprint for most modern rock and pop producers to this day. Because I\u2019m lucky in the genre of music that I work in, my role hasn\u2019t really changed, whereas someone who\u2019s working with out and out pop artists perhaps that has changed. Say you\u2019ve got the likes of Brian Higgens producing Girls Aloud. <\/em>He is writing the song, creating the backing tracks, and the band just come in and sing their parts on the track. The kind of acts I work with play their own instruments and are capable of creating their own backing tracks. I \u2018direct\u2019 them like a film director directing actors, getting the nuances right, choosing the right tones, instrumentation etc\u2026\u2026., as I say Higgens is basically doing the whole \u2018kit and kaboddle\u2019, getting the girls in, so that\u2019s a different kind of thing\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So to what extent do you think technological advances have enhanced and\/or inhibited the role of the record producer? <\/em><\/p>\n Well I mean there\u2019s no doubt about it\u2026\u2026 the art of recording onto hard drive and being able to edit and so on is a great. You do get the situation however where sometimes people mess with things because they can rather than whether they need to or not. That\u2019s where you\u2019ve got to know the fine lines. You know, am I fiddling with this because I can or because I really need to and that comes down to experience and just being a good judge of when to apply that and when you don\u2019t, I mean there\u2019s no doubt I tried to resist ProTools[1] for years and the first thing I actually went on to digitally was using the Radar[2] system which I loved. I think the first record I ever did with that was the Blur album – the one with Bettlebum<\/em> and Song 2<\/em> on it. There\u2019s no doubt that having that led to certain songs being the way that they are. For instance Song 2<\/em>, the drum loop on that at the beginning was just me fiddling around on Radar and I\u2019d recorded basically just a room microphone on the kit and there were 2 kits in the room. Damon was playing one and Graham was playing the other and they were just jamming and out of that came that little\u2026.. and cause I was able to loop with radar, I thought this is great, lets just loop that and you can play on top of it. So if I hadn\u2019t have had Radar that wouldn\u2019t have been. So that\u2019s an example of equipment dictating the way the production went. So it was great and in the last track on the record Essex Dogs<\/em>, there was a 13 min jam and I just cut it down into all the best bits and it was great because you could do edits and if it didn\u2019t work you could undo it you know. So it was great to be able to do digital editing, and the Radar sounded really good at that time. It still does I think and that was the first 16\u2026(unclear audio in interview \u2013 perhaps 16 bit version[3]) on that album. It sounds great because the converters[4] were so great. So equipment has changed the way we work, but you\u2019ve got to know when you rely on it and when you don\u2019t.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which aspects of vanishing technology do you miss the most and the least?<\/em><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s more a case of knowing about good microphone placement and so on. I mean back in the 60s and 70s you always had assistant engineers who were constantly learning from the in house engineers and because of the turn over, things that were going on and working, you would develop through that knowledge a very good understanding of microphone placement and so on and so forth. These days I\u2019m not sure that really is quite so prevalent really. A lot of studios at one point, because they were so strapped for cash, they were hardly employing any kind of \u2018in house\u2019 engineers so you just got an engineer who just came in for the day with his project, and because he wasn\u2019t developing any sense of relationship with the assistant engineers so the assistant engineers weren\u2019t really picking up as much information.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You know the Abbey Roads and the Townhouse Studios and stuff. Those studios were great learning grounds for young engineers. I mean I\u2019m not saying that they\u2019ve stopped being that. I know when I was working at Townhouse there were lots of out- house engineers coming rather than the in-house engineers being there. You didn\u2019t really get that sense of anything being passed down.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So you mentioned in an interview over 10 years ago, that demos were becoming increasingly more impressive and sometimes you were able to work with a demo in the really early sessions of recording. That was a long time ago, do you still feel the same way?