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Speaker 1: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Bob left St podcast.

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Speaker 1: My guest today is the one and only Alan Parsons. Alan,

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Speaker 1: good to have you on the podcast. Thanks, but it's

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Speaker 1: great to be you. Thank you. So how's your back? Oh,

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Speaker 1: you heard? Yeah, I've, I've had I've had some back

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Speaker 1: problems over the years and my my doctor Orthopedist suggested

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Speaker 1: that I do this procedure because it's suddenly fed up

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Speaker 1: a month ago and sadly I had to cancel an

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Speaker 1: entire European tour, but I got I got the I

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Speaker 1: got the surgery it was. It's now been three weeks

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Speaker 1: and I'm slowly getting better, but it's nice of you

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Speaker 1: to ask. What was the surgery? It was called decompression

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Speaker 1: of L two, l three and l three to l four.

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Speaker 1: If that means anything, which does? Oh, it does. and

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Speaker 1: Are you in pain now? Are you okay? Little, just

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Speaker 1: a little bit? I'm not. I'm not using pain colors

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Speaker 1: and I'm I'm fine when I'm like sitting down or

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Speaker 1: lying down. But yeah, I'm comfortable, perfectly comfortable right now.

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Speaker 1: So when might we see you back on the road?

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Speaker 1: We have we have gigs in November. Uh, I don't

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Speaker 1: think we're going to make anything happen before then, just

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Speaker 1: to be safe. But plenty, plenty of going on in

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Speaker 1: the in the new year as well. and Are you

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Speaker 1: working now primarily just to have fun or do you

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Speaker 1: need the money? Everybody needs the money. That's true. There's

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Speaker 1: never enough money. Um, I've I've I've been keeping busy

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Speaker 1: in the studio. Um, I just had delby atmos installed,

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Speaker 1: installed in my studio, so I've been experimenting with that

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Speaker 1: and hoping to do some remixing. I'm hoping that the

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Speaker 1: I robot album we will be the next from the

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Speaker 1: APP cattler. I'm also working with David Pack from Ambrosia.

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Speaker 1: He wants a Delby atmos mix of his first two albums.

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Speaker 1: And I've also been working with the drama of Lenny

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Speaker 1: Kravitz's band. His name is Franklin Vanderbilt and I've done

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Speaker 1: a whole album with him and we're just we've just

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Speaker 1: got some touch ups to to do on that and

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Speaker 1: then it will be finished. Tell me about your take

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Speaker 1: on Dolby atmos. It's a little soon for me to

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Speaker 1: say because I've literally only had it here a week

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Speaker 1: now and I was I was pretty happy with with

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Speaker 1: five point one and got got very used to it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's just more speakers to think about. That's

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Speaker 1: that's really what it's all about. I mean we've got

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Speaker 1: to speakers and you've got four speakers in the ceiling

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Speaker 1: and you know that that makes a difference, and two

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Speaker 1: side speakers. I'm pointing right. We don't have a video,

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Speaker 1: but you can see. You can see me that nobody

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Speaker 1: else can. Yeah, we've got two four speakers and sitting

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Speaker 1: on two new speakers at side. So I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's infinitely variable how you how you play sounds. Um,

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Speaker 1: I I found that with five point one, you is,

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Speaker 1: you quickly ran out of ideas about where to put things.

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Speaker 1: You know, what you put in the back channels and

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Speaker 1: what you'd keep in the front channels and so on.

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Speaker 1: But I've I've come to enjoy, you know, multi channel

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Speaker 1: sound generally. So I'm very hopeful that the atmos will

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Speaker 1: work for me. Well. You know, if you listen to Apple,

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Speaker 1: which most people are listening to to channel, the remixes

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Speaker 1: so far sound in most cases radically different from the originals.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm like, unlike with you, doesn't tend to be

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Speaker 1: the same mixer that it was originally, but the vocals

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Speaker 1: are down in the mix. I mean, we've lived through

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Speaker 1: so many iterations of Saman Mono. Dysteria was a big jump,

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Speaker 1: but quad and all these other things they never seem

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Speaker 1: to ultimately gain holes. Will be interesting to see what

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Speaker 1: happens with autmost. Yes, Um, I'm I mean it's the Buzzword.

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Speaker 1: I mean everybody in the industry is talking about it.

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Speaker 1: It seems to be the new the new the new

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Speaker 1: fashion and, interestingly, I I'm curious to know why Americans

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Speaker 1: call it at most, because you don't use the word atmosphere,

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Speaker 1: you don't say at most fear. So I'm on. I'm

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Speaker 1: on a a kind of a quest to get people

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Speaker 1: to say atmost, not at most. You can, you can

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Speaker 1: be the first, you can me the first, absolutely okay.

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Speaker 1: So you have album. Repeat after me, atmos almos close.

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Speaker 1: I'M gonna leave in it that. We'll see what the

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Speaker 1: public decides on if they continue to use at wilser

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Speaker 1: at Muss as sound irrelevant of the moniker and how

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Speaker 1: you pronounce it. So you have a new album from

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Speaker 1: the new world. It's entitled why Now? Why a new

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Speaker 1: album now? Well, I was. I think I was reasonably

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Speaker 1: overdue for it for another album, that the last album.

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Speaker 1: The secret came out. I think it wast so three

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Speaker 1: years Um and you know, frankly, the the the covid

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Speaker 1: outbreak actually helped because, you know, everybody that I worked

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Speaker 1: with on the new album was was, you know, fully

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Speaker 1: vaccinated or had already got over Covid, and so I

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Speaker 1: was able to work in person with the and so

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Speaker 1: that that worked out, that we worked out really well, whereas,

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Speaker 1: of course, we could not play live. That was absolutely

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Speaker 1: to be in the particularly in one just was a

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Speaker 1: disaster for everybody. It might might as well not have existed. Okay,

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Speaker 1: reading the credit to the album. You know, multiple studios

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Speaker 1: are used us, blackbird in Nashville. So did you actually

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Speaker 1: go there or were these done remote? We we did

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Speaker 1: the stuff in Nashville remote. There's this h great program

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Speaker 1: called source connect, which allows us to interact as if

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Speaker 1: they were in the room. All we have to do

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Speaker 1: is send them the track and they control their own transport.

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Speaker 1: But it works out really well and you know, we

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Speaker 1: can point a camera at them on you know, do

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Speaker 1: facetime on a phone whatever, but it's Um, it's great

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Speaker 1: because you save. You Save on Holt Hotel rooms and

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Speaker 1: and hotels, hotel rooms and their fairs. Sorry, and you

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Speaker 1: know that they don't have to travel, so I think

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Speaker 1: they're better off for it. But you're traditionally an analog

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Speaker 1: guy and that's inherently digital. So how do you feel

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Speaker 1: about that? What do you say? I'm a inherently analog guy.

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Speaker 1: I've been supporting digital ever since ceed first started. Um,

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Speaker 1: I went from you know, mixing in in in digital too, uh,

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Speaker 1: Sony Twenty four track digital, which became Sony Forty eight

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Speaker 1: track digital. No, I've I've been recording essentially digitally for

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Speaker 1: quite a while now. Um. But, having said that, my

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Speaker 1: studio now is although of course I use pro tools

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Speaker 1: like most people, which is a digital recording format. It's

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Speaker 1: very high very high resolution digital format, but I use

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Speaker 1: an analog console and that's that's a joy for me

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Speaker 1: just to just to do everything like it used to be,

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Speaker 1: you know, setting up mikes and having each each mic

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Speaker 1: on its own analog channel and then then committing it

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Speaker 1: to pro tools. And when did you stop, or did

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Speaker 1: you ever stop, using tape? Oh, yeah, I think we

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Speaker 1: I think a valid path would have been the first

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Speaker 1: time there was not a tape machine inside, even a

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Speaker 1: digital tape machine. But yes, that that was a good

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Speaker 1: while ago. That was ninety four. So I haven't seen

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Speaker 1: a tape machine basically since ninety four. And what's the

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Speaker 1: difference between your knee analyze, so I'm told? Sorry, I

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Speaker 1: mean two thousand four, not that sounded pretty early very

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Speaker 1: much right. Was Two four. So it was a practical matter.

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Speaker 1: What's the difference between your analog Nive and a digital board?

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Speaker 1: It's Um, you know, it's just a little more tactile.

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Speaker 1: Every every channel has its own controls, its own sands,

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Speaker 1: its own accues and whereas digital tend to digital consoles

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Speaker 1: tend to group things together and you have to hit

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Speaker 1: a button to to go to a particular channel that

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Speaker 1: you want to modify, whereas on a on an analog board,

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Speaker 1: it's not so much a control surface, but it's a

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Speaker 1: it's a it's an information giver. It tells you what

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Speaker 1: you're doing at a glance, whereas it on a digital

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Speaker 1: console that's almost impossible to assess. What what every every

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Speaker 1: channel is doing at the same time. And what about

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Speaker 1: the quality of the sound? Well, believe it or not,

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Speaker 1: digital audio is still in its infancy and it gets

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Speaker 1: better every day. Analog to digital converters, digital to analog

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Speaker 1: converters get better every day. Um. And you know, I think,

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Speaker 1: I truly believe, one day we will just look back

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Speaker 1: on analog tape recording as as a piece of history

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Speaker 1: because we can duplicate it exactly in digital and we'll

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Speaker 1: say what, what, what was? What was wrong with digital

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Speaker 1: in the first place? But it did get better, it

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Speaker 1: really did get better. And what's your take on the

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Speaker 1: vinyl renaissance? It's that's that's really interesting. I mean that

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Speaker 1: that's clearly a move towards the public favoring uh, a pure,

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Speaker 1: pure signal path to to to the to their systems. Um.

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Speaker 1: Vinyl is Um, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's the

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Speaker 1: thing you hold in your hand and you can read

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Speaker 1: the cover notes and and but the sound is great,

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Speaker 1: especially the the mastering that's been going on at tough

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Speaker 1: speed to improve the quality. Yet again, I'm all in

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Speaker 1: favor of it and I I just came recently came back,

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Speaker 1: before I went into hospital, from Munich in Germany, where

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Speaker 1: there is clearly a move towards the final the game.

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Speaker 1: I mean I was looking at looking at vinyl turntables

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Speaker 1: costing a hundred and sixty thousand euros. I mean it's

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Speaker 1: just unbelievable. Let's be very specific. If the path is

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Speaker 1: a digital path and you end up with a digital master,

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Speaker 1: I'm not talking about old stuff for sixties and seven

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Speaker 1: it's not modern stuff. What's the logic in cutting it

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Speaker 1: in vinyl? That's a very good question. I mean, Um,

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Speaker 1: I think it's just that people are getting back to

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Speaker 1: having a really good stereo system in their homes and,

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Speaker 1: you know, a good a good turntable is part of that.

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Speaker 1: Out of that equation, I think. I mean they might,

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Speaker 1: they might have a CD player as well, but audiophiles

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Speaker 1: are definitely sort of moving towards finyl. There's no question. Well,

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Speaker 1: as an engineer and an expert here, Um, although I

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Speaker 1: still have all my vinyl, I have multiple turntables, etcetera. It.

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Speaker 1: I talked to the professional community and they say inherently

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Speaker 1: there's distortion and the record for no other reason, the

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Speaker 1: needle moves from the outer groove to the inner groove

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Speaker 1: and it's more of an affectation than the sound being

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Speaker 1: better than digital today standards. Your take on that? You

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Speaker 1: say it's just a fashion thing. Let's go back in

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Speaker 1: the early days of digital and you heard. I mean.

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Speaker 1: I use this example. I remember having the original back

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Speaker 1: in black, a C D, C C D, and I

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Speaker 1: have a lot of power. I never want to hit

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Speaker 1: the storeship in my system and I turned it up

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Speaker 1: and my ears would bleed. I put on Thet I

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Speaker 1: put on the vinyl and you could feel it in

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Speaker 1: the house would shake. Okay, people, people might say that

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Speaker 1: was distortion, but it was palpable. But now when I

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Speaker 1: listen to things, you know resolution certainly of nineties six,

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Speaker 1: never mind CD quality. All the experts say that. You

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Speaker 1: know that. I talked to said you like the sound

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Speaker 1: a vinyl, great, but it's not more accurate and the

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Speaker 1: digital original is actually better. But I'm asking you that

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Speaker 1: question for your take. If if the digital original was

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Speaker 1: done at High Ras, like K or o high or

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Speaker 1: even Um, yes, I would argue that that that's the

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Speaker 1: that's the highest quotity you're gonna get. Uh, but uh,

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Speaker 1: for you know, for older recordings, I think I think final.

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Speaker 1: I think the final wins out, despite the pulps and crackles.

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Speaker 1: You know, we can, we can put up with us.

