Hugh deserves more credit. A valuable talent for sure. For example, "Ghost In The Machine" by The Police. The sound quality on that album is astounding, even by today's standards. It was so far superior sounding than "Zenyatta Mondatta".
Agreed! When it was first released my younger ears didn't even realize the great dynamics on that recording on account of the songs just being so great!
Guys, I really think your channel is fantastic, and appreciate the casual approach you take with interviews. It's a breath of fresh air from the usual American approach! Thanks 👍
this might be the most british thing ever. i clicked to see if they were speaking in british accents based on his name and the first line is about them drinking tea 🤣
A few advanced things I have learned, similar to HP: Static tempo throughout the song is boring and sterile. You must be able to record natural tempo variations to have any chance of capturing Feel. This seems to forbid using measures as your timebase. But actually you can have both free flowing tempos and everything matched to a tempo grid. Record a guide track which is to serve as the master tempo for each moment. In your DAW, manually set tempo markers on each beat. Use the built in click to listen. Once these are set, you have an accurate grid over the entire song and the tempo automatically changes every beat. Now you can even match arpeggiators onto free flowing acoustic tracks. The arp will gently flex to match the changing tempo. In this way you can have a totally natural tempo flow while keeping all the conveniences of the DAW. Don’t quantize!
Total respect to Mr. Padgham, been a fan for years. But sometimes this sounds like a Spinal Tap out take. Two days micing up an electric kettle, and putting a mic up the lead singers arm pit are particular standouts. Bless him and his “shirty” attitude.
This type of "spinal tap" thing happened a lot in the 80s, like when mutt lange spend 3 days to find the snare sound for ACDC. That's why Spinal Tap was such a hit, it represents what is excessive about the 80s
Awesome! I recall watching this interview quite a few times (not much footage of Hugh out there), great stuff. You guys should interview him again! I'd love to know what he is up to these days.
That's very much the plan, if we can. Sadly the original DV tapes aren't easily recoverable and this is pretty crunched 2nd generation but enough people have asked I cleaned up the audio a bit (you think this sounds bad now?!) and wanted to put it back up and embed on RP. Thanks for watching :-)
@@RecordProduction It sounds fine! It's decent enough to watch. You should do the same with other archive videos, you had plenty of great interviews. It's more important to have access to it, than for them to be perfect quality. Another great one was with Bruce A. Miller.
@@RecordProduction There are lots of questions I would want to ask Hugh, but if I had to choose just one it would be this: On Melissa Etheridge's Yes I Am album there is sometimes a sonic style that I describe as "warm, airy, and atmospheric." I especially hear it on the album's title track. How did he get that? I suspect that at least part of that sound was achieved through the use of ambient mics.
What is Hugh doing these days? Always thought that Sting needed to work with him again - pretty much all his best records involved Hugh in some capacity. Easily one of my favourite Producers and Engineers.
Face Value.... In The Air Tonight.... change lot of things in record industry those days..... I remember black and red singles from A&M by The Police and Padgham was there.
Okay. My name is Matt Howe. Hugh was going through a huge marital crisis at the time & was contractually signed up by Hit 'n Run records for recording Genesis "Invisible touch" album which had plenty of leah-way, in the case Macca's project overrun .....so let me ask... how would you deal with that issue? (you're needed here / but legally obliged there) .Actually, Paul understood & cut "slack" for Hugh (cos paul is an understanding bloke....believe it or not) & so Hugh left the project. It was simply "bad timing" for everyone. I worked for AIR Studios at the time, Steve Jackson (AIR engineer) who was assisting Hugh (then assistant) moved up the ladder, & found himself obligated to recording duties (a very able engineer anyways) I assisted Steve, I also assisted Jon Kelly who came in now & again. Paul was feeling assured & comfortable. As for song writing...Eric Stewert (10cc) & Elvis Costello co-wrote. There were many various distractions at the time including Michael Jackson outbidding the Northern Songs catalogue. ....Paul was deeply hurt by that. The sleeve photo wa taken by nonetheless George Hurrell. Paul was very pleased with this (go look the iconic Mr. Hurrell up) Hope this helps.
I believe Hugh and Trevor are the two most important sound related persons in the history of british pop music in the post Beatles era.
Hugh deserves more credit. A valuable talent for sure. For example, "Ghost In The Machine" by The Police. The sound quality on that album is astounding, even by today's standards. It was so far superior sounding than "Zenyatta Mondatta".
Agreed! When it was first released my younger ears didn't even realize the great dynamics on that recording on account of the songs just being so great!
Genesis, Phil Collins, & solo Sting.
Couldn’t disagree more.
I love these interviews with people who have worked out how to flourish in whatever they're doing.
My top 5 producers:
Hugh Padgham
Nigel Godrich
Ken Scott
Bob Clearmountain
Roy Thomas Baker
Wonderfully talented and a genuine nice chap too!