<\/em><\/p>\n In the old days, say in the 80s, a band would come to you and they wouldn\u2019t have any experience at all recording themselves. They would say, \u2018we play, you plug us in and you make us sound good\u2019. Now bands are developing a sort of understanding themselves by playing around with ProTools at home so they\u2019re much more familiar with the recording process. I find that when a band does a song for the first time, they hit upon something, the way they do something, and sometimes, not always but sometimes there\u2019s a magic call the first time. Someone tries to record something and if it does feel good then it\u2019s a good point sometimes to use as a starting point because you can transfer it easy enough. Great! Sometimes no, it\u2019s not all the time. I would say the majority of the time when I start with a band I start form scratch, but there is a certain little magic captured in the way it\u2019s recorded. Say it\u2019s the room ambience they had in their house when they recorded it\u2026slightly strange. You know it\u2019s like why go through all the roundabouts to get to that again lets do that as a starting point. I\u2019ll always remember when we did, Strange News From Another Star,<\/em> from Blur\u2019s fifth album, Damon\u2019s demo on that, he had this really distorted electric piano but it sounded great. It added a certain vibe to it and so again that was taken as a starting point and that was transferred and we carried on tracking on top of that. I\u2019m really into that idea. You capture a little kind of ambience of some kind on a demo that is different to a studio ambience and it\u2019s worth keeping.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How do you see and \/or how would you describe pre-production for you?<\/p>\n Pre-production for me normally involves going into the rehearsal room with the band and hearing them play the songs to me, or I should say at me. When you\u2019re in a rehearsal room its so loud it\u2019s just coming at you. Pre- production would be a case of running through, sometimes cutting out some of the fat; If you thought there was an arrangement there that could be trimmed down a little bit. \u2026and often playing around with the keys because you\u2019ll get someone who\u2019ll sing the song and you\u2019ll think its not bad but the keys stretching it a little bit so you talk about perhaps changing the key on something like that. I always say to bands I don\u2019t need days and days of pre-production. Firstly I think you can over rehearse and you get tired of the songs before you even start.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Second the finer parts of production don\u2019t really start occurring to me till I start hearing it coming through a pair of studio speakers, because as I said when you\u2019re in rehearsal room everything sounds great because it\u2019s coming at you but you start hearing it coming through the speakers you start picking out, \u2018is that the right bass drum pattern there because it\u2019s clashing slightly against \u2013 it\u2019s pushing where it should be pulling\u2019. Sometimes I think I work only to a certain point in pre-production because a lot of it starts becoming clear when I start hearing it through a set of studio speakers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To what extent do you think post-production is the domain of the producer?<\/em><\/p>\n Well it\u2019s that old saying, if something isn\u2019t broken don\u2019t fix it. If you go and see a band and you hear a few songs and you think that sounds really, really good, I\u2019m really excited about it, there\u2019s no need to do hours and hours of pre-production. But if you hit on something with a band and its good but the arrangements could be sharpened up etc, then basically all you\u2019re doing is saving on studio time by doing it in the rehearsal room. Because of schedules, sometimes I\u2019ve had to start on a record with a band and I\u2019ve had the record label kind of panicking. \u2018OHHH, we\u2019ve not had a chance to do any pre-production with them are you sure you want to?\u2019 I say \u2018don\u2019t worry, once we get them in the studio it will become apparent\u2019. So what I\u2019m saying is, if for whatever reason, financially or just time wise, I\u2019m not able to do post production, I don\u2019t let it put me off the project. Just get them in there and it will become apparent. Hopefully because I\u2019ve got the experience working on quite a few records and so there isn\u2019t that panic. Obviously it does help if you can listen to the tape before, or the CD, or whatever of the record, of the band as well, so you can familiarise yourself. What I always do when I\u2019m working with a band for the first time – I listen to the tracks that we\u2019re working on and – I mean you can\u2019t beat pencil and paper – I jot down intro, verse one, chorus, pause, you know, guitar line\u2026.I sketch it out so I can see. I can familiarise myself looking at it as well as listening to it. I can see the arrangement in front of me and I make little notes like a possible edit here and so on and so forth. I still believe there\u2019s a great need for a nice sharp pencil and a piece of paper in production again in a rehearsal room or at home, or actually when I\u2019m tracking as well. I like to have a visual sketch.