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Speaker 1: I agree. If it's if it's kind of analog to

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Speaker 1: begin with. That's a whole different thing. Yeah, but a

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Speaker 1: lot of people buying vinyl today, or younger people, were

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Speaker 1: just buying something cutting digital that's been, you know, transferred

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Speaker 1: to vinyl. I don't get it. Yeah, that that is

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Speaker 1: a bit that is a bit weird. But needless to say,

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Speaker 1: the landscape is different in the recording industry than it

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Speaker 1: used to be. I'm talking about the commercial and the

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Speaker 1: marketing and we used to have a major label. There're

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Speaker 1: a limited number of albums out there. You know, a

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Speaker 1: lot of older acts it's a disincentive. They don't even

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Speaker 1: record new music anymore because they're fearful it won't reach

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Speaker 1: their customers. Is that something that interduce your brain? Very

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Speaker 1: much so. But I'm pleased, I'm very pleased that I

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Speaker 1: seem to have enough lasting power to to at least

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Speaker 1: make albums. I don't sell albums anything like how I

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Speaker 1: used to. I mean all the Alam Passer's project albums

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Speaker 1: went to at least gold, most amount platinum or even

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Speaker 1: double platinum. But you know, I'm still here. I'm still

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Speaker 1: supporting the Alan Parsons Project by playing live, UH and

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Speaker 1: enjoying it very much. So, I mean it's it is

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Speaker 1: a warrior. I mean there's a lot of British bands

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Speaker 1: in particular who who just are terrified to put out

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Speaker 1: another album in case it completely stiff h but I've

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Speaker 1: done okay in that respect and the playing live really

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Speaker 1: really does help keep the name, the name alive, even

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Speaker 1: though we don't call it the Alan passons project. We

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Speaker 1: call it the Alan Parsons Live Project, Um, which is

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Speaker 1: kind of a salute to Eric Wilson, who who was

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Speaker 1: the other half of the Alan Passon's project. It was

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Speaker 1: just just the two of US really. So how do

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Speaker 1: you plan to market the records so your people are

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Speaker 1: aware of it and we'll hear it? I'm much reliant

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Speaker 1: on the label, which is frontiers, frontiers records out of

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Speaker 1: out of Italy. Um, they have a lot of a

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Speaker 1: lot of rock acts on their on their roster. Um.

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Speaker 1: I'm also very aware of the power of social media

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Speaker 1: these days. I mean if if if we post on

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Speaker 1: on our own facebook site, you know it'll get it

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Speaker 1: will get some attention and we can make it reach

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Speaker 1: other other websites as well. That that that's great. You

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Speaker 1: know that that that's the way to promote something these days.

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Speaker 1: It's it's, it's all. It's all about the Internet. And

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Speaker 1: to what degree you personally active? You have other people

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Speaker 1: do it for you. I do most of the time.

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Speaker 1: I have other people do it, okay, one of one

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Speaker 1: of whom is my wife, one of whom is my

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Speaker 1: son in law. So you have this album with the

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Speaker 1: Italian company. Did they pay for the record? Did you

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Speaker 1: pay for the record? Um, they paid me an advance

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Speaker 1: and I paid for it. And at the end of

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Speaker 1: the day you're going to be in the black or

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Speaker 1: the red on the record. That remains to be seen.

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Speaker 1: I haven't done the accounts yet. I'm I'm hoping it

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Speaker 1: will be close to break even at least. And what

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Speaker 1: about your royalty stream? How's that doing? Really good. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, the the analysis project catalog, both both for

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Speaker 1: sound recording and publishing, is very much alive and doing

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Speaker 1: well and it's become it's become something I rely upon. Uh,

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Speaker 1: it's it's strong, it's great. Do you still own your

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Speaker 1: own publishing? I never did. I never did. It was

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Speaker 1: assigned to two publishers and of course I I own

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Speaker 1: rights to receive royalties on those, on those entities. But

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Speaker 1: know that that I don't own any of my copyrights.

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Speaker 1: So if there's a hundred cents in the dollar, how

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Speaker 1: much that it goes to you? Mm Hmm U. based

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Speaker 1: on a record sale? No, no, no, based on based

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Speaker 1: on a song. If there's a hundred, uh, freak. You know,

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Speaker 1: an artist might own their publishing, paid administrators somewhere between

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Speaker 1: three and ten percent, the other nineties them. Uh. An

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Speaker 1: artist may have a deal with a publisher and the

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Speaker 1: publisher owns the copyright. They take fifty, the artist who

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Speaker 1: wrote a gift fift also, if they co wrote it.

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Speaker 1: They ends up with so in the in this publishing

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Speaker 1: and a song, how much do you ultimately get in

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Speaker 1: the revenue drink? I think we're I'm publishing. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: that's good. That's a good number. How about the issue

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Speaker 1: of regaining the Copyright of your Alan Parsons Projects Records?

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Speaker 1: If you go on that road, we've we've done it.

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Speaker 1: We've done what what is called termination, which means that

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Speaker 1: we we we ultimately get get rights to it at

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Speaker 1: a certain point. But I don't think I'll ever literally

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Speaker 1: clawback that all the copyrights. I don't I don't think

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Speaker 1: that's going to happen. But I know it's fashionable to

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Speaker 1: to sell one's one's rights these days. I mean everybody's

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Speaker 1: doing it and I've been thinking about it. But no, no,

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Speaker 1: no firm decisions yet. What would be your motivation to

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Speaker 1: do it or not to it? Well, it's that it's

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Speaker 1: that big m word again. I mean it's it's money

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Speaker 1: in your pocket. You know. Um, I'm living very comfortably,

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Speaker 1: you know, now, with with the current live shows and

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Speaker 1: the current record sales. But you know, there's a if

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Speaker 1: there's a way of uh supplementing that income overnight, that

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Speaker 1: would be very nice. I'm not getting any younger either.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I'm seventy three. A Nice little

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Speaker 1: a nice little few million dollars, you know, back in

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Speaker 1: the bank would would be very nice. I might consider

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Speaker 1: buying a second home or something, although, of course, if

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Speaker 1: you'd sold them uh recently and invested the proceeds, with

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Speaker 1: the market crash, you know, that would have worked against you.

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Speaker 1: But okay, so let's go back to the beginning. What

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Speaker 1: were you growing up? Circumstances like? I I was an

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Speaker 1: only child. Both my parents were musical. My My dad

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Speaker 1: played piano and flute and my mother played a Celtic

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Speaker 1: up and there was always it was always music in

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Speaker 1: my household. My Dad was always playing classical music, which

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Speaker 1: is why my knowledge of classical music is is pretty good.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I I went to good schools in London,

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Speaker 1: prep school called the hall and went on to what

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Speaker 1: the English would call a public school. Uh, but it's

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Speaker 1: very it's very much a private school. That was Westminster,

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Speaker 1: Westminster School, which was adjacent to Westminster Abbey in London,

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Speaker 1: so very sort of prestigious location. But I left. I

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Speaker 1: left at sixteen. I was considered by a vocational guidance

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Speaker 1: person to be unsuitable to to continue to the age

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Speaker 1: of eighteen in order to go to college or anything.

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Speaker 1: So I left at sixteen, went went to well, before

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Speaker 1: you go there, what'd your parents say when the guy

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Speaker 1: we got into said get out of here? I think,

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Speaker 1: I think they're supported me on it. When my my

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Speaker 1: school reports were dreadful. You know, he he has no

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Speaker 1: interest in this subject. You know he's he's slacking, he

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Speaker 1: will not, will not do his homework and all that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff. So yeah, it was. It was. It

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Speaker 1: surprised me. I thought, Oh my God, Oh my God,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be hating school for at least another

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Speaker 1: two years. But I really hadn't considered the option of

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Speaker 1: leaving school. And I mean Americans use the expression high

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Speaker 1: school dropout. I suppose. I suppose that's what I was

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Speaker 1: really but I was a dropout from a public school,

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Speaker 1: prestigious English Public School, you know, right up there amongst Eaton, Harrow,

337
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Speaker 1: St Paul's, or big public schools as we call them. Um.

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Speaker 1: So I was an unusual was an unusual dropout. What

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Speaker 1: kind of kid were you growing up? Popular, unpopular, loner,

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Speaker 1: into your own things. Usually single kids have their own

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Speaker 1: unique perspective in life. I had a good childhood. I

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Speaker 1: wasn't bullied at school, if that's what you mean, but

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Speaker 1: I I mentioned I was. I wasn't an only child

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Speaker 1: and I had lots of friends. I did okay. We,

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Speaker 1: my my parents, lived in in an area of London

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Speaker 1: which was was fairly upper middle class, actually a very

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Speaker 1: Jewish area. I'm not Jewish myself, but we lived in

348
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Speaker 1: a substantially Jewish area and I generally had a good childhood.

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Speaker 1: I I enjoyed my my my father had a sort

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Speaker 1: of passion for gadgetry and building things and I think

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Speaker 1: that's kind of rubbed rubbed off on me as well,

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Speaker 1: and I I learned. I learned a great deal from him.

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Speaker 1: Needles to say, music was revolutionized with the Beatles in

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Speaker 1: the British invasion. To what degree were you growing up

355
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Speaker 1: paying attention to popular music and what was your experience?

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Speaker 1: I was very, very into part music. I started taking

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Speaker 1: a really interesting about Ah. Distinctly remember a friend of

358
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Speaker 1: Mine Picking Up Oh Carol by Neil Sadaka, whatever year

359
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Speaker 1: that is. I think that's probably around that time. I

360
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,440
Speaker 1: was a huge fan of cliff and the shadows, Richard,

361
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Speaker 1: that is Um and in terms of American music, I

362
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Speaker 1: was listening to Chat Berry, Buddy Holly, of course. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was there. I was there at the beginning of

364
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Speaker 1: at the beginning of Pop and, to what you know,

365
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Speaker 1: it was a seismic event when the Beatles came to America.

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Speaker 1: What was your experience in the UK? I was still

367
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Speaker 1: at school. Um, I mean I was the biggest beatle

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Speaker 1: fan you could you could ever imagine. I really was very, very,

369
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Speaker 1: very into their music right right from the beginning, right

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Speaker 1: from from me to you and love me do through

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Speaker 1: to the through to their ultimate breakup. So did you

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Speaker 1: play a musical instrument growing up? Uh, I took piano lessons.

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Speaker 1: I didn't particularly enjoy learning, learning piano from a teacher,

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Speaker 1: I was I was more interested in playing by here

375
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Speaker 1: and I did the same for the flute. The good

376
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Speaker 1: thing about it is it taught me musical notation which

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Speaker 1: I was I might not have been able to to

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Speaker 1: use in later life. I mean I use musical musical

379
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,439
Speaker 1: notation now to substantial degree, especially for orchestral arrangements and

380
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Speaker 1: so on. But yeah, it was it was a good

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Speaker 1: thing that I did. I did have piano and flute lessons.

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Speaker 1: Played in an orchestra at school as well. Um Plenty of,

383
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Speaker 1: plenty of musical events going on in my chilter. So

384
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Speaker 1: you pushed out of school at Sixteen and one level

385
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: your thrilled you don't have to go two more years.

386
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Speaker 1: What goes from your head then? What you'RE gonna do?

387
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Speaker 1: I somehow knew that I would be in the entertainment

388
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Speaker 1: industry somewhere. I given consideration to sound. You know, I

389
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Speaker 1: didn't really know what what a recording engineer was back then,

390
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: but I said I to work with sound and I

391
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,879
Speaker 1: also considered television. I I actually filled in forms for

392
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Speaker 1: the BBC, you know, to become a TV cameraman, you know,

393
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,040
Speaker 1: to be trained as a TV cameraman. But that that,

394
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:19,239
Speaker 1: that just went by the wayside and I did a

395
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,640
Speaker 1: similar thing with e m I that I knew em.

396
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 1: I was a big record company. So my first job

397
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: after leaving school was with the M I was. that

398
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,919
Speaker 1: a hard job to get because from the outside, you know,

399
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 1: people are salivating for jobs like that. It was actually

400
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 1: an apprenticeship scheme, it wasn't you know. I started in

401
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,560
Speaker 1: a in a research lab which was making television camera tubes,

402
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:52,119
Speaker 1: a very technical job. I learned how to do glass blowing,

403
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:58,399
Speaker 1: which was interesting, and that that that, you know, just

404
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 1: taught me what industry was like. I mean every everybody

405
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,080
Speaker 1: else in the in the department, that TV Camera Tube Department,

406
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,479
Speaker 1: was at least ten years older than me. So I

407
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 1: was the youngster, you know, but I got on well,

408
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: I got on all right. And how did you get

409
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:21,720
Speaker 1: from there to the studio? Well, there are two more stages.

410
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:27,160
Speaker 1: That the the TV research lab was was in haze

411
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Speaker 1: in Middlesex, which is west of London, about fifteen miles

412
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 1: west of central Lona. Um. I then transferred to a

413
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 1: to a department called tape records, which was which was

414
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: great as far as I was concerned. They were they

415
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: were they were, you know, very involved with listening to

416
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:53,600
Speaker 1: EMMI product, duplicating EMI product. Um. The Department is actually

417
00:28:53,800 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: devoted to manufacturing mono versions of the of their their

418
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 1: product on tape on the little three inch or five

419
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: and little five inch plastic schools, and they were actually

420
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 1: very good sounding, very good sounding products. But I worked

421
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 1: in that department, you know, helping to maintain tape machines

422
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: and so on. But then I got into a copying

423
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 1: room where Abbey road would send there the latest efforts

424
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 1: down to us to be duplicated for foreign countries. So

425
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 1: I was literally one of the very first people to

426
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: hear sergeant pepper from the master tape, before anybody in

427
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:52,160
Speaker 1: the great wide world had had ever even heard of it,

428
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,040
Speaker 1: and alone listen to it. So how do you end

429
00:29:56,080 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 1: up in the studio? Well, the studio was, thankfully, Um

430
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:08,560
Speaker 1: a department associated with this tape records department. That where

431
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: I was working, and I simply wrote to the manager

432
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 1: said I've been working for em I since I'm now

433
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,800
Speaker 1: in tape records. I would very much appreciate a visit

434
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 1: to Abbey Road to see what see what goes on

435
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 1: and if, if there were any vacancies, I'd be very interested.

