Tape’s rolling,
Take One!
The recording life
of Adrian Kerridge
Adrian
Kerridge is an obscure English producer, hardly known outside of Great Britain
despite his six decades of recording, arranging and producing rock & roll
television scores and movies. Kerridge fashioned 14 chapters from 319 pages of
his remembrances of the music industry. He first hit pay dirt in 1954, working
as a young lad at IBC studios. He learned his chops and eventually bought
Lansdowne Studio and through his ascendance, Kerridge solidified his ranking in
the new British aristocracy and became a true musical icon. He initially
befriended Joe Meek who taught Kerridge about close mic placement, multiple
over-dubbing, direct placing of bass guitars, the compressor, and effects such
as reverb and echo as well as sampling. Kerridge felt that Meek was a genius
and that his life style as a hidden homosexual was cause for arrest and
imprisonment. It made him a target in polite society. Kerridge and Meek became
close friends and they collaborated on many of the sessions at the IBC studios.
At high recording levels, the one quarter inch tape noise was in significant
and it allowed Meek to create several composite overdubs with only a negligible
loss of sound quality. This technique allowed singers such as Petula Clark and
Shirley Bassey to belt out the lyrics. On February 3rd, 1967 Meek
killed his landlady, Violet Shenton and then shot himself. At the time of his
death, he possessed thousands of unreleased recordings that later became known
as the Tea Chest Tapes.
Denis
Preston owned the Lansdowne studios and it was an approved studio on the
Musicians Union “fair list.” Though Kerridge never understood why it existed for
studios and for what purpose. However,
Preston wanted to make Lansdowne the best-equipped studio for sound recording
in London and in Europe. Denis conceded that George Martin (Beatle Producer)
and Geoff Emerick (balance engineer who recorded the Beatles. Kerridge feels
that they changed attitudes at Abbey Road, making more accessible
Chapter 9
was the most interesting part of the book as it was exclusively about the Dave
Clark 5. Kerridge first met the Dave
Clark 5 in 1962 when they came into the studio for demo work. It turned out
that Lansdowne was the first proper studio they experienced. Kerridge recorded
several mono demos by the band and he told the group that he liked what they
were doing. He felt the DC5 had a good sound and that the material “was there.”
Mike Smith and Dave Clark were able to re-create their live sound. In an
interview with Kerridge;
Clark
explained, “When we first started we were writing songs and playing at American
bases in the UK, at dance clubs and on the Mecca ballroom circuit which
featured over 200 bands and catered to a million people a week throughout the
UK. We were recording demos of publishers’ songs because they gave us free
studio time to do our own songs.” The DC5 music, with that heavy upfront live
sound became their audio signature was that was eventually called the Tottenham
Sound.” The first release was Mulberry Bush on EMI but as Kerridge said, “it
lacked balls.” However, by 1963, the DC5 recorded Do You Love Me and it was
stunning! Kerridge used a U47 for Mike Smith’s voice, three Mics on Dave
Clark’s drums. It enabled Kerridge to place the dynamic mic inside the drum off
center using equalization to achieve that thumping sound. Ther were double or
triple tracked overdubs..
Dave Clark:
Mike was the
most underrated great rock & roll singers. Mike didn’t really realize how
good he was. There was no ego. We were all friends from way back. When we got
the Tottenham Royal contract we were playing to six thousand people a night. It
blew us away! Clark recalled, “I said to the boys that we will only go
professional if we get two top-five