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You don\u2019t like to have a signature sound about your production is that correct?<\/em><\/p>\n Yeah that\u2019s pretty true. You know my job is to make the band\u2019s record not mine. So The Cranberries never sounded like Blur. Blur never sounded like Zutons. You\u2019re just basically trying to get an aural snapshot of that band, of how they are and what they sound like. It\u2019s not up to me to put my trademark on it. I mean some people would argue that you can tell – \u2018that\u2019s your sound\u2019 – but that\u2019s just something that evolves over time and I don\u2019t really see it as being a signature sound to be honest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Are there certain techniques employed to ensure a record has commercial appeal?<\/em><\/p>\n Fashions change don\u2019t they! I can remember in the 80s they wanted that big huge gun- shot snare sound, and tons of reverb on vocals and then everything really dried up. When The Stokes broke though, everyone went back to really dry vocal sounds. You do tend to get swayed slightly by fashion. But obviously it\u2019s a taste thing. My field is more alternative genre music. It\u2019s not really up to me to make it sound commercial. I mean obviously there\u2019s always that pressure. Drums are so often programmed these days and really tightened up with Beat Detective[5] and stuff. Sometimes you do find people \u2013 are they tightening up the drums because they really need to or because they can. Because sometimes initially it can sound really impressive, really bang-on, but sometimes the character goes out of it – which makes the drummer sound like a drummer sounds. I remember watching recently a great DVD about the Motown session drummers, Standing in the Shadows of Motown<\/em>[6]<\/em> <\/em>and there was one drummer there showing he would play the same drum pattern as two other drummers. It was the same drum pattern but the swing factor\u2026..the way he played it was completely different and it was fascinating to see. But if you\u2019d taken those three drummers \u2018Beat Detectived\u2019 it and cropped it up and quantised it, they would have all sounded the same. It\u2019s knowing when to step in and tighten things up, but there is that pressure on producers to make everything sound really, really shit-hot and tight because 90% of things played on radio now are shit hot and tight. Yeah, you know!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Do you think it outweighs the artistic motivation in making a record or it\u2019s never gotten to the point where the commodity appeal has ever outweighed the artistic appeal?<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m lucky as I say because of the genre of music I work in. I\u2019m often working with young, up and coming bands and they\u2019re not really kind of \u2018sold-out\u2019 as much perhaps, I don\u2019t know! But you know they\u2019re quite keen to capture what they\u2019re about and I am too. I\u2019m not saying I never use Beat Detective or anything because I do. If it needs it to make a song sound a little bit more impressive then I will do it, but I\u2019m always keen to try and capture the essence of what a bands\u2019 about, and if I feel technology is getting in the way of it then I don\u2019t like it. Where technology does really help is that I can now really let bands just play completely live and capture the best bits, and if there is a kind of mess-up say by the guitarist in the second verse I can take it from somewhere else and slip it in. Whereas in the past you\u2019d have had to have gone back and drop it in again, perhaps done another complete take. Now you can move things around a little bit, so you find you can capture a lot more live things, and you can just \u2018tweek\u2019 it, rather than going through the whole rigmarole of re-recording the track.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How do you approach the use of techno-musical procedures in recording? Is it something that you assume is more organic in that you\u2019re leaving it up to the instrumentalists themselves to really play with these\u2026?