436
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: That same week he received a letter. I was invited

437
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 1: to an interview and two weeks later I went walked

438
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 1: up those steps for the first time and I became

439
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 1: a trainee, trainee engineer at happy with the studios. Well,

440
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,440
Speaker 1: you know, as time went on that was the first

441
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 1: step in most studios was the tea boy, but you

442
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 1: were part of a larger system. What was you? What

443
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: were your duties? into what degree were the instructing you

444
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 1: when store in there? I, like most of the bureaud engineers,

445
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 1: I started in the tape library, literally just logging in

446
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:15,440
Speaker 1: tapes that derived and logging out tapes that people ask for.

447
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 1: Fairly mundane tasks, but it taught me the importance of

448
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,680
Speaker 1: of correctly identifying what's what's on on the on the

449
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: tape box, what's on the tape, because it's it's terrifying

450
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 1: sometimes to see how how little detail goes into marking

451
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: up a tape box and I actually ended up writing

452
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:46,479
Speaker 1: a book called the Master Tapebook, which which emphasized that

453
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 1: that particular importance. So literally, probably only a month in

454
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 1: the in the in the tape in the tape library.

455
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 1: Then I was allowed to be a fly on the wall.

456
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 1: will fly on the wall for sessions. The Very First

457
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 1: Session and I sat in on, was a band called

458
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 1: the gods, and musicologists will tell you that, oh, yes,

459
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,280
Speaker 1: the gods, that was Ken Ken Hensley's first band, which

460
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 1: it was, but he was a keyboard player, not a

461
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: not a guitarist, as he was in your eye heat.

462
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 1: So how long was it before you got to touch anything? Oh,

463
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 1: quite quite a while. Um. Well, no, actually I mean

464
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 1: you say touching the I was allowed on to touch

465
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 1: a tape machine because that's essentially what I was training for,

466
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: to be a tape operator, assistant engineer. So I got

467
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 1: to know, you know, the workings of a of the

468
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 1: studio four track machines. Most most sessions were four track.

469
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:56,000
Speaker 1: When I first arrived, the Beatles were there doing the

470
00:32:56,040 --> 00:33:00,080
Speaker 1: white album, just as I right, some of which was

471
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 1: eight track. But it was very, very much a lash

472
00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 1: up too to use an eight track machine with a

473
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 1: four track console. But I got I got to I

474
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 1: didn't really get to see any of that. Um, it

475
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 1: was sometime later that that I actually got to a

476
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: record record with Paul McCartney. That was that was years later.

477
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:35,200
Speaker 1: But the Um the experience of of of of training

478
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 1: under you know, great engineers like Jeff emeric and Petere Vince,

479
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 1: Peter Bawn, Peter Mu Ken Scott who, of course, you

480
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 1: will know, went on to be a very successful producer

481
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:55,240
Speaker 1: with David Bowie. Um, just just watching, just watching them.

482
00:33:55,240 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 1: And then, you know, I was let loose probably probably

483
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: two and a half years into my employment at at

484
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,919
Speaker 1: at Abbey Road with the hollies. I've done a bunch

485
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:12,720
Speaker 1: of sessions with the hollies as as their tape operator,

486
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:18,760
Speaker 1: as their second engineer, but their engineer was double booked

487
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,799
Speaker 1: and they offered me the job for the first time,

488
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 1: you know, my first real engineering, engineering GIG, and it

489
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,520
Speaker 1: went okay. I mean I I listened back to it

490
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,000
Speaker 1: now and I think, Oh, if only, if only, if only,

491
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: if only. But it came out pretty good. And were

492
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 1: you thrilled just to be in the belly of the beast?

493
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,719
Speaker 1: Are Very quickly did that fall away and you were

494
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,319
Speaker 1: just doing a job? Oh, no, I was. I was

495
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 1: totally totally into I know it didn't feel like a

496
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: job as well at all. I was very, very much

497
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:59,240
Speaker 1: into what I was doing and I would I would work,

498
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,520
Speaker 1: you know, crazy hours in order to just just to

499
00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 1: enjoy myself. It was the best job in the world.

500
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,840
Speaker 1: And had anyone taught you how to use the border?

501
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,080
Speaker 1: You just observed and when the other guy who's double

502
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: book you, sat down to do it. Yeah, I mean

503
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:20,759
Speaker 1: I I had a pretty good idea how how the

504
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 1: console effectively worked. But the Abbey road engineers used to

505
00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,360
Speaker 1: be known as balance engineers, and that's that's really what

506
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:34,720
Speaker 1: what the balance engineers did? They deal with the mix

507
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:39,360
Speaker 1: between instruments. So it was right to use the word balance.

508
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 1: But I yeah, my my, my first ventures into engineering

509
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:57,640
Speaker 1: all came from the experience of watching others. Okay, I

510
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,360
Speaker 1: have a question. You know, when the Beatle CDs first

511
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,480
Speaker 1: came out in the eighties, the early albums, everyone was

512
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,359
Speaker 1: shocked how good they sound, but if you look at

513
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 1: the equipment it seems so primitive. Why was the sound

514
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:18,320
Speaker 1: so good? Good, good engineering, just solid, good engineering. That's

515
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 1: that's what it was all about. I mean it's it's

516
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 1: extraordinary that those early albums were done on four track

517
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,160
Speaker 1: at at best. I think the first album was done,

518
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:39,160
Speaker 1: done to track. So they would record, you know, a

519
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,239
Speaker 1: backing track based drums, guitars and then they would add

520
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:46,520
Speaker 1: the vocals and that was it. That was the that

521
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 1: was the master tape. And I'm sure you've heard the

522
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 1: so called Stereo versions, early Stereo versions of those albums.

523
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:57,240
Speaker 1: All the music is on the left on the vocals

524
00:36:57,239 --> 00:37:01,240
Speaker 1: are on the right and they call it stereo crazy.

525
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: So what happened after the hollies? Well, I started to uh,

526
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:13,000
Speaker 1: you know, get more, more work with the hollies, plenty

527
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 1: of work with with them, Um, and it was wasn't

528
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 1: really very long until H I had until, you know,

529
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,759
Speaker 1: the dark side of the moon sessions. Really, that was

530
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:36,279
Speaker 1: that was pretty pretty soon after that period. Um. But

531
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:42,920
Speaker 1: you know, the the the important, the important step that

532
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: happened between me being a tape up and being an

533
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 1: engineer was was being sent down to the Beatles studio

534
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: in Savo row to tape up for them. So that

535
00:37:55,400 --> 00:38:00,880
Speaker 1: was the that was the first Beatles experience, Um, and

536
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 1: I was, of course, on the roof for the for

537
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:07,839
Speaker 1: the rooftop session, which was magnucent day. I will never,

538
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:12,359
Speaker 1: never forget that, um. So I continued after that. I

539
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:16,920
Speaker 1: was I was. I spent a period engineering and and

540
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: tape hopping. You know I did. I wasn't considered a

541
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:25,160
Speaker 1: fully fledged engineer really until probably until until that Sut

542
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:29,360
Speaker 1: the moon. That's when it that's when it all came together. Okay,

543
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:34,040
Speaker 1: so you're there at the Beatles studio. We just had

544
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:38,839
Speaker 1: this exhaustive get back movie. To what degree did you

545
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,279
Speaker 1: like it, not like it, and did it conform with

546
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 1: your remembrance of what happened there? UH, the the letter

547
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:57,799
Speaker 1: B movie was was. I found it really sort of depressing. UH, I.

548
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:02,359
Speaker 1: I don't think it rep entered what what was going

549
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 1: on very well. But I think Peter Jackson's movies is

550
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 1: it's not only complete, but it's uh, it gives a

551
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 1: much brighter picture of of what went on during that period.

552
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 1: And I'm in it. I'm in get back. You see

553
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: me credited on screen as Alan Parsons, tape operator. Um.

554
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 1: So I was very, very pleased about that. I actually

555
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:29,399
Speaker 1: met Peter Jackson a few months before the release and

556
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:32,160
Speaker 1: he showed me a couple of clips. It was great.

557
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:35,920
Speaker 1: He's he's a lovely guy and very talented and you

558
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:40,320
Speaker 1: can't believe the the improvement in quality that he managed

559
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:44,879
Speaker 1: to get between the the sixteen mill film and what

560
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,920
Speaker 1: you see in the in the get back series. And

561
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 1: what was your involvement with the Abbey Road? UH, at

562
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 1: the time of the Getty Road, the Abbey road album

563
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:00,719
Speaker 1: by the Beatles. Oh, I see, Um, I was tape up. Um,

564
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:07,560
Speaker 1: there were two two main engineers, Jeff emeric and Phil McDonald. Um.

565
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:12,319
Speaker 1: But you know, I was there interacting with the band occasionally.

566
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:17,360
Speaker 1: You know, uh, Paul or John might you know, say

567
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:21,400
Speaker 1: can you play that again, or whatever. So I wouldn't

568
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: call it establishing a huge friendship, but we we, we

569
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:32,520
Speaker 1: were business associate, but a great experience to watch them

570
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 1: at work, see how their their minds worked and what

571
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,279
Speaker 1: they what they could achieve. It was actually interesting that

572
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:46,560
Speaker 1: on on Abbey road they weren't often all there together.

573
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: In tended to be a one, one beetle at a time,

574
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,799
Speaker 1: coming into Polish off their own their own compositions, and

575
00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:57,359
Speaker 1: they would have they would have had to be there

576
00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:00,120
Speaker 1: together to do the backing tracks. But all the well,

577
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:05,799
Speaker 1: the later overdos tended to be solistry, experiences by experiences

578
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:10,720
Speaker 1: by one beatle alone. Diesles to say, these are legendary

579
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 1: records that the audiences contemplated literally for decades, half a century,

580
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:20,360
Speaker 1: and you watch the get back movie and they seem

581
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:24,600
Speaker 1: to be so fanciful just writing in the studio and

582
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,239
Speaker 1: we'll see what goes on. What was your experience of

583
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:33,920
Speaker 1: the creative process? Well, you know, I didn't really see

584
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 1: them songwriting. I mean I don't know what their process

585
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:42,319
Speaker 1: was for the songwriting. I mean I think it was

586
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:46,920
Speaker 1: well established by by Abbey Road that that John was

587
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 1: writing his songs and Paul was writing his songs. It

588
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:53,640
Speaker 1: wasn't was no longer a genuine Lennon McCartney situation, even

589
00:41:53,680 --> 00:42:00,239
Speaker 1: though the credits continued to say Lennon McCartney. Um. So

590
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:05,319
Speaker 1: I can't really answer what they uh, what, you know,

591
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 1: the processes they went through to to write a song.

592
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,200
Speaker 1: But I certainly got to see, uh, you know, the

593
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:16,760
Speaker 1: ideas they had to make each song different, or two, two,

594
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: you know too, to make it sound, you know, as

595
00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:23,560
Speaker 1: good as it does on the on the final mix.

596
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,520
Speaker 1: I mean there was a lot of work, a lot

597
00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 1: of work after the basic tracks, on on on everything,

598
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,200
Speaker 1: including a orchestra for the first time. I think they've

599
00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:37,239
Speaker 1: never had a really full size orchestra perform on their

600
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,719
Speaker 1: music before. So how did you get the GIG on

601
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:44,480
Speaker 1: dark side of the Moon? I had been previously working

602
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:52,920
Speaker 1: with them on atom up mother. I tape opped the

603
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 1: whole the whole thing, until it was mixing time. Um

604
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:02,200
Speaker 1: Peter Bawn, their engineer again, very very great engineer. He

605
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:08,759
Speaker 1: was unable to do mixing sessions and they very graciously

606
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:10,680
Speaker 1: just said, Alan, would you like to have a go

607
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:14,879
Speaker 1: at it because you know, you know the music, which

608
00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:17,319
Speaker 1: I did. You know, I knew, I knew every every note.

609
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:19,239
Speaker 1: If they've brought in one of the other engineers it

610
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:23,640
Speaker 1: might have been a more complicated process. But yeah, I

611
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:30,000
Speaker 1: mixed it. They were happy with it and that ultimately

612
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:32,239
Speaker 1: led to me getting the GIG for dark side of

613
00:43:32,239 --> 00:43:45,400
Speaker 1: the Moon. Okay, they were had singles, hits. Originally Sidbart

614
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 1: was in the band. That didn't translate to America. Then

615
00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:53,880
Speaker 1: they had all these records on harvest, M A, Gumma,

616
00:43:54,560 --> 00:44:00,799
Speaker 1: Adam Hart mother. From a outside perspective it seemed the

617
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:04,680
Speaker 1: dark side of the moon was definitely a different direction.

