December 29th, 2016 § Comments Off on John F. Kennedy Assassination in Dallas § permalink
A little slide show, of my trip to Dealey Plaza, in Dallas, where President john F. Kennedy was assassinated, in November of 1963. I have always been deeply moved by the tragedy, and even more, by visiting the scene of the crime.
The music is mine, an instrumental version of Inside, from the black n white album…
December 23rd, 2016 § Comments Off on Bill Price – AIR Studios § permalink
The great English recording engineer, mixer, producer, studio manager, designer and builder, Bill Price, has passed away after a long illness.
Bill Price
Bill was AIRStudio, Oxford Street’s, chief engineer, from their opening in 1970, until he took over at WessexStudio, in 1976. He began his career at Decca in the mid 1960’s. Bill, recorded, mixed, and or produced, many of my favorite recordings, including Without You, by Harry Nilsson, London’s Calling, by The Clash, and the AIR recorded Live and Let Die, by Paul McCartney.
“As a staff engineer at Decca’s West Hampstead studios in the mid-’60s, Price recorded a string of worldwide hits for Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, and has been consistently associated with quality recordings and commercial success ever since. Tapped by George Martin and his partners for the position of chief engineer at the new AIR Studios facility in London’s West End, Price went on to revive Wessex Studios in the mid-’70s and recorded several of the most influential records of the decade, including albums by the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Pretenders. In the ’80s, Price worked with Pete Townshend, Elton John, the Jesus and Mary Chain and Big Audio Dynamite, among others, and the ’90s found him producing The Waterboys and mixing for the Stone Roses, The Cult, Robert Plant and Guns N’ Roses.”
Bill also worked on David Bowie’s first album, Nilsson Schmilsson, Badfinger, Wings, Average White Band, Climax Blues Band, Mott the Hoople, Sex Pistols, Elton John, Pretenders, The Cult, Guns n Roses, Big Audio Dynamite, The Stone Roses, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and many more!
1970’s AIR Studios advert with Bill Price at the Neve.
I met Bill in the late 1980’s, at AIR Studios, where he was often working in studio 1 with Chris Thomas.
Bill recorded Charlie Morgan on drums, in studio 1, for our AKAI AIR Sessions, that Dee Long and I produced in 1987, for the AKAI S1000 sampler library.
December 8th, 2016 § Comments Off on Greg Lake, 1947-2016 § permalink
One of the first really great albums of all time, for me, is In The Court Of The Crimson King, by King Crimson, from 1969.
Everything, from the cover artwork, to the quality of the songwriting, the playing, and the sound, were all outstanding! No other group of musicians or recordings inspired me more.
Greg Lake, Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Michael Giles, and lyricist Pete Sinfield, were King Crimson.
Greg was a killer bass and guitar player, and a real John Lennon singer!
Here are King Crimson, performing their first big gig in Hyde Park, London, July 1969! What a band! (You will have to forgive some of the mixing, as well as the monitor mix the singers were hearing, especially In the Court of the Crimson King!)
November 10th, 2016 § Comments Off on Sir George Martin APRS Luncheon § permalink
I had an emotional, amazing, and fantastic, week in London, for the Sir George Martin APRS luncheon in Kensington. Faces from the past were in full attendance! It was a beautiful lunch, hosted by Paul Gambaccini, that was followed by a warm evening, across the street, at the Prince of Wales pub, and finally at a late night restaurant with many 214 Oxford street AIR Studios friends in attendance. Yes Dave Harries, Malcolm and I had the traditional AIR Studios “American” margarita’s in your honour!
September 24th, 2016 § Comments Off on Ocean Way Focusrite and Rupert Neve § permalink
Ocean Way Studio A
Dee Long and I began building the new Fairlight/Midi room at AIR Studios in 1985, with Malcolm Atkin, Dave Harries, John Goldstraw and Henk. The technical department were soon busy with Rupert Neve, adding 16 channel’s of his Focusrite 101 strips to the Neve A8971 custom console that he had made in 1981 for Studio 1.
10 years later I found myself in Ocean Way Studio A in Hollywood, mixing These Strange Times with Ken Allardyce, for Fleetwood Mac, on one of the 10 Focusrite Studio Consoles that were built using the 101 modules in the 1990’s.
John Jones, Ray Kennedy, Mick Fleetwood and Jimmy Hotz in Studio A at Ocean Way, 1990’s.
Here is a documentary on these Focusrite consoles, with Alan Sides showing us Studio A on Sunset Boulevard at 3:39.
This was an amazing experience to be working everyday for months with these guys, and then with engineer Chris Potter and producer Chris Kimsey at Olympic Studios!