<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m finding now, I guess it\u2019s a fashion thing, that I\u2019m using far less reverb than I was back in the 80s say for instance. I\u2019m a big fan of guitarists using their own pedals to get sounds because I do find there\u2019s more character, and if you can capture it, if there\u2019s a certain essence of a track and a vibe with the guitarist and the pedals and everything sounds good, then I\u2019ll say just do that rather than saying let\u2019s do it dry and then do it later. There\u2019s never a track I\u2019ve recorded where there\u2019s been no reverb whatsoever. What I try to do these days is I try to capture a natural ambience that\u2019s in the room, rather than actually dry and adding reverbs later. So you know if you\u2019ve got a good sounding room. I mean I\u2019ve got a good sounding room down here in the bunker, the recording area is in there, sometimes I mic up things in the hallway. There\u2019s a real weird sound but it can sometimes work. I\u2019m finding these days, because you can manipulate things a little bit more that it\u2019s always worth just capturing a little bit of the natural room ambience and just seeing what you can do with it. The other thing I always have in every mix, even when I\u2019m tracking is to have a simple delay line going of some kind. Just something that you can put on a slap back echo thing for the lead vocalist, or just a little quarter beat delay that suddenly\u2026..Sometimes you can have a simple line and it sounds a bit flat, but as soon as you put a delay on it of some kind, it makes it into a part. A particularly great example of that was a Smiths track called There\u2019s light that never goes out<\/em>, and its got like a top flute line going through it. It sounded a bit flat so I put a delay on it, which I think was 3\/16th<\/sup> delay and it just brought the whole line alive. It made it float you know, it made it feel right for the part so its always good, I always say whenever tracking, just have at least one delay line, and one reverb unit running so that you can create a sense of depth to what\u2019s going on because if everything\u2019s dry its just in your face. There\u2019s no depth to it. But if you put a delay or a reverb on it, it gives it depth and so it\u2019s always useful having it. As I say, when I\u2019m tracking I\u2019ll always have at least one unit, two sends, one going to a delay, one going to a reverb and its enough to give a sense of\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the actual mixing process are you quite collaborative with the assistant engineer and the band themselves?<\/em><\/p>\n Yeah I\u2019ve got a very good engineer that I work with called Chenzo Townsend who I\u2019ve been working with for the last 10 years or so now. What happens mixing wise is that I\u2019ll say to him – you\u2019ve got to basically set it up and play around with the drums in the mix, play with the compression, then I\u2019ll come in and I\u2019ll make certain key moves that I know, like \u2018guitar needs to come up more there\u2019, or whatever and so on.\u00a0 Hopefully between the two of us we\u2019ll have it in really good shape by the time the band\u2019s in. I don\u2019t want the band sitting behind me or behind Chenzo most of the time while we\u2019re mixing. I\u2019d rather them come in fresh, hear it fresh, like hearing a record for the first time, make a few comments, we act on those comments and hopefully we nail it. I don\u2019t expect for the musicians to be there in the background, sitting on a sofa at the back of the studio while we\u2019re mixing. You get bored of hearing the same thing, I mean I don\u2019t like listening to the same song all day long. It\u2019s great, as I say, that Chenzo can start the ball rolling, I can come in fresh and \u2018tweek\u2019 it, you know. The band come in for the final \u2018tweek\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Take for example two obviously different records. Blur\u2019s <\/em>Blur and The Cranberries <\/em>Everybody Else Is\u2026\u2026. In reference to production what were the biggest differences between the two records to you?<\/em><\/p>\n Well Blur\u2019s Blur<\/em> for instance, the band already knew what they were all about. They were very confident, top of their game, knew that they wanted to strip things back down again. Don\u2019t want any strings on it. There was one track we put strings on, but there was going to be no brass section, no strings, everything was going to come, sound-wise from the band themselves.\u00a0 So there was a feeling, and it was the first one I did with Radar so I was trying to capture the best I could get out of them, and being able to manipulate it that way.