618
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:08,359
Speaker 1: was that the perception in the studio? Was this just

619
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,480
Speaker 1: another pink floyd album? It turned out to be such

620
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 1: a Gargagean success. I think everybody recognized it was. It

621
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 1: was different and I think at the end of the day,

622
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 1: everybody thought it was, without a doubt, their best work today. Um.

623
00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:28,800
Speaker 1: But I didn't, I don't think any of us, myself included,

624
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,000
Speaker 1: I thought that would still be talking about it fifty

625
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:36,759
Speaker 1: years later. I mean it's it's really unbelievable. And other

626
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:43,440
Speaker 1: than operating the board, what were your contributions? Well, Um,

627
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:48,040
Speaker 1: a few bits and pieces. I I came up with

628
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 1: the clock's idea for for time because I had previously

629
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:57,799
Speaker 1: recorded the clocks in a in an antique shop not

630
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:01,719
Speaker 1: far from the studios, Um, which was ostensibly for a

631
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:05,040
Speaker 1: sound effects record which which I think got released but

632
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:10,439
Speaker 1: sold about ten copies. Um. So that, yeah, we we

633
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:14,719
Speaker 1: took all these chiming clocks and ticking clocks and synchronized

634
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 1: them all together. Each each clock was recorded separately and

635
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 1: just literally pressingly play buttonet at a particular moment to

636
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:31,480
Speaker 1: make them synchronize, um striking at the same time. So

637
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:36,080
Speaker 1: that was one little contribution which, yeah, fairly major, fairly

638
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:43,160
Speaker 1: fairly memorable section of the album. Um, the the loop

639
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:52,440
Speaker 1: on the loop on money was quite painstaking. The assembled

640
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:59,680
Speaker 1: we we amassed a number of sounds like dropped, dropping

641
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:01,400
Speaker 1: a bag of coins on the on the on the

642
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:08,840
Speaker 1: wooden floor in number two studio, tearing up paper the

643
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 1: Cash Register, of course. And we we made these continuous loops,

644
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,520
Speaker 1: but they sounded when the first couple of loops we

645
00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 1: tried sounded terrible. There was no sort of rhythm to

646
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:23,719
Speaker 1: it and we discovered that the only way to make

647
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 1: it rhythmically correct was to actually take a ruler and

648
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:32,480
Speaker 1: measure a precise length of tape that would be spliced

649
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:38,000
Speaker 1: on to the next similarly measured splicing tape. That's what

650
00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:40,840
Speaker 1: that's how it ended up. What you hear on the

651
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: intro and ultimately what they played to. They played to that, that,

652
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:47,279
Speaker 1: that that loop. There was no there was no click

653
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:51,360
Speaker 1: track or anything or any metronome. They literally just played

654
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:56,800
Speaker 1: to that, to that loop, although it faded out um

655
00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:01,880
Speaker 1: soon after the intro. They then went free form. Now,

656
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,480
Speaker 1: if you go online there's pushed back from Roger Water

657
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:09,120
Speaker 1: is relative to your contribution by the same talk and

658
00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 1: he pushes back on everything. Yeah, I mean, you have

659
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:19,040
Speaker 1: any thoughts about that? What's saying? Saying that actually saying

660
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:22,640
Speaker 1: that my my contribution was was limited or ill or

661
00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:26,839
Speaker 1: or or essentially that you were just doing what you're

662
00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:29,480
Speaker 1: doing would have been successful with anybody. It was really

663
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:32,440
Speaker 1: much is about them and that you've been treading on

664
00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:41,600
Speaker 1: your work there thereafter. Yeah, that's that's that's Roger. Um,

665
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:46,359
Speaker 1: I think. Um, I can safely say that David and

666
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:52,160
Speaker 1: David and Nick have always been very supportive of of

667
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:57,319
Speaker 1: my my various exploits. They've always they've always maintained that

668
00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:01,560
Speaker 1: I did a nice job on that side man, and

669
00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:06,480
Speaker 1: so much so that David actually played on a on

670
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:10,880
Speaker 1: a one of my on my first solo album. So

671
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:15,480
Speaker 1: what was the experience of being involved in such a

672
00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:18,319
Speaker 1: successful record? You're a guy who's unknown and then all

673
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:20,800
Speaker 1: of a sudden you have the biggest album in the world,

674
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:23,520
Speaker 1: and how did that affect your career? Oh, it was

675
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:29,360
Speaker 1: very positive on my career. I I was actually offered

676
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:33,759
Speaker 1: a job. I mean I had been when the when

677
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 1: the album came out, I was on the road with him.

678
00:48:36,239 --> 00:48:40,400
Speaker 1: I was doing their lives sound as well as occasional

679
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:43,520
Speaker 1: studio sessions. We went back into the studio to do

680
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:47,880
Speaker 1: the famous household objects album, which never happened, which never

681
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:53,080
Speaker 1: never really went anywhere. But yes, I the phone started

682
00:48:53,080 --> 00:48:56,480
Speaker 1: to ring. People wanted to work with me and I

683
00:48:56,520 --> 00:49:01,240
Speaker 1: was getting into production at at that time seventies, early

684
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:05,719
Speaker 1: early seventy, so not not long after the success of

685
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 1: dark siloment and thankfully my my earliest productions met with

686
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:19,200
Speaker 1: considerable success, and that that was that was the path

687
00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:23,880
Speaker 1: to producing further acts and ultimately the Alan Pasmer's project.

688
00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:27,719
Speaker 1: And how did you end up working with McCartney on

689
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:35,399
Speaker 1: red rose speed? Yeah, that was just essentially a an

690
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:38,920
Speaker 1: extension of you know, we knew each other from from

691
00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 1: an Abbey road he he knew of my my work

692
00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:50,040
Speaker 1: with with Pink Floyd. I think, although I'm not I'm

693
00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 1: not very good on on comparing dates, but I think,

694
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:57,480
Speaker 1: I think I'd probably already done a dark siderment by

695
00:49:57,520 --> 00:50:00,920
Speaker 1: the time I started working with him. But we were

696
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:04,600
Speaker 1: we always got on well. Well, like on Red Rose Speed,

697
00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:08,040
Speaker 1: with big barn bed etcetera. To what degree? Because this

698
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:11,440
Speaker 1: is a guy who cut records totally by himself. So

699
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:18,960
Speaker 1: what was your role on those records? He he, he

700
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 1: looked towards his engineers. You know, he worked them hard,

701
00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:26,759
Speaker 1: or any engineer that's worked with ball will tell him.

702
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:30,680
Speaker 1: We'll tell you this. You know he'll he'll he's not

703
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:34,520
Speaker 1: particularly technical. He can't, you can't describe in technical terms

704
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:36,680
Speaker 1: what he's looking for. He would just say, Oh, let's

705
00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:41,000
Speaker 1: let's make the snare drum sound better and how I

706
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:44,279
Speaker 1: would have moved the MIC. Try a different MIC, try

707
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:50,040
Speaker 1: a different Eq, you know. And Yeah, I think ultimately

708
00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:53,680
Speaker 1: he probably got the result he wanted. But yeah, he

709
00:50:54,440 --> 00:51:02,000
Speaker 1: was pretty demanding, pretty pretty you know, working his working

710
00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:05,200
Speaker 1: his engineers hard. So how did you meet Eric Wiles?

711
00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:11,200
Speaker 1: Eric had been coming in and out of Abbey Road

712
00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:21,319
Speaker 1: as a UM as a producer. He, uh, he, and

713
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:24,880
Speaker 1: I I mean I worked on a couple of sessions

714
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:30,279
Speaker 1: he was involved with and I sensed his great expertise

715
00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:37,360
Speaker 1: on the music business and we got chatting and he said,

716
00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 1: you know, what you need is a manager, and I went, oh, really,

717
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:47,239
Speaker 1: I didn't know engineers had or producers even had had managers.

718
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:51,799
Speaker 1: But yes, he, he, I was. I became one of

719
00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:55,320
Speaker 1: the first engineer producers to be to have a manager.

720
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:59,920
Speaker 1: So that's that's how it all started. And then literally

721
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:05,120
Speaker 1: in no time after we signed the management deal. Ah,

722
00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:11,720
Speaker 1: we were looking towards making an album of a gland

723
00:52:11,719 --> 00:52:15,319
Speaker 1: post stories. A little bit slower heart you okay, you're

724
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:17,759
Speaker 1: making managery deal. How do you end up making an

725
00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:21,680
Speaker 1: album about Edgar Allan Pole story? Where does that come from?

726
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:24,280
Speaker 1: It was it was very much Eric's idea where he

727
00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:28,480
Speaker 1: had had a passion for for the work of Poe

728
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:30,600
Speaker 1: as as a child, as as had I, I mean

729
00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:33,880
Speaker 1: I i. I read it a whole bunch of his

730
00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:37,839
Speaker 1: short stories myself and I thought it was a great

731
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:43,560
Speaker 1: idea to to make a concept album based on the

732
00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:49,520
Speaker 1: work of Po Um. We we really didn't anticipate at

733
00:52:49,520 --> 00:52:52,680
Speaker 1: the time that it would be known as the Alan

734
00:52:52,719 --> 00:52:57,040
Speaker 1: Pasta's project. The Alan Pastor project was literally just a

735
00:52:57,760 --> 00:53:01,480
Speaker 1: descriptive term for what, for the album we were making.

736
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:05,600
Speaker 1: I didn't, I honestly didn't think it would become the

737
00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:10,239
Speaker 1: name of the act. But that's what that's that's what

738
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:15,360
Speaker 1: Russ Reagan, the president at the American label, he said. No,

739
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:17,440
Speaker 1: I think the act is the Alan paster's project. We're

740
00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:20,160
Speaker 1: gonna we're going to call it tells a mystery imagination,

741
00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:23,439
Speaker 1: the Alan paster's project. Yeah, and what did Eric say

742
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:28,920
Speaker 1: about that? Well, he in later life he said that

743
00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 1: was the the best, best decision he ever made to

744
00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:37,040
Speaker 1: put my name as the as the artist and he

745
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:40,840
Speaker 1: also said it was the worst decision because he he

746
00:53:40,960 --> 00:53:46,400
Speaker 1: didn't get the the attention or the accolade that that

747
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:51,480
Speaker 1: I did. But yes, he often said that in interview.

748
00:53:51,680 --> 00:53:54,920
Speaker 1: It was my best decision, also my wifet decision. so

749
00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:58,920
Speaker 1: you decide to make a record. I think it's on

750
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:03,480
Speaker 1: flying careers metal label in U K. It's on twentieth

751
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:09,440
Speaker 1: century in uh the US. Twenty Century was not a

752
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:14,400
Speaker 1: good label. How did you end up on twentieth century? Um?

753
00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 1: That was because the band Ambrosia had had signed with

754
00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:26,560
Speaker 1: Twentie Um. There was also another connection. Twentie signed Carl Douglas,

755
00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:32,320
Speaker 1: who was the Kung Fu fighting guy. Uh So, essentially,

756
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:39,520
Speaker 1: ambrosia Carl Douglas and Eric going to talk to the

757
00:54:39,719 --> 00:54:43,200
Speaker 1: president at the label and he that was that was

758
00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:46,080
Speaker 1: good enough for him to to to sign sign us

759
00:54:46,120 --> 00:54:51,000
Speaker 1: for for the for the first album. Yeah, hits with

760
00:54:51,040 --> 00:54:56,120
Speaker 1: Carl Douglas, hits with Ambrosia. Okay, so you were involved

761
00:54:56,160 --> 00:54:59,600
Speaker 1: with the Ambrosia before the tales of mystery in the

762
00:54:59,640 --> 00:55:04,440
Speaker 1: marriage nature. How did you get involved with the Ambrosia? Um?

763
00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:08,960
Speaker 1: That's an interesting story. The the the first I knew

764
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:12,480
Speaker 1: of Ambrosia was was a phone call from a guy

765
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 1: called Gordon Parry who had been there sort of protege Um.

766
00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:22,040
Speaker 1: He was a classical music engineer at Decca and I

767
00:55:22,239 --> 00:55:28,800
Speaker 1: just happened to be passing the telephone at the commissionaire's desk,

768
00:55:29,120 --> 00:55:32,520
Speaker 1: the Security Guy's desk, and I picked up the phone

769
00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:36,719
Speaker 1: said Abro Studios Canna help you, and this voice from

770
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:39,080
Speaker 1: Gordon Perry said I'd like to speak to Alem pass

771
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:42,880
Speaker 1: and he said yeah, this is ourn and ended up

772
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:47,880
Speaker 1: being a fifteen minute conversation, that he would invite me

773
00:55:47,960 --> 00:55:53,759
Speaker 1: to come down, come over to to Los Angeles to

774
00:55:54,200 --> 00:55:58,480
Speaker 1: work with this band. And it just so happened that

775
00:55:58,480 --> 00:56:01,400
Speaker 1: that phone call came when I was already booked to

776
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,640
Speaker 1: go to l a for the grammys because I've been

777
00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:07,719
Speaker 1: nominated for the dark side of the Moon Uh to

778
00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:11,360
Speaker 1: get an engineering grammy, and during during my visit, I

779
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:14,239
Speaker 1: want to hear their album and I love liked it

780
00:56:14,320 --> 00:56:18,360
Speaker 1: very much, and then the offer came into not not

781
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:21,400
Speaker 1: to stay on and mix. Mixed their album. Then it

782
00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:23,520
Speaker 1: was a few months later that it was still working

783
00:56:23,560 --> 00:56:27,560
Speaker 1: progress at that time, but I loved it and mixing

784
00:56:27,600 --> 00:56:31,960
Speaker 1: their first album led to my producing their second album.

785
00:56:32,080 --> 00:56:36,000
Speaker 1: Somewhere I never traveled. So the first album again, I

786
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:39,680
Speaker 1: think that's their best work, the iconic song of course,

787
00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:43,279
Speaker 1: just holding on too, holding onto yesterday. What did you

788
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:45,319
Speaker 1: do in the mix to make you know, to make

789
00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:49,160
Speaker 1: it sound so good? Yeah, I I give credit to

790
00:56:49,280 --> 00:56:52,279
Speaker 1: the engineers that recorded it. I mean I think it's

791
00:56:52,320 --> 00:57:00,920
Speaker 1: a nicely, nicely executed mix. Um, I I really can't

792
00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:08,520
Speaker 1: tell you in tangible expressions what what I actually did.

793
00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:12,000
Speaker 1: I mean I didn't have any magic magic buttons or

794
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:17,120
Speaker 1: magic equipment. The equipment was still fairly primitive in those days.

795
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:20,880
Speaker 1: Digital delays and so I'm still still hadn't really hit

796
00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:25,000
Speaker 1: the hit the market, but it was, it was. It

797
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:27,560
Speaker 1: was a nice recording. You know, the violin part it's

798
00:57:27,600 --> 00:57:34,080
Speaker 1: lovely and David Pack did a great vocal. so you

799
00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:38,280
Speaker 1: decide to make this record with Eric Wilson about Edgar

800
00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:41,680
Speaker 1: Allan Poe. What are the next steps in terms of

801
00:57:41,760 --> 00:57:45,560
Speaker 1: creation of the music, getting a record deal, casting the record?

802
00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:50,920
Speaker 1: Walk me through that. Well, we, uh, we did the

803
00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:57,560
Speaker 1: deal with with Rassrigan of Twentieth Century at the Music

804
00:57:57,560 --> 00:58:00,919
Speaker 1: Conference in Cannes in France, which is called me dam,

805
00:58:02,040 --> 00:58:05,240
Speaker 1: and essentially we had we had a meeting with Russ

806
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:07,880
Speaker 1: and told him, told him that we had this idea

807
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:12,600
Speaker 1: to make a record based on ground post stories, and

808
00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:15,520
Speaker 1: he loved the idea and essentially said yeah, off you go,

809
00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:23,479
Speaker 1: here's a check, which is great, and it's it's, it's

810
00:58:23,480 --> 00:58:25,880
Speaker 1: it's interesting when he when he first heard the album,

811
00:58:25,920 --> 00:58:30,440
Speaker 1: I think he was which we also did in France,

812
00:58:30,880 --> 00:58:34,720
Speaker 1: that was in Paris. He he actually used the words

813
00:58:34,760 --> 00:58:37,480
Speaker 1: I like it, but I don't love it, but that

814
00:58:37,560 --> 00:58:41,520
Speaker 1: was that was on the first hearing. And then after

815
00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:43,320
Speaker 1: hearing it a few more times, he said, Oh my God,

816
00:58:43,360 --> 00:58:46,040
Speaker 1: this is the best albumue best album I've ever heard.

817
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:51,240
Speaker 1: You know, he totally changed his stance on that. I

818
00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:54,480
Speaker 1: did one and half the album of being instrumental, on

819
00:58:54,600 --> 00:58:59,280
Speaker 1: the other album being a traditional slam based rock record. Um,

820
00:58:59,320 --> 00:59:03,160
Speaker 1: that was probably more of my my influence than anything else.

821
00:59:03,200 --> 00:59:07,479
Speaker 1: I mean, historically I've I've been, you know, much more

822
00:59:07,840 --> 00:59:12,600
Speaker 1: responsible for for instrumental tracks than than vocal tracks. But

823
00:59:14,040 --> 00:59:15,320
Speaker 1: of course a lot of a lot of that time

824
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:18,160
Speaker 1: is taken up by the fall of the House of Usha,

825
00:59:18,200 --> 00:59:22,080
Speaker 1: which is a purely orchestral piece. Um, that's that's something

826
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:28,320
Speaker 1: I I really enjoyed, you know, putting a classical org

827
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:33,560
Speaker 1: strip together for music I'm I'm responsible for. So that

828
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:37,680
Speaker 1: was that was really that was a big moment Um. Yes,

829
00:59:38,560 --> 00:59:43,640
Speaker 1: you know there there are various orchestral and instrumental interludes

830
00:59:43,680 --> 00:59:51,280
Speaker 1: in the album which, in commercial terms, they they're not

831
00:59:51,840 --> 00:59:54,920
Speaker 1: they're not considered necessary in commercial terms. And when we

832
00:59:54,960 --> 00:59:58,240
Speaker 1: eventually signed with Clive Davis, he was always looking for

833
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:01,240
Speaker 1: hit songs. You know, you were never of considered an

834
01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:07,000
Speaker 1: instrumental track for a single. But yeah, I think in

835
01:00:07,080 --> 01:00:12,400
Speaker 1: the early, early periods of the APP tells Mry I

836
01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:17,600
Speaker 1: robot pyramid, I did make a a more substantial contribution

837
01:00:17,880 --> 01:00:21,880
Speaker 1: as a as a as a composer, particularly for the

838
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:25,960
Speaker 1: for the instrumental tracks. And on that album you have

839
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:29,000
Speaker 1: Arthur Brown, of the crazy world of Arthur Brown. How

840
01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:33,880
Speaker 1: does he end up singing? A partner of a business

841
01:00:33,880 --> 01:00:39,760
Speaker 1: partner of Eric's, knew him. Um It was. It was

842
01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:43,280
Speaker 1: a great, great afternoon when he came into to sing

843
01:00:43,320 --> 01:00:46,479
Speaker 1: the tell tale heart he uh, we played we played

844
01:00:46,520 --> 01:00:51,760
Speaker 1: him Eric's guide vocal, which is incredibly simple. That you

845
01:00:51,760 --> 01:00:54,720
Speaker 1: should have seen him running it alone. But then the

846
01:00:54,840 --> 01:00:58,360
Speaker 1: night you know, and he heard it and it's very

847
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:00,440
Speaker 1: down to earth and so yeah, I think, I think

848
01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:03,280
Speaker 1: I've got it, goes into the studio, goes onto the mic,

849
01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:09,840
Speaker 1: we played the track and then suddenly it's wow, it was.

850
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:14,400
Speaker 1: We were really worried that he wouldn't he wouldn't find himself,

851
01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:17,000
Speaker 1: he wouldn't find his crazy world for our track, but

852
01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:20,440
Speaker 1: he very much did and I think it's a standout,

853
01:01:20,800 --> 01:01:24,080
Speaker 1: standout track on the first album. Love it. And then

854
01:01:24,560 --> 01:01:26,880
Speaker 1: how did you end up using John Miles? He'd have

855
01:01:26,920 --> 01:01:30,520
Speaker 1: a pre existing relationship with him. I did. Yes, we

856
01:01:32,000 --> 01:01:36,320
Speaker 1: had a big success with his his first two singles

857
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:41,200
Speaker 1: and his first album. UH, sadly not in America, but

858
01:01:41,800 --> 01:01:45,240
Speaker 1: we did incredibly well with John and in the UK

859
01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:51,840
Speaker 1: and the rest of Europe. Incredibly talented his singing. Sadly

860
01:01:51,880 --> 01:01:53,920
Speaker 1: we lost him a few months ago. He died of

861
01:01:54,000 --> 01:02:00,240
Speaker 1: cancer just, Oh, I don't know, three or four months ago, um.

862
01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:02,280
Speaker 1: But I always regarded him as a great singer and

863
01:02:02,320 --> 01:02:06,600
Speaker 1: that's why I invited him back on several occasions to

864
01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:10,720
Speaker 1: sing other songs and tell me about the use of

865
01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:15,640
Speaker 1: the vote order on the Raven. The vote Codea was

866
01:02:15,680 --> 01:02:23,240
Speaker 1: actually an e m I creation. Um, there was a

867
01:02:23,520 --> 01:02:27,360
Speaker 1: big audio research department at as where I where I

868
01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:32,760
Speaker 1: worked had worked earlier, um in that TV camera department. Um,

869
01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:39,320
Speaker 1: they they came up with this box that we had

870
01:02:39,440 --> 01:02:41,480
Speaker 1: kind of asked for. We said, how can we, how

871
01:02:41,520 --> 01:02:46,520
Speaker 1: can we add a vocal to an instrument and make

872
01:02:46,560 --> 01:02:51,920
Speaker 1: it sound like it's one thing, and there was this Um,

873
01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:57,920
Speaker 1: there was a series of stories on on record. That

874
01:02:58,280 --> 01:03:01,400
Speaker 1: was called sparky's magic piano. I don't know if you

875
01:03:01,880 --> 01:03:04,600
Speaker 1: I don't know that one, though it was it was

876
01:03:04,600 --> 01:03:09,000
Speaker 1: an American productive, but there was literally a talking piano.

877
01:03:09,920 --> 01:03:13,440
Speaker 1: It's very it's very cleverly done and I think we,

878
01:03:13,440 --> 01:03:15,880
Speaker 1: we all hoped that that that's what it would achieve.

879
01:03:16,520 --> 01:03:19,280
Speaker 1: But in the end it it just made a voice

880
01:03:19,320 --> 01:03:23,440
Speaker 1: sound very electronic and it worked well for the Raven.

881
01:03:23,480 --> 01:03:27,480
Speaker 1: I mean we we spent a long time touring and

882
01:03:27,520 --> 01:03:33,560
Speaker 1: throwing trying different buttons, different settings and so on. But Um,

883
01:03:33,960 --> 01:03:36,480
Speaker 1: I think it I think it was pretty much the first,

884
01:03:38,440 --> 01:03:40,840
Speaker 1: first foe CODA used on a on a on a record.

885
01:03:42,200 --> 01:03:49,080
Speaker 1: So you have this very extensive cover, hypnosis, cover, uh,

886
01:03:49,240 --> 01:03:52,880
Speaker 1: in the UK. In America, I don't think there's a

887
01:03:52,920 --> 01:03:56,480
Speaker 1: gatefold at all, and then shortly thereafter the album just

888
01:03:56,480 --> 01:04:00,120
Speaker 1: says a cover of you on it. Yeah, well, I

889
01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:05,480
Speaker 1: was furious about that. That really was. And when when

890
01:04:05,520 --> 01:04:09,400
Speaker 1: people give me that set, that second simplified sleeve, to sign,

891
01:04:09,520 --> 01:04:13,280
Speaker 1: I I kind of go a grunt, grunt my disapproval.

892
01:04:13,400 --> 01:04:15,720
Speaker 1: You know that you should have the original cover, not

893
01:04:15,840 --> 01:04:21,320
Speaker 1: this cover. But no, that the the the gate, the

894
01:04:21,360 --> 01:04:25,520
Speaker 1: gate field did exist, I think, worldwide. It was very extravagant,

895
01:04:28,320 --> 01:04:33,040
Speaker 1: chasing paper between pages and stuff, and it wasn't it

896
01:04:33,120 --> 01:04:37,800
Speaker 1: a very lavish package, but it was great. I loved it. Okay,

897
01:04:38,040 --> 01:04:40,080
Speaker 1: I love that album. I bought it originally as a

898
01:04:40,240 --> 01:04:43,520
Speaker 1: Provo and they had an unlimited supply at my store

899
01:04:43,520 --> 01:04:46,880
Speaker 1: and I would buy them for other people. Huh, what

900
01:04:47,120 --> 01:04:50,280
Speaker 1: was the perception of success on that first album for

901
01:04:50,400 --> 01:04:54,840
Speaker 1: your from your viewpoint? I mean I was I was

902
01:04:54,960 --> 01:04:58,720
Speaker 1: amazed and I thought it, you know, we thought the

903
01:04:58,760 --> 01:05:01,680
Speaker 1: album was good, but we thought it literally fall by

904
01:05:01,720 --> 01:05:04,280
Speaker 1: the wayside, you know. But you know, we're a new act.