Couldn't agree more!
Guys, I really think your channel is fantastic, and appreciate the casual approach you take with interviews. It's a breath of fresh air from the usual American approach! Thanks 👍
Brilliant as a massive Genesis fan who is now recording his own music, this is awesome....Hope you don’t mind but shared this on Facebook
I also started making my own music. It's wonderful to be able to do it. Very rewarding. What music you make?
this might be the most british thing ever. i clicked to see if they were speaking in british accents based on his name and the first line is about them drinking tea 🤣
Happy birthday, Hugh.
Happy birthday, again.
Great interview! Thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it!
A few advanced things I have learned, similar to HP:
Static tempo throughout the song is boring and sterile. You must be able to record natural tempo variations to have any chance of capturing Feel.
This seems to forbid using measures as your timebase. But actually you can have both free flowing tempos and everything matched to a tempo grid.
Record a guide track which is to serve as the master tempo for each moment.
In your DAW, manually set tempo markers on each beat. Use the built in click to listen. Once these are set, you have an accurate grid over the entire song and the tempo automatically changes every beat.
Now you can even match arpeggiators onto free flowing acoustic tracks. The arp will gently flex to match the changing tempo.
In this way you can have a totally natural tempo flow while keeping all the conveniences of the DAW.
Don’t quantize!
Total respect to Mr. Padgham, been a fan for years. But sometimes this sounds like a Spinal Tap out take. Two days micing up an electric kettle, and putting a mic up the lead singers arm pit are particular standouts. Bless him and his “shirty” attitude.
This type of "spinal tap" thing happened a lot in the 80s, like when mutt lange spend 3 days to find the snare sound for ACDC.
That's why Spinal Tap was such a hit, it represents what is excessive about the 80s
Awesome! I recall watching this interview quite a few times (not much footage of Hugh out there), great stuff. You guys should interview him again! I'd love to know what he is up to these days.
That's very much the plan, if we can. Sadly the original DV tapes aren't easily recoverable and this is pretty crunched 2nd generation but enough people have asked I cleaned up the audio a bit (you think this sounds bad now?!) and wanted to put it back up and embed on RP. Thanks for watching :-)
@@RecordProduction It sounds fine! It's decent enough to watch. You should do the same with other archive videos, you had plenty of great interviews. It's more important to have access to it, than for them to be perfect quality. Another great one was with Bruce A. Miller.
@@santishorts We will have a lot more up over the coming months, hopefully the old tapes are recoverable!
@@RecordProduction There are lots of questions I would want to ask Hugh, but if I had to choose just one it would be this: On Melissa Etheridge's Yes I Am album there is sometimes a sonic style that I describe as "warm, airy, and atmospheric." I especially hear it on the album's title track. How did he get that? I suspect that at least part of that sound was achieved through the use of ambient mics.
„Well if you just stay where you are it will eventually come around“. Funny and so true.
What is Hugh doing these days? Always thought that Sting needed to work with him again - pretty much all his best records involved Hugh in some capacity. Easily one of my favourite Producers and Engineers.
I wholeheartedly agree.Anything that says 'produced by Hugh Padgham' is something worth listening to.
@@kickbiker7920 Does that include the early hits of McFly? Mr. Padgham produced several of their Top 10 hits in 2004 and 2005.
Face Value.... In The Air Tonight.... change lot of things in record industry those days..... I remember black and red singles from A&M by The Police and Padgham was there.
This room is now my bedroom
Great channel ! I just subscribed !
Thank you :-)
@@RecordProduction No, I wanna thank you for putting on these videos. I learned a lot about production techniques !
He hated the album that he produced for paul mccartney "press to play", he said that paul wasn't in a period of writing good songs
Okay. My name is Matt Howe. Hugh was going through a huge marital crisis at the time & was contractually signed up by Hit 'n Run records for recording Genesis "Invisible touch" album which had plenty of leah-way, in the case Macca's project overrun .....so let me ask... how would you deal with that issue? (you're needed here / but legally obliged there) .Actually, Paul understood & cut "slack" for Hugh (cos paul is an understanding bloke....believe it or not) & so Hugh left the project. It was simply "bad timing" for everyone. I worked for AIR Studios at the time, Steve Jackson (AIR engineer) who was assisting Hugh (then assistant) moved up the ladder, & found himself obligated to recording duties (a very able engineer anyways) I assisted Steve, I also assisted Jon Kelly who came in now & again. Paul was feeling assured & comfortable. As for song writing...Eric Stewert (10cc) & Elvis Costello co-wrote. There were many various distractions at the time including Michael Jackson outbidding the Northern Songs catalogue. ....Paul was deeply hurt by that. The sleeve photo wa taken by nonetheless George Hurrell. Paul was very pleased with this (go look the iconic Mr. Hurrell up) Hope this helps.
@@matthowe7057 Thanks for sharing this!