Just to get things going here's a brief history of my career as a recording engineer and producer:
After spending my last few years
at school in Australia dreaming of becoming a recording engineer, I arrived
in the UK in 1972 thinking that it would be easy to get a job. This was far
from the truth and it wasn't until 1974 that I was taken on at a small studio
in Fulham Rd. Chelsea, called Milner Sound.
It was run by an ex BBC engineer John Milner who took me on at the princely
sum of £15 a week. A year later a new assistant, Penny Morgan who is
now at Sony International A&R, joined me.
She went on to run Milner after it was sold in '79 and renamed 'Producers
Workshop'.
Steve
Lipson and Hugh Jones also started their careers there.
John taught me all the basics
of sound recording and the not so busy studio enabled me to experiment with
the rather limited equipment in my own time.
The desk was a 10 channel into 4 group console, built like a tank by John
Milner, it had a great sound.
The tape machines were an 8 track and 4 track by Leevers Rich, one 2 track
Studer A62 and one mono A62. The only outboard gear was a mono Grampian Spring
with which I used 2 tape delays to give stereo reverb.
There were 12 microphones to choose from but I only had 10 channels to play
so it didn't matter!
My first band session was with Linda Lewis and her excellent band comprising of Jim Cregan (gtr), Max Middleton (keys), Robert Awaih (bass!) and Gerry Conway on drums. I still have a copy of this tape and despite my inexperience it still sounds pretty special.
Highlights during my time at Milner sound were sessions for Ian Hunter, Paul Rodgers, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Charlie Dore, Generation X, The Members, John Wetton & Bill Bruford, and Motorhead. Drummers were always happy to work with me at Milner because I went for a live drum sound, as opposed to the then fashionable dead sound.
By 1978 Milner Sound was becoming
pretty busy and later on that year I was offered an interview with Jill Sinclair
at Sarm Studios in Brick Lane. I got the job and jumped from 8 track to a
mind boggling 48 tracks
(Sarm was first 48 track studio in Europe).
Chief engineer was Gary Langhan and after a few months of assisting I got
the chance to do some sessions myself. This was an exciting period for both
of us with the advent of new digital gear from AMS, Lexicon, Fairlight and
the Linndrum to name a few. The highlight being the acquisition of one of
the first Solid State Logic consoles in the UK.
Many late nights were spent in the studio getting to grips with the new technology.
During this two or three year period I was privileged to see Trevor Horn with Gary engineering become one of the most sought after producers of the time, working with artists like Yes, Dollar, The Buggles, ABC and Malcom McClaren.
I then started working with producer
Peter Collins and mixed "Pass the Dutchie" by Musical Youth, my
first number one single. Other artists included Tracy Ullman, The Belle Stars
and Nick Kershaw.
Paul "Wix" Wickens (keys) and Charlie Morgan (drums) were the main
musicians for Peter's sessions, both of whom I developed a lasting relationship
with.
Around this time I was privileged
to work with Peter Gabriel mixing "Shock the Monkey", Hugh Jones
(taught me a lot!) mixing Monsoon and Echo and the Bunnymen.
I also worked with Andy Richards
(producer and programmer) who later became one of Trevor Horn's team with
artists like Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Propaganda. Andy now runs the excellent
all digital East of Eden studios in Chiswick.
A very big moment was when Trevor
asked me to do a last minute remix of "Relax" by the Frankies.
We started at 8 am one Monday morning in Sarm East studios, finished the 7"
A-side by 11am, had a quick stab at the B-side then rushed across London to
the Townhouse cutting rooms where the mastering engineer Ian Cooper was waiting.
The rest is history!
I remember Jill Sinclair ringing me in Australia, where I was working with
engineer Jimbo Barton, to tell me that I had a number one with Nick Kershaw's
"Won't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" (engineered and mixed) and my
mixes of the Frankie's "Two Tribes" and "Relax" at number
2 and number 3 respectively! !
I also produced my first album for Australian band The Machinations around
this time and engineered my first of three Level 42 albums "World Machine".
In 1985 Jill suggested that I
work with the Pet Shop Boys, remixing a track called "Suburbia".
This led to me producing tracks with them including "It's a Sin"
(UK No1) and "Always on My Mind" (Xmas No1). We also worked as a
team with other artists such as Dusty Springfield and Liza Minelli.
Highlights during the next few years included co-producing the Level 42 albums
"Running in the Family" and "Staring at the Sun". This
band together with producer Wally Badaroo were top of the list for musicianship
for me… Incredible! I have also recently mixed an album by Mike Lindup
(Level 42) soon to be released.
Other highlights were album mixes for Del Amitri, ABC, Johnny Hates Jazz,
Aztec Camera, Kate Bush and the Petshop Boys "Behavior" album.
One awesome job was working with Paul Rogers (Bad Company, Free) and Jimmy
Page (Led Zeppelin) on their second Firm album.
Single and 12" mixes included Sam Brown, Scritti Politti, Simple Minds,
Go West and Inxs.
In the early 90s I co-produced,
together with "Wix" Wickens Tasmin Archer's debut album "Great
Expectations" and the No1 single "Sleeping Satellite".
Just after that I was privileged to be asked by Paul McCartney to produce
his album "Off the Ground".
More recent work includes various
recording and mixing for renowned Australian guitarist Roland Chadwick, recording
Scottish band Belle and Sebastian, recording tracks for Seal's unplugged greatest
hits album both with Trevor Horn and a 5.1 mix of Level 42 live at Hammersmith
Apollo.
Now based in Melbourne Australia and with the advent of new technology like Protools and the Internet I am ready to work with local and overseas artists.
Contact me at:
