Production Advice

So, do you see what I’ve done here ? This video is:

1. About a classic piece of music
2. A little Christmassy (Although “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time” has to be one of the least Christmassy tunes ever)
3. About recording and production (At least, it includes some footage of people in SARM studios)
4. Thought-provoking (I think), and
5. Includes loads of footage of eighties pop stars with ridiculous haircuts !

I’m feeling quite smug

More seriously though, I was really pleased to find this. Band Aid and Live Aid had huge impact on me when I was growing up – I believe the idea of pop music being used selflessly for the good of others is an inspirational one, regardless of how effective they were at achieving their goals with hindsight. There are many people who are cynical about this kind of thing – I’m not one of them.

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The picture above is the “Big Room” at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios in Wiltshire.

Nice, isn’t it ?

(I’ve never been there, but personally am very curious to know how it sounds, with all those windows and hard surfaces – but, I digress…)

What may surprise you to learn is that this isn’t where Peter writes, records and mixes his records.

He does it in his shed.

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In this video Brian Eno talks about perfume, pornography and pissing in Duchamp’s urinal.

This, from a man who has produced (amongst others) Talking Heads, U2, Coldplay, Devo, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson and James – as well as being a prolific musician and artist in his own right, starting out as a member of Roxy Music in the early 70s, and inventing the genre label “Ambient” along the way.

I know what you’re thinking – another post about Brian Eno ? Already ?!? Change the tune already ! Tell us something useful !

Well, tough. I only just found this, and it’s fantastic, and I wanted to share it with you. I’ll post something technical about using EQ or compressors or something again soon, honest.

In the meantime, if you want some genuine insight into one of the greatest producers of all time, both as a producer and as a person, this is a great place to start. (The other place would be his 1995 book – A Year With Swollen Appendices: The Diary of Brian Eno, which I strongly recommend.)

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