905
01:05:04,360 --> 01:05:11,680
Speaker 1: We have high hopes and but the success of tales

906
01:05:11,680 --> 01:05:16,200
Speaker 1: of mystery and the sect, the continued success of the

907
01:05:16,200 --> 01:05:20,200
Speaker 1: act through, you know, several other albums with with Arista,

908
01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:25,120
Speaker 1: I I have never ceased to be amazed at the

909
01:05:25,480 --> 01:05:32,800
Speaker 1: success and was always slightly trepidacious shall we say, but

910
01:05:33,440 --> 01:05:37,160
Speaker 1: it was always great news that, you know, it was

911
01:05:37,400 --> 01:05:40,040
Speaker 1: getting on playlists and that it was it was, you know,

912
01:05:40,920 --> 01:05:45,160
Speaker 1: actually shifting copies out of record stores. It was always

913
01:05:45,240 --> 01:05:49,840
Speaker 1: it was always a great relief and and you know,

914
01:05:50,240 --> 01:05:54,080
Speaker 1: I was proud. I was very proud. So you have

915
01:05:54,160 --> 01:05:56,680
Speaker 1: one record on twentieth century. How do you end up

916
01:05:56,720 --> 01:06:01,360
Speaker 1: bouncing from there to Aosta? Well, the first album deal

917
01:06:02,120 --> 01:06:07,360
Speaker 1: much too much to Russ Reagan's Chagra, I think, was Um.

918
01:06:08,200 --> 01:06:11,440
Speaker 1: It was just a single album deal. So we were

919
01:06:11,760 --> 01:06:16,440
Speaker 1: we were free to go go to anyone. Um. You

920
01:06:16,480 --> 01:06:22,080
Speaker 1: know you don't, you don't, you don't take a called

921
01:06:22,120 --> 01:06:25,600
Speaker 1: meeting with Clive Davis Likely, but that's what happened. He

922
01:06:25,600 --> 01:06:31,280
Speaker 1: invited us to dinner in London, famous, famous restaurant called Lorenzo's,

923
01:06:32,280 --> 01:06:38,040
Speaker 1: and essentially he he said he wanted to sign us

924
01:06:38,080 --> 01:06:43,240
Speaker 1: for a multi album deal and not soon after that meeting,

925
01:06:43,280 --> 01:06:47,200
Speaker 1: I think, Eric flew to New York and did the

926
01:06:47,200 --> 01:06:50,560
Speaker 1: business and there we were. We were signed to Aristair

927
01:06:51,400 --> 01:06:56,440
Speaker 1: for our for our second album, I robu so. At

928
01:06:56,480 --> 01:07:00,400
Speaker 1: the time he Arista was still just starting. He had

929
01:07:00,440 --> 01:07:05,200
Speaker 1: Patty Smith. There was a lot of goodwill, even though

930
01:07:05,240 --> 01:07:07,840
Speaker 1: he gotten fired he'd written his book, but his time

931
01:07:07,880 --> 01:07:11,080
Speaker 1: went on. As you referenced earlier, he was all about

932
01:07:11,200 --> 01:07:14,560
Speaker 1: hits and he was famous for meddling with the music

933
01:07:15,120 --> 01:07:18,720
Speaker 1: of artists. Now ultimately ended up being with, you know,

934
01:07:19,440 --> 01:07:22,160
Speaker 1: top forty artists who may not have even written the songs.

935
01:07:22,240 --> 01:07:26,240
Speaker 1: What was your experience working with Clive Davis? He he

936
01:07:26,960 --> 01:07:30,200
Speaker 1: always wanted to, you know, a single of every album.

937
01:07:30,240 --> 01:07:34,320
Speaker 1: He want wanted to make sure that it was commercial

938
01:07:34,360 --> 01:07:38,080
Speaker 1: in his eyes. He would always suggest edits. He would

939
01:07:38,160 --> 01:07:43,160
Speaker 1: he would even have his own people do do edits,

940
01:07:44,080 --> 01:07:47,600
Speaker 1: some of which worked well, some of which sounded absolutely horrible.

941
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:53,840
Speaker 1: But he yes, he liked he he liked to be

942
01:07:54,280 --> 01:08:00,000
Speaker 1: close to the music. You know, really, you know, identify

943
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:03,000
Speaker 1: buying the structure of a song and saying, you know,

944
01:08:03,160 --> 01:08:08,200
Speaker 1: the the chorus, the chorus doesn't happen until a minute

945
01:08:08,200 --> 01:08:11,160
Speaker 1: and a half in. We needed to happen less than

946
01:08:11,160 --> 01:08:14,520
Speaker 1: a minute in, and stuff like that. But you know,

947
01:08:14,720 --> 01:08:17,080
Speaker 1: you can't, you can't argue. He knew what he was doing.

948
01:08:17,880 --> 01:08:20,200
Speaker 1: He had he had the ear for hits. You ready

949
01:08:20,240 --> 01:08:23,280
Speaker 1: do so you would listen to him, you would change

950
01:08:23,320 --> 01:08:26,439
Speaker 1: the songs. will be okay with that. It was usually

951
01:08:26,439 --> 01:08:29,400
Speaker 1: a compromise. I never, I never put anything out that

952
01:08:29,439 --> 01:08:41,200
Speaker 1: I was actually, you know, actually unhappy with. No, we, we, we, we, I.

953
01:08:41,080 --> 01:08:44,720
Speaker 1: I don't know what's how to put this really we. Uh. Oh,

954
01:08:44,880 --> 01:08:48,400
Speaker 1: I think we just kept each other happy. I mean we,

955
01:08:48,400 --> 01:08:51,880
Speaker 1: we would come if they were compromise was necessarily on

956
01:08:51,960 --> 01:08:56,920
Speaker 1: a on an edit or. Uh. He never, never sought

957
01:08:56,960 --> 01:09:03,120
Speaker 1: to have US Remix, which, of course, labels are famous

958
01:09:03,160 --> 01:09:07,240
Speaker 1: for telling acts to remix their songs, but he never

959
01:09:07,240 --> 01:09:11,160
Speaker 1: did that. Just just the structure, just, you know, when

960
01:09:11,160 --> 01:09:13,920
Speaker 1: the chorus happens, when the Solo. We had a long solo,

961
01:09:14,040 --> 01:09:16,600
Speaker 1: for example, on Games people play, and we cut that

962
01:09:16,680 --> 01:09:19,439
Speaker 1: down and I was I was fine with that and

963
01:09:21,120 --> 01:09:25,519
Speaker 1: it was. Yeah, it was mutual decisions on on the

964
01:09:25,640 --> 01:09:27,640
Speaker 1: edits and I think both of us were happy in

965
01:09:27,680 --> 01:09:29,800
Speaker 1: the end. I don't think. I never put anything out

966
01:09:29,840 --> 01:09:35,320
Speaker 1: that I was seriously unhappy with. Now, it wasn't like

967
01:09:35,439 --> 01:09:37,800
Speaker 1: every album I had hits on it. There were ups,

968
01:09:37,880 --> 01:09:42,000
Speaker 1: there were downs. was He ever angry with you or

969
01:09:42,120 --> 01:09:44,160
Speaker 1: lost faith in you or you felt like a second

970
01:09:44,240 --> 01:09:47,800
Speaker 1: or third class citizen? No, no, I always had a

971
01:09:47,840 --> 01:09:54,640
Speaker 1: great relationship with client. H Never, never a harsh word. Okay,

972
01:09:55,120 --> 01:10:02,280
Speaker 1: and then ultimately serious becomes the Chicago Bulls the anthem,

973
01:10:02,360 --> 01:10:06,560
Speaker 1: it becomes sports the anthem. Did that happen totally independent

974
01:10:06,640 --> 01:10:10,240
Speaker 1: of you? And what did you think of that? I

975
01:10:10,439 --> 01:10:14,360
Speaker 1: had absolutely no idea. It certainly wasn't written as a

976
01:10:14,360 --> 01:10:19,360
Speaker 1: as a sports team. It was. It was written on

977
01:10:19,240 --> 01:10:25,679
Speaker 1: a fairlight computer instrument which was very high tech back

978
01:10:25,680 --> 01:10:29,519
Speaker 1: in the early eighties, Um, and it was just an

979
01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:34,120
Speaker 1: intro to tow eye in the sky. Ah, that somebody

980
01:10:34,200 --> 01:10:38,880
Speaker 1: at the at the Chicago Bulls said this will this

981
01:10:38,920 --> 01:10:41,840
Speaker 1: will make great walk on music for Michael Jordan. And

982
01:10:43,479 --> 01:10:51,080
Speaker 1: if that happened and several other sports teams followed, it

983
01:10:51,120 --> 01:10:54,920
Speaker 1: baffles me. I mean I think I think it works great,

984
01:10:54,960 --> 01:10:57,800
Speaker 1: but it certainly was not the last thing on my

985
01:10:57,840 --> 01:11:01,080
Speaker 1: mind that it would be used for sports. But it

986
01:11:01,360 --> 01:11:04,240
Speaker 1: continues to be used to this day. It is that lucrative.

987
01:11:04,320 --> 01:11:11,400
Speaker 1: The fact they do. It's lucrative in terms of TV advertising,

988
01:11:12,040 --> 01:11:18,720
Speaker 1: use on TV shows. American idol, for example, use it occasionally, um,

989
01:11:18,800 --> 01:11:23,760
Speaker 1: but sadly when it's used in in sports games, in

990
01:11:24,280 --> 01:11:27,680
Speaker 1: stadiums and so on, no, there is no there is

991
01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:29,679
Speaker 1: no record of it, there's no there's no money change

992
01:11:29,680 --> 01:11:33,280
Speaker 1: hands because it just goes into a big pot which

993
01:11:33,400 --> 01:11:39,680
Speaker 1: is shared by all, all musicians and writers. No, B

994
01:11:39,880 --> 01:11:44,439
Speaker 1: M I as cap so on, um C sack, which

995
01:11:44,479 --> 01:11:47,120
Speaker 1: is the society I'm with. They would be angry if

996
01:11:47,120 --> 01:11:52,240
Speaker 1: I hadn't mentioned that. Um, yeah, it's just just goes

997
01:11:52,240 --> 01:11:59,479
Speaker 1: into this general pot. It's not considered a a sink license.

998
01:12:00,400 --> 01:12:03,519
Speaker 1: That's what that's what's valuable to to a writer and

999
01:12:04,640 --> 01:12:07,240
Speaker 1: a musical act to get what is known as a

1000
01:12:07,280 --> 01:12:10,800
Speaker 1: sync license. That means pictures. The sound has to be

1001
01:12:10,840 --> 01:12:14,880
Speaker 1: licensed to go with a picture and considering that the

1002
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:20,559
Speaker 1: you know, ball game really is all about the people

1003
01:12:21,560 --> 01:12:26,840
Speaker 1: on the court, not not, not, not a video. So

1004
01:12:27,040 --> 01:12:29,200
Speaker 1: you're making all these records. They come on under the

1005
01:12:29,240 --> 01:12:32,800
Speaker 1: moniker Alan Parsons Project. What do you do and what

1006
01:12:32,840 --> 01:12:38,840
Speaker 1: does Eric Do? Well, we we both. We both came

1007
01:12:38,880 --> 01:12:43,599
Speaker 1: to the studio in the early stages of each album

1008
01:12:43,760 --> 01:12:50,679
Speaker 1: with with what we worked on on our own leading

1009
01:12:50,760 --> 01:12:56,280
Speaker 1: up to that first day. Um Eric would usually usually

1010
01:12:56,360 --> 01:13:00,240
Speaker 1: have a cassette with a rough version of the song

1011
01:13:00,280 --> 01:13:04,559
Speaker 1: as he saw it at the time. Um, I also

1012
01:13:05,240 --> 01:13:10,400
Speaker 1: made demos. By the time, by the time I and

1013
01:13:10,439 --> 01:13:13,280
Speaker 1: the sky came along, I was I was back in London,

1014
01:13:14,120 --> 01:13:19,559
Speaker 1: having lived in Monaco for a couple of years. Um, yeah,

1015
01:13:19,640 --> 01:13:21,720
Speaker 1: we just came in and sort of say here's what

1016
01:13:21,760 --> 01:13:24,120
Speaker 1: I've got, what have you got? And then we would

1017
01:13:24,200 --> 01:13:28,400
Speaker 1: collaborate and I was famous for changing the structures of

1018
01:13:28,479 --> 01:13:32,120
Speaker 1: his of his songs, you know, or changing the key

1019
01:13:32,200 --> 01:13:35,599
Speaker 1: or changing the temple or whatever. Um. That's sort sort

1020
01:13:35,600 --> 01:13:38,559
Speaker 1: of borne out by the recent releases of box sets

1021
01:13:38,600 --> 01:13:44,880
Speaker 1: which include Eric's songwriting diaries, as we call very sort

1022
01:13:44,920 --> 01:13:50,280
Speaker 1: of basic piano and vocal versions of songs, almost bearing

1023
01:13:50,280 --> 01:13:55,000
Speaker 1: no relationship to the final products sometimes. So would one

1024
01:13:55,120 --> 01:13:59,879
Speaker 1: say that he essentially wrote all the songs? I'm slightly

1025
01:14:00,000 --> 01:14:02,880
Speaker 1: reluctant to say that he wrote all the songs because

1026
01:14:03,680 --> 01:14:07,200
Speaker 1: there were there were occasions when I made very definite

1027
01:14:08,600 --> 01:14:16,360
Speaker 1: co Co writing compositions, Co writing contributions. But yes, I

1028
01:14:16,400 --> 01:14:22,720
Speaker 1: mean he was. He was a talented songwriters, he um,

1029
01:14:22,840 --> 01:14:28,320
Speaker 1: and part of that talent as a songwriter was the

1030
01:14:28,640 --> 01:14:34,240
Speaker 1: the ability to write lyrics. I wasn't strong lyrics. So

1031
01:14:34,280 --> 01:14:37,519
Speaker 1: I would I would say that, if you want to

1032
01:14:37,560 --> 01:14:43,360
Speaker 1: break down the music and the lyrics into proportions, I

1033
01:14:43,360 --> 01:14:50,240
Speaker 1: would say Eric was, you know, maybe the musical composer.

1034
01:14:50,400 --> 01:14:56,360
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe the musical composer but of the lyrics would

1035
01:14:56,360 --> 01:15:00,559
Speaker 1: would be composed by him. I probably contributed one line

1036
01:15:00,640 --> 01:15:05,840
Speaker 1: or two during during the course of ten albums. So

1037
01:15:07,200 --> 01:15:09,679
Speaker 1: like when you talked about the first album, you talked

1038
01:15:09,680 --> 01:15:12,720
Speaker 1: about the instrumental second side. That was your thing. Did

1039
01:15:12,760 --> 01:15:15,240
Speaker 1: you actually compose that, or did he compose that, or

1040
01:15:15,240 --> 01:15:20,280
Speaker 1: did you do it together? It was I think I

1041
01:15:20,320 --> 01:15:24,240
Speaker 1: could give Andrew Powell who. Who? Who actually orchestrated it

1042
01:15:24,439 --> 01:15:28,920
Speaker 1: and made it, made it performable. It was designed to be.

1043
01:15:30,160 --> 01:15:33,559
Speaker 1: It was designed to echo a piece by Claude Debussy,

1044
01:15:34,400 --> 01:15:38,160
Speaker 1: who had written a piece called the House based on

1045
01:15:38,200 --> 01:15:40,400
Speaker 1: the same story on the foot of the house of us.

1046
01:15:40,800 --> 01:15:43,760
Speaker 1: I think it was unfinished and we we kind of

1047
01:15:43,760 --> 01:15:46,800
Speaker 1: borrowed from from Debussy in a couple of places and

1048
01:15:48,560 --> 01:15:52,080
Speaker 1: I think it's magical. I think it's a it's very debussy,

1049
01:15:52,280 --> 01:15:56,680
Speaker 1: if you if you know, if you know his music. Um,

1050
01:15:56,760 --> 01:15:58,960
Speaker 1: but it was we took a risk. Were, you know,

1051
01:15:59,520 --> 01:16:03,080
Speaker 1: seven or eight minutes of orchestral music opening the second

1052
01:16:03,080 --> 01:16:06,720
Speaker 1: side of an album. That that was pretty risky. I think. Now,

1053
01:16:06,800 --> 01:16:12,080
Speaker 1: ultimately there's a dispute with Erasta and you deliver a

1054
01:16:12,160 --> 01:16:14,759
Speaker 1: quick album to get out of the contract, which ultimately

1055
01:16:14,760 --> 01:16:20,479
Speaker 1: doesn't come out at that time. What went down around then? Um,

1056
01:16:20,640 --> 01:16:26,520
Speaker 1: Eric was always, always the businessman and you know, I

1057
01:16:26,520 --> 01:16:28,519
Speaker 1: I told you I never had a harsh word with

1058
01:16:28,560 --> 01:16:31,000
Speaker 1: Clive Davis, but I think, I think carrick probably did

1059
01:16:32,479 --> 01:16:38,200
Speaker 1: with Clive and with the business affairs people, and that

1060
01:16:38,400 --> 01:16:46,080
Speaker 1: the relationship went somewhat sour after the after the EV album,

1061
01:16:46,160 --> 01:16:52,000
Speaker 1: and the guy probably the gaudy album as well, and

1062
01:16:52,040 --> 01:16:58,920
Speaker 1: we just made an instrumental contractual obligation album and that

1063
01:17:00,240 --> 01:17:03,920
Speaker 1: ultimately resulted in a lawsuit which got settled out of

1064
01:17:03,920 --> 01:17:07,960
Speaker 1: court and we resigned. So there was a happy ending

1065
01:17:08,000 --> 01:17:13,040
Speaker 1: to it. But the album in question, the Sicilian Defense,

1066
01:17:13,240 --> 01:17:18,160
Speaker 1: is quite definitely my least favorite album of all time

1067
01:17:20,560 --> 01:17:24,559
Speaker 1: by any artist. Okay, so you make tales of mystery

1068
01:17:24,560 --> 01:17:28,559
Speaker 1: and imagination. To what degree you are you still getting

1069
01:17:28,600 --> 01:17:31,719
Speaker 1: calls to produce an engineer, and how do you handle those?

1070
01:17:34,040 --> 01:17:36,360
Speaker 1: I get get a lot of calls. I get I

1071
01:17:36,479 --> 01:17:43,799
Speaker 1: get sent, you know, CDs or sometimes a little memory

1072
01:17:43,880 --> 01:17:48,240
Speaker 1: six with people's music. All the time. There's there's no

1073
01:17:48,320 --> 01:17:50,880
Speaker 1: shortage of work for me. It should should I choose

1074
01:17:50,920 --> 01:17:54,960
Speaker 1: to take people up on it, but I keep busy

1075
01:17:55,000 --> 01:17:58,519
Speaker 1: with just the things I generate and but even back

1076
01:17:58,560 --> 01:18:04,800
Speaker 1: in the seventies, same thing. You were making the transition. Um, yeah, well,

1077
01:18:04,840 --> 01:18:08,320
Speaker 1: I was. Yes, I I had a couple of production

1078
01:18:08,360 --> 01:18:12,000
Speaker 1: acts that I was successful with. Pilot was one John Miles,

1079
01:18:12,720 --> 01:18:15,839
Speaker 1: who we've already mentioned. I also did the three albums

1080
01:18:15,840 --> 01:18:21,280
Speaker 1: with El Stewart, which did very well. So I kept busy.

1081
01:18:21,600 --> 01:18:26,960
Speaker 1: I was never, never board. But you weren't saying now

1082
01:18:27,040 --> 01:18:29,320
Speaker 1: I'm an act, I don't want to produce records anymore,

1083
01:18:29,520 --> 01:18:32,000
Speaker 1: or did you eventually say that? Oh No, no, no,

1084
01:18:32,320 --> 01:18:34,760
Speaker 1: I was always even with the Alan Passon's project, I

1085
01:18:34,840 --> 01:18:37,800
Speaker 1: was the producer and that that was that was a given.

1086
01:18:38,040 --> 01:18:43,320
Speaker 1: I'm talking about third parties, third parties. Yeah, I was,

1087
01:18:43,360 --> 01:18:48,320
Speaker 1: I was. I was happy to be to take on

1088
01:18:48,400 --> 01:18:52,439
Speaker 1: production work with with other artists, but I couldn't take

1089
01:18:52,439 --> 01:18:55,880
Speaker 1: on everything that was offered, clearly because the project kept

1090
01:18:55,920 --> 01:19:01,439
Speaker 1: me busy and things like pilot, John Miles and Al

1091
01:19:01,479 --> 01:19:06,080
Speaker 1: Stewart took up a lot, a lot of my time. Okay,

1092
01:19:06,200 --> 01:19:08,840
Speaker 1: so we hit the twenty first century, you end up

1093
01:19:08,880 --> 01:19:12,960
Speaker 1: releasing a course for engineers. How does that come together

1094
01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:17,320
Speaker 1: and what exactly is it? It's called the arts and

1095
01:19:17,400 --> 01:19:25,439
Speaker 1: science of sound recording. We spent two years assembling a

1096
01:19:25,520 --> 01:19:29,800
Speaker 1: DVD course. The DVD was the was the format of

1097
01:19:29,880 --> 01:19:36,040
Speaker 1: choice as we prepared this, this series of videos. Um.

1098
01:19:36,640 --> 01:19:43,840
Speaker 1: It stemmed from a similar project that my partner in

1099
01:19:44,120 --> 01:19:48,200
Speaker 1: the in the venture, a British guy called Julian Kolbeck,

1100
01:19:48,920 --> 01:19:53,280
Speaker 1: who who I first met as a as a musician

1101
01:19:53,280 --> 01:19:54,800
Speaker 1: on a session for a band I was working with.

1102
01:19:55,800 --> 01:20:02,760
Speaker 1: Um He had done a similar um educational project on

1103
01:20:02,960 --> 01:20:08,800
Speaker 1: on VHS tape, probably probably a full ten twelve years

1104
01:20:08,800 --> 01:20:13,639
Speaker 1: earlier and he just came to me and said would

1105
01:20:13,640 --> 01:20:17,559
Speaker 1: you like to make a you know, a video recording course,

1106
01:20:17,560 --> 01:20:20,200
Speaker 1: and I said Yeah, I'd love to do that. He said,

1107
01:20:20,200 --> 01:20:22,559
Speaker 1: I don't think it'll take very long. We'll probably we'll

1108
01:20:22,600 --> 01:20:24,719
Speaker 1: get an advance from somebody and it will take about

1109
01:20:24,760 --> 01:20:27,400
Speaker 1: three months to put together. We didn't realize that it

1110
01:20:27,439 --> 01:20:33,280
Speaker 1: would be two years and nine hours of of educational stuff,

1111
01:20:33,320 --> 01:20:36,519
Speaker 1: but it was fun to do and it's still very

1112
01:20:36,560 --> 01:20:42,160
Speaker 1: much alive. It's still being used not only by interested

1113
01:20:42,360 --> 01:20:46,439
Speaker 1: individuals but by bye by schools, colleges you know, that

1114
01:20:46,520 --> 01:20:51,120
Speaker 1: have engineering courses. So if one watches it, what will

1115
01:20:51,160 --> 01:20:57,759
Speaker 1: they take from it? Hopefully, um give them a better

1116
01:20:57,800 --> 01:21:00,400
Speaker 1: idea of what goes on in a recording studio. Uh,

1117
01:21:01,160 --> 01:21:04,479
Speaker 1: I mean, I think a lot of people think the

1118
01:21:04,520 --> 01:21:07,800
Speaker 1: recording studio is this mysterious place where you you go

1119
01:21:07,840 --> 01:21:10,719
Speaker 1: and play your song and then out pops a CD

1120
01:21:10,880 --> 01:21:13,640
Speaker 1: out of a slot, you know, at the bottom of

1121
01:21:13,640 --> 01:21:18,400
Speaker 1: the studio equipment. You know, people, people just don't really

1122
01:21:18,479 --> 01:21:22,599
Speaker 1: don't really understand what goes on. Uh, it's it's very

1123
01:21:22,600 --> 01:21:28,120
Speaker 1: difficult to represent a recording session in such a way

1124
01:21:28,160 --> 01:21:33,760
Speaker 1: that it's that. It's but it's interesting. I mean, being

1125
01:21:33,800 --> 01:21:35,799
Speaker 1: a fly on the wall in a in a studio

1126
01:21:35,840 --> 01:21:41,280
Speaker 1: recording is it's incredibly uninteresting. It's it just seems that

1127
01:21:41,400 --> 01:21:44,160
Speaker 1: the tape keeps rolling and everything sounds the same and

1128
01:21:44,200 --> 01:21:48,280
Speaker 1: it goes on and on and on. But we we

1129
01:21:48,360 --> 01:21:50,400
Speaker 1: try in this series, I think, to to you know,

1130
01:21:50,479 --> 01:21:54,600
Speaker 1: to take to lift the veil and show people and

1131
01:21:54,680 --> 01:21:58,000
Speaker 1: what really happens. You know, how how a vocal is

1132
01:21:58,320 --> 01:22:05,080
Speaker 1: recorded and compiled, how you achieve certain drum sounds, keyboard sounds,

1133
01:22:05,120 --> 01:22:10,000
Speaker 1: guitar sounds, um it's and it's it's designed to be

1134
01:22:10,920 --> 01:22:19,120
Speaker 1: useful to two novices as well as experience engineers. So

1135
01:22:19,479 --> 01:22:22,760
Speaker 1: we we, we, we worked quite hard to try and

1136
01:22:22,800 --> 01:22:32,439
Speaker 1: make it entertaining as well as informative. How did you

1137
01:22:32,520 --> 01:22:34,880
Speaker 1: end up living in the United States? When did you

1138
01:22:34,960 --> 01:22:38,920
Speaker 1: come here and how did you end up in Santa Barbara?

1139
01:22:39,479 --> 01:22:44,000
Speaker 1: I had bought a house in Montesito, which is a

1140
01:22:44,000 --> 01:22:48,439
Speaker 1: adjunct to to Santa Barbara, back in the nineties, with

1141
01:22:48,479 --> 01:22:53,880
Speaker 1: my ex wife and my two sons. Um It became

1142
01:22:53,960 --> 01:22:57,639
Speaker 1: clear that my ex wife was not was not comfortable

1143
01:22:57,720 --> 01:23:03,519
Speaker 1: in America, so we went back to the UK. Yeah, AH, then,

1144
01:23:04,960 --> 01:23:12,040
Speaker 1: and soon, soon after uh, we got back. I I

1145
01:23:12,160 --> 01:23:19,720
Speaker 1: met Lisa, my my my now wife, and we I

1146
01:23:19,800 --> 01:23:24,200
Speaker 1: decided I wanted to to live with her and she

1147
01:23:24,280 --> 01:23:28,320
Speaker 1: had to two daughters and she came to she came

1148
01:23:28,360 --> 01:23:33,280
Speaker 1: to the UK for a while. We we lived in

1149
01:23:33,320 --> 01:23:38,320
Speaker 1: a house just outside London. You met you met her were.

1150
01:23:38,840 --> 01:23:46,040
Speaker 1: I met her in Maryland. Maryland, a big shard there

1151
01:23:46,040 --> 01:23:48,200
Speaker 1: in Mary Maryland. I'm trying to think of the name.

1152
01:23:48,280 --> 01:23:53,120
Speaker 1: It merryweather post. Merryweather Post, you got it, that's the one.

1153
01:23:53,520 --> 01:23:59,800
Speaker 1: That's where we met. And so when we decided we

1154
01:23:59,800 --> 01:24:04,280
Speaker 1: were going to live together, we we considered all the options.

1155
01:24:04,880 --> 01:24:07,759
Speaker 1: I think we all said California was the most likely

1156
01:24:08,560 --> 01:24:13,360
Speaker 1: and because of my previous experience in Santa Barbara, I

1157
01:24:13,680 --> 01:24:15,960
Speaker 1: really liked. I really liked Santa Barbara and and do

1158
01:24:16,080 --> 01:24:19,680
Speaker 1: to this day. So in two thousand and three we

1159
01:24:19,760 --> 01:24:23,280
Speaker 1: got married and the rest is history. And how did

1160
01:24:23,320 --> 01:24:30,799
Speaker 1: you end up deciding to build a studio? I really

1161
01:24:31,360 --> 01:24:35,400
Speaker 1: did not build a studio to the same specification as

1162
01:24:35,400 --> 01:24:40,599
Speaker 1: the one I now have. Until until I did build

1163
01:24:40,600 --> 01:24:44,280
Speaker 1: this one, I I was just working in rooms in

1164
01:24:44,320 --> 01:24:48,160
Speaker 1: a in our in our house. A valid path was

1165
01:24:48,240 --> 01:24:56,439
Speaker 1: just literally done in a two adjacent bedrooms and I

1166
01:24:57,080 --> 01:25:01,040
Speaker 1: think I resisted because I knew, I knew how expensive,

1167
01:25:02,840 --> 01:25:06,439
Speaker 1: you know, building a studio is, and the one I'm

1168
01:25:06,439 --> 01:25:09,639
Speaker 1: speaking from now is, no exceptions, cost a great deal

1169
01:25:09,680 --> 01:25:12,920
Speaker 1: of money. But I'm I'm really glad that I did

1170
01:25:12,960 --> 01:25:18,000
Speaker 1: do it because the the work that I did in

1171
01:25:18,040 --> 01:25:22,760
Speaker 1: the early, early years of my solo careers Um I think,

1172
01:25:22,800 --> 01:25:27,040
Speaker 1: suffered through not having a decent studio. But I'm really,

1173
01:25:27,160 --> 01:25:31,519
Speaker 1: really delighted with the results I'm getting in this in

1174
01:25:31,600 --> 01:25:35,880
Speaker 1: this new studio. Now, if one goes online there's a

1175
01:25:35,880 --> 01:25:38,000
Speaker 1: whole website for the studio. It seems like it's in

1176
01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:40,960
Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere in Santa Barbara. How did you

1177
01:25:41,080 --> 01:25:43,599
Speaker 1: end up with that property? Is a continuous with your

1178
01:25:44,360 --> 01:25:50,240
Speaker 1: home property what's the story there? Um, the home studios

1179
01:25:50,240 --> 01:25:55,679
Speaker 1: have always has always been. Yeah, Home Studios Really, really

1180
01:25:55,680 --> 01:26:00,800
Speaker 1: not very not very extravagant equipment wise at all. If

1181
01:26:00,800 --> 01:26:04,040
Speaker 1: I if I, if I needed a proper studio, I would,

1182
01:26:05,120 --> 01:26:09,200
Speaker 1: I would go go to a commercial studio to work.

1183
01:26:10,080 --> 01:26:12,479
Speaker 1: So it became it was more of a sort of

1184
01:26:12,600 --> 01:26:22,320
Speaker 1: environment to listen to stuff, composed stuff. Um. But yeah,

1185
01:26:21,040 --> 01:26:25,120
Speaker 1: I'm really glad that I made the decision a couple

1186
01:26:25,160 --> 01:26:27,960
Speaker 1: of years ago to build, to build this new studio.

1187
01:26:28,160 --> 01:26:32,800
Speaker 1: I'm very, very, very happy with it and it's now

1188
01:26:32,920 --> 01:26:37,280
Speaker 1: state of the art because I've put this new system

1189
01:26:37,280 --> 01:26:41,400
Speaker 1: which everybody in the industry is talking about, Delby atmos. Okay,

1190
01:26:41,400 --> 01:26:46,240
Speaker 1: but the property. That's fun. Did you already own that property? Yes, yeah,

1191
01:26:46,320 --> 01:26:50,280
Speaker 1: we bought. We bought this House in Oh five and

1192
01:26:51,200 --> 01:26:56,240
Speaker 1: we've been been there here ever since. But seventeen years

1193
01:26:56,240 --> 01:26:58,960
Speaker 1: in the same house. I've never done that before. The

1194
01:26:59,160 --> 01:27:03,479
Speaker 1: studio is not attached to the house you live in. Correct, correct,

1195
01:27:03,520 --> 01:27:06,320
Speaker 1: it's it's an outbuilding. You know, if you go online,

1196
01:27:06,400 --> 01:27:09,080
Speaker 1: it seems, and I've got another email, seems like you're

1197
01:27:09,160 --> 01:27:12,280
Speaker 1: looking for third parties to book your studio. Are you

1198
01:27:12,360 --> 01:27:17,040
Speaker 1: into what degree or people using it and I regarded

1199
01:27:17,120 --> 01:27:23,480
Speaker 1: as being fairly, fairly new as a as a commercial studio. Um.

1200
01:27:23,600 --> 01:27:28,240
Speaker 1: I've I've had one or two clients in here, um

1201
01:27:28,320 --> 01:27:35,120
Speaker 1: that seemed to enjoy themselves. It's Um, I I don't,

1202
01:27:35,479 --> 01:27:38,320
Speaker 1: I don't let anybody in. I like to meet them

1203
01:27:38,320 --> 01:27:40,080
Speaker 1: and talk to them and find out what they want

1204
01:27:40,080 --> 01:27:44,240
Speaker 1: to do rather than just do it on a on

1205
01:27:44,280 --> 01:27:49,200
Speaker 1: a strictly business basis. I won't do that and I'll

1206
01:27:49,200 --> 01:27:52,320
Speaker 1: only I'll only have clients in here, if you can

1207
01:27:52,360 --> 01:27:56,720
Speaker 1: call them clients, when I know that I'm not not

1208
01:27:56,880 --> 01:28:01,240
Speaker 1: in need of studio time myself. Now, you know, so

1209
01:28:01,320 --> 01:28:04,240
Speaker 1: many studios have gone out of business. There's not only

1210
01:28:04,280 --> 01:28:07,160
Speaker 1: the song costs of the building and equipment. You have

1211
01:28:07,240 --> 01:28:11,759
Speaker 1: to continue to update the equipment. There's ongoing equipment costs.

1212
01:28:12,400 --> 01:28:14,519
Speaker 1: Has that been your experience? How you know you have

1213
01:28:14,600 --> 01:28:19,240
Speaker 1: to budget for that? Yes, I mean it's not just

1214
01:28:19,600 --> 01:28:22,200
Speaker 1: recording equipment, it's musical equipment. There's always a new scent,

1215
01:28:22,960 --> 01:28:27,360
Speaker 1: there's always a new microphones to check out, which baffles

1216
01:28:27,400 --> 01:28:30,800
Speaker 1: me because you know I've I've been making perfectly good,

1217
01:28:31,439 --> 01:28:36,439
Speaker 1: good recordings with with my existing mic collection. I really

1218
01:28:36,479 --> 01:28:40,160
Speaker 1: don't need any new ones. Because they're they're never substantially

1219
01:28:40,200 --> 01:28:46,040
Speaker 1: different from the best microphones in my in my cupboard. Um, yeah,

1220
01:28:46,120 --> 01:28:51,040
Speaker 1: there's a there's a certain need to budget for new stuff,

1221
01:28:51,720 --> 01:28:55,599
Speaker 1: but I'm just as likely to buy a new scent

1222
01:28:55,800 --> 01:28:57,439
Speaker 1: or a new guitar as I am to buy a

1223
01:28:57,479 --> 01:29:02,120
Speaker 1: new preempt for the studio. So, prior to the Internet era,

1224
01:29:02,640 --> 01:29:06,240
Speaker 1: the business was cohesive. There were a limited number of labels.

1225
01:29:06,320 --> 01:29:09,400
Speaker 1: If you were on a major label you were far

1226
01:29:09,479 --> 01:29:12,719
Speaker 1: down the food chain. So at this point in time,

1227
01:29:12,800 --> 01:29:15,680
Speaker 1: do you feel part of the larger business or you

1228
01:29:15,760 --> 01:29:21,679
Speaker 1: really just in the Alan Parsons Business? MHM, I've I've

1229
01:29:21,960 --> 01:29:25,400
Speaker 1: kind of lost touch with the industry. I Um, when

1230
01:29:25,400 --> 01:29:28,360
Speaker 1: I was making albums with Ariston, we were constantly in

1231
01:29:28,400 --> 01:29:33,759
Speaker 1: touch with press people, marketing people, so on and so Um.

1232
01:29:33,800 --> 01:29:36,439
Speaker 1: Having said that, I'm I'm doing the occasional interview to

1233
01:29:36,479 --> 01:29:40,280
Speaker 1: promote the album which comes out this week. Um, but

1234
01:29:42,200 --> 01:29:46,280
Speaker 1: really it's not not, not a strong relationship with with

1235
01:29:46,400 --> 01:29:53,360
Speaker 1: labels anymore. Of course, for live shows I have to

1236
01:29:53,400 --> 01:29:57,360
Speaker 1: deal with agents, promoters and that kind of stuff, but

1237
01:29:58,479 --> 01:30:02,120
Speaker 1: in terms of the recording industry, not, not, not very

1238
01:30:02,240 --> 01:30:05,080
Speaker 1: in tune with it, with what's going on. Don't don't

1239
01:30:05,080 --> 01:30:07,599
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time listening to modern music and

1240
01:30:07,760 --> 01:30:10,519
Speaker 1: you keep in touch with all the people from the past,

1241
01:30:10,640 --> 01:30:13,200
Speaker 1: or you're pretty much a homebody just doing your own thing.

1242
01:30:13,720 --> 01:30:17,080
Speaker 1: I tried to. I try to stay in touch the

1243
01:30:17,080 --> 01:30:21,599
Speaker 1: people I've worked with in the past. John, of course,

1244
01:30:23,000 --> 01:30:25,880
Speaker 1: I've already mentioned, died sadly a few months ago. We

1245
01:30:25,880 --> 01:30:29,519
Speaker 1: were we were always good friends, always in touch with

1246
01:30:29,560 --> 01:30:34,360
Speaker 1: each other. Um, David Pat from Ambrogier has been a

1247
01:30:34,400 --> 01:30:37,240
Speaker 1: good friend ever since the ever since the first album,

1248
01:30:37,840 --> 01:30:41,760
Speaker 1: or my first album and his first album, which were

1249
01:30:41,800 --> 01:30:44,519
Speaker 1: released close to each other. Colin Blunt Stone, I bumped

1250
01:30:44,560 --> 01:30:47,960
Speaker 1: bump into now and again. Last time I saw him

1251
01:30:48,080 --> 01:30:53,160
Speaker 1: was on a cruise, you know, music cruise. Um, I

1252
01:30:53,320 --> 01:30:56,679
Speaker 1: never saw Arthur Brown again after after tales of mystery,

1253
01:30:56,760 --> 01:31:05,040
Speaker 1: but there we are. Um, yeah, I mean I I

1254
01:31:05,080 --> 01:31:07,679
Speaker 1: try to try to keep in touch with people who

1255
01:31:08,640 --> 01:31:12,560
Speaker 1: are ultimately responsible in part to my success. So I

1256
01:31:12,600 --> 01:31:15,599
Speaker 1: would always be grateful for that. Well, you have this

1257
01:31:15,640 --> 01:31:19,759
Speaker 1: new album, Alan. I wish you continued success and thanks

1258
01:31:19,760 --> 01:31:21,760
Speaker 1: so much for taking the time to talk to me.

1259
01:31:22,720 --> 01:31:26,880
Speaker 1: You're very welcome, Bob. Thank you. Look forward to hearing

1260
01:31:26,880 --> 01:31:30,760
Speaker 1: this on the you bet. Until next time, this is

1261
01:31:30,800 --> 01:31:47,760
Speaker 1: Bob leftslet's h