\u00a0 It was kind of groundbreaking for me. It was a lo-fi production but at the same time, technology wise it was quite a hi-fi production. Whereas The Cranberries, the first album, they were really young and na\u00efve. They were very unsure of themselves. I think Mickey was 17 years old; the bass player at the time they did that album, and that was a case of trying to guide a band who were just so nervous. When I first met Delores she couldn\u2019t face the crowd when she sang. She used to sing sideways on because she couldn\u2019t face the crowd. So it was nurturing that and getting her confident with her singing. That really was like nurturing a budding flower, you know what I mean! It was trying to kind of get the best out of her. So that was the main difference, one you\u2019ve got a band who are absolutely top of their game, very confident; and next you\u2019ve got another kind of band who are really just fumbling around trying to find their feet. Its just being that nice big brother in a kind of sense to guide you through you know\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With the American lo-fi approach that you took on Blur\u2019s record. where there signature approaches that were used as obvious references to American lo-fi production? I mean what is lo-fi production?<\/em><\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t say it was American as such. I mean Graham was a big fan of all those American garage bands, but the thing was less overdubs. Graham limited himself to two guitar tracks most of the time. As I said there were no brass overdubs, the keyboard overdubs that were there, were kind of\u00a0 \u2018straightish\u2019 sounding rather than being too straight, but there are keyboards on that record, as I say, you know, everybody said it was a lo-fi album, but there was actually quite a lot of effort went into it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well that\u2019s the thing, I mean the popular music press ran with the term \u2018lo-fi\u2019, and even upon listening to the record myself I was slightly confused\u2026\u2026..<\/em><\/p>\n The main thing was the way we treated the vocals as well. It was always the way Damon sang. He stopped singing about certain character songs – Ray Davies type; pick a certain persona and write a song about them in a character way. He was writing more in the first person, much more personal sort of thing.\u00a0 That was a big thing and the way he sang those songs. The distortion was obviously used sometimes and the vocals were drier as well. It brought everything much more to the fore. But really I think it was just not piling too many overdubs on, just getting two guitars to work in tandem, making them work well, quite a lot of space left there really for little effects and things to come through, but really again trying to capture the essence of a room, talking about that room sound for Song 2<\/em> you know. We used less effects when we were mixing. We were looking at everything actually happening organically, whether it was an LFO on the synthesiser or the drum ambience, or Graham with his pedals. I mean Graham\u2019s great with his pedals; he\u2019ll just fiddle and fiddle until he gets something happening. That\u2019s it really. Relying less on applying lots of delays and reverbs in the mix.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To what extent are the roles of engineer and producer interchangeable?<\/em><\/p>\n They cross over a lot. I personally, first was a musician and then I stopped playing with a band and I got a job at Island Records at the Fallout Shelter[7] and I knew I had to engineer. I knew I wanted to break through from that side cause at that time in the early 80s there were a great bunch of new producers who were breaking through like Matyn Rushers, Martyn Hannick, John Leckie. They were all engineers who had broken through by working with all the new-wave bands, through to production. So I knew that was the route I wanted to take. Fortunately I managed to do it. I mean when I was working with The Smiths for instance, I was on my own and Morrissey often didn\u2019t want anyone else apart form the band and myself in the studio. I mean I was even denied to have an assistant. You\u2019re basically taken on board. When you\u2019re working completely alone with a band and they\u2019re just setting up their gear and they\u2019re saying \u2018right record us\u2019. You\u2019re taking certain production values on, you\u2019re deciding on a drum sound and you\u2019re deciding on lots of key things like guitar sounds and so on, and all of a sudden you\u2019re in a situation where, you know you\u2019re taking on the mantle of some production elements. If you haven\u2019t got someone telling you how they want to be you\u2019re having to second-guess them and if they like it they\u2019ll use you again. So I think you know, that\u2019s what happened. It was a nice and natural progression. My first session with The Smiths I was working with John Porter,\u00a0 so I was working under instructions from John and he was saying he wanted this or that and I was trying my best to give him those sounds and then it obviously went on with Johnny, when I was working with him on my own, saying \u2018can you do this or can you\u00a0 do that?\u2019 But then he often would say \u2018well what do you think?\u2019 \u2018Does it sound ok?