WATCH PART THREE OF THE INTERVIEW RECORDED AT ABBEY ROAD
In this third part of the interview series we found out from Ken about how using less impressive microphones when recording drums needn’t be a problem, talks about dynamic range, the importance of good monitoring (again) and making a decision to keep a session moving. Come back soon for the fourth part of our interview!
George Shilling visited Danton Supple with the camera crew on a sunny day in August 2011 to find out how he has got on since our last feature with him over five years ago. In that time Danton has gone on to produce some mega massive smash hit albums for artists such as Cold Play and we think that this is proof that being featured here on RecordProduction.com is good for business 
Danton continues to build upon the success of his production and mix work with COLDPLAY and has recently set up his own mix room in the Battery Building where he has been mixing albums for SOULSAVERS, album tracks for IAN BROWN’s finest album to date ‘My Way’ and NATALIE IMBRUGLIAs latest long player. Danton also mixed AMY MACDONALD’s second album ‘A Curious Thing’ (A-listed at BBC Radio 2) as well as producing a solo album for Fightstar frontman, CHARLIE SIMPSON and an album by new artist THE GADSENS.
Special thanks to Danton and everyone at 140dB for their help in making this feature possible and to George Shilling for asking all of the questions!
Phil Harding. Photo by Mike Banks
PWL – From The Factory Floor
(Expanded Edition)
Phil Harding
To the modern pop world, Stock, Aitken and Waterman have taken on something of a lengendary status in recent years. The PWL label and studios produced so many hits in the 1980s that their name became synonymous with success, and that they created the template so expertly worked today by their protégée Simon Cowell.
From Elton Johns tea boy to successful record producer, Phil Harding’s career spans over 30 years, ranging from recording The Clash in the 70s to producing hit singles for East 17 and Boyzone in the 90s. Phil played a key role at PWL Studios , Pete Waterman’s vision for a British Motown, alongside the legendary Stock, Aitken and Waterman production team, who’s Hit Factory productions and mixes sold over 30 million untis around the world via a surprisingly diverse CV of artists.
Refreshing and affectionately frank, From The Factory Floor tells the inside story of one of the most successful and fast-paced music studios of all time. His pivotal role provides a uniquely broad perspective, extending from the top of the organization, missing many classic SAW hits, down to the bottom, training up and coming engineers and so on, as well as involvement in the creative, business bottom, training up-and-coming engineers and so on, as well as involvement in the creative, business (and diplomatic!) aspects of being a critically-acclaimed producer in his own right and developing a profile and client base under the manangement of Pete Waterman.
After a sold-out limited release in 2009, the book has undergone extensive development into this Expanded Edition, and contains a wealth of new material. Hightlights include Phil’s behind the scenes journey through the eventful rise (and fall) of PWL, commentary on the working styles and sounds covered during PWL’s history, detailed recollections of specific, classic PWL releases, in-depth interviews on working with some of the most significant artists of the time, a comprehensive guide to the south from recently rediscovered home video footage, Phil’s complete discography-comprehensive guide to his many hundreds of releases, a full review of Phil and his fellow producers Ian Curnow’s extensive personal archives and master tapes (including, for the first time, details on many PWL projects that remain unreleased and previously forgotten), and a new Harding/Curnow interview, looking back on their time working for PWL.
The book also takes in the technicalities of studio work, including a detailed case study of the mixing of a No.1 single in the form of Kylie’s Hand On Your Heart, and information on the cutting edge technology and techniques used in making the studio a world leader. This along with the inclusion of many previously-unseen photographs, makes PWL From The Factory Floor Expanded Edition a must-read for 80s, club, dance, and pop devotees, contemporary music followers, studio technicians and those with any interest in the extreme highs and lows that only pop can provide.
Phil is an in-demand writer, producer, mix engineer, guest speaker and lecturer. He speaks and lectures at Universties and Colleges around the UK , often with Pete Waterman and is currently Vice Chairman of the Music Producers Guild and Chairman of the Joint Audio and Media Education Service
The book is available now, published by Cherry Red.
At last. A year after filming our interview with ann Mincieli the edits have been completed! We visited Germano Studios in New York in April to record a number of producer features and we were very lucky to bump in to Ann who very kindly said she’d record a short video too.
Ann is best known for her work with Alicia Keyes and here she talks about her engineering and production work.
Special thanks to everyone at Germano Studios and to Ann!
© RecordProduction.com 2010. All rights reserved.
I thought it would be a good idea to put a showcase of photos taken with musicians in the studio – Many of them are also producers but all are excellent musicians. Here they are seen in a range of recording environments, from big name studios to small home studios.
Click on any of the photos to visit the gallery and see the full sized photographs.
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