\u2019 So straight away you\u2019re becoming like a soundboard as it were. Bit by bit you\u2019re progressing more into production roles, and it was a nice and natural progression for me. So they do interplay quite a lot, especially when the engineer is working freely with the band or the artist. Unless you\u2019ve a dictorial position, \u201cI want this, I want that\u201d. If you do a good job and you\u2019re not too pushy then it\u2019s a good way of breaking into production and bit- by-bit you\u2019ll start influencing the way that artist sounds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How do the decisions made in the mixing of a record affect its occupancy within one or a collection of genres? Say for example the new Kaiser Chiefs record you\u2019re working on compared to what The Cranberries were doing or Blur were doing. I mean is there anything that you employ in the mixing process to ensure that it\u2019s got that signature kind of thing, so that it\u2019s Britpop or it\u2019s\u2026.. Do you think that there is validity in assuming that there are certain sonic references that belong to genres in terms of production?<\/em><\/p>\n I think when it comes to mixing you can\u2019t really change the genre its in. By the time it comes to the mixing stage, you know it is what it is. You can balance it, you can play around with it, you can change, you know you can make things more compressed. But it is what it is, so it\u2019s in the recording phase that you can swing which way it\u2019s going to go as far as crossing boundaries, genre-wise I think. As I say, you know there\u2019s been those cross elements where there\u2019s been dance and sometimes you\u2019ve got a dance track and you want to make it sound a little more rock, then we\u2019ll put some guitar on it. Then when you\u2019ve got a rock track and you want to make it sound more dance then you put a little bit of programmed drums on it so that\u2019s where you get the cross culture. There\u2019s always going to be elements you know, because of what I do with my work I\u2019m more worried about what the band does.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Can you think of an instance when the lack of a common knowledge about sound, like a technical language or musical terms has had a strong impact on a project?<\/em><\/p>\n No not really, touch wood! I think really it comes down to the fact that I\u2019m fortunate personally that, for at least the last 10 years or so, I only choose to work with it because I really particularly like it. I mean I suppose it\u2019s a different situation for people when they\u2019re working in the studio and they\u2019re just working with whomever and they\u2019re just booking the studio for the day. But because I tend to know what the band is all about, it makes it easier straight away to get onto a common ground as it were as far as communicating with them. Every now and then you\u2019ll do something and they\u2019ll say \u2018well we don\u2019t like it\u2019 and you have to come to some kind of agreement somewhere along the line.\u00a0 A lot of production is man management, it\u2019s not just being good at \u2018tweaking\u2019 the knobs on the desk or being able to hear the best song formation. You\u2019ve got to be able to bring the best out of them, make them feel comfortable, make them feel that they\u2019re special while they\u2019re doing their contribution to the track and a lot of it is man management.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Who taught you the most about recording and\/or production and what was the most valuable thing you learnt?<\/em><\/p>\n Who taught me the most? Well I don\u2019t know really. When I was working at Island, for awhile I was assistant engineer so I was working under all the in-house engineers there, and I learned quite a bit from them. But then again I picked up certain things from listening to records that I liked as well. You know you hear how certain drum sounds sounding right with guitars and things, so you try to copy that. You experiment in the studio. I think that some very good engineers that I knew at the time, a guy called Paul Schnidt for example\u2026\u2026\u2026 But a lot of what I was working on was reggae and stuff. But sonically reggae is very interesting with the latest reverb, so I learnt a lot of how to use that stuff from working with them. But then again I didn\u2019t learn a lot of the rock side of things there because we didn\u2019t work with that kind of thing. So that I kind of learnt from myself to be honest with you. I had recorded with bands myself in the past. I picked up microphone placement and so on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How do and did you deal with rows, sulks, and disagreements in the studio?<\/em><\/p>\n Well, there are times when people get a bit fractured and things get a little bit intense. Again that part of it hopefully gets easier as you get older because you hope people give you more respect\/authority. I mean, I\u2019ve been in performances where there has been two members in each other\u2019s faces and you know you\u2019re trying to say \u2018hey, hey!\u2019 It\u2019s man management. You don\u2019t want to be Mr Big Cheese all the time but you\u2019ve got to know sometimes, ultimately the buck stops somewhere. But sometimes,\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to try and guide it along. I\u2019ve been again very lucky. I\u2019ve had very few sessions where it has completely broken down. There are going to be times when you\u2019ll upset each other. Hopefully you\u2019ll soon talk each other around.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Are there similarities from project to project in the way that the triangle of communication between the artists engineer and producer works?<\/em><\/p>\n Band members now are much more familiar with the recording process so they can say\u00a0 \u201calright I\u2019ll have a 3\/16th<\/sup> delay on this because that\u2019s what I have at home on my Pro Tools\u201d or you know, \u201cI\u2019d like the compression to be blah\u201d.\u00a0 You are finding now sometimes with artists that they\u2019re got a certain knowledge of technology. But as far as a common language – it\u2019s rock n roll isn\u2019t it! \u2018That sounds great or that sounds weak, that sounds dry or that\u2019s too wet.\u2019 It\u2019s\u2026I don\u2019t even think about it really. There is a common language. It\u2019s just musical jargon.\u00a0 You just pick out of it what you can and hopefully please the artist by making it\u2026shape it\u2026. you know\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A few producers I\u2019ve spoken with, have described their role as providing a stabilising influence to others whose characters might have otherwise left them incapable of realising a recording project<\/em><\/p>\n Yeah there\u2019s bit of common ground there.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I talk about that Big brother character. You\u2019re being there as a stabilising influence, because artists by their sheer nature \u2013 being artistic, are perhaps going to be thinking sightly out of the box and sometimes that can be detrimental to pushing a project along.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s not. sometimes it\u2019s great – it gives you a new tangent to go along and it\u2019s fine. But I think it\u2019s being the first public filter. You know, when someone has a song, first of all it\u2019s just that person and perhaps their co-writer, and then it\u2019s the band, and then sooner or later, that\u2019s going to be played to the public. Obviously there\u2019s live gigs and so on, but the recorded version has to be played and presented to everyone and of course, you\u2019re there as a first set of public ears, listening to it and saying \u2018Yeah that sounds great, that sounds like a great record.\u2019\u00a0 If you hear a record on the radio and you think \u2018oh, I don\u2019t like that, I don\u2019t like the vocal or I don\u2019t like the way it sounds.\u2019 That\u2019s what you\u2019re there for as a producer. The immediate feedback they get is the right feedback, to ensure that that song turns out correct and to its best possible standard. So the description you\u2019ve given there, I would say I agree with 100% as well. It\u2019s just the way of voicing it really.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n [2] The Radar hard disk recording system was first distributed by Otari in 1994 (SZT).<\/p>\n [3] This probably refers to the change in 1997 from the 16 bit Radar 1 to the 24 bit Radar 2 hard disk recording system distributed by the Otari Corporation (SZT)<\/p>\n [4] Analogue to digital converters that transform the analogue microphone \/ line input signals to the digital audio format\u00a0 (and digital to analogue for playback). (SZT)<\/p>\n [5] Beat Detective is a module available in the Pro Tools digital recording software package that manipulates the timing of recorded audio.<\/p>\n [6] Standing in the Shadows of Motown. (film 2002. dir: Paul Justman. Lions Gate Films)<\/p>\n [7] The Fallout Shelter was the in-house recording studio for Island Records (SZT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stephen Street began his career in music in the early 1980s at Islands Records’ Fallout Shelter Studio. From the mid 1980s onwards he worked with the Smiths, first as an engineer and later as producer. Since then his production credits have included Blur, The Cranberries and The Kaiser Chiefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[34,5],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-editorials-provocations","tag-industry-perspective","tag-interviews","author-becky-shephard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1542,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/1542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
[1] The Pro Tools software and hardware system of hard disk non-linear recording was developed by Digidesign from 1991 onwards (SZT).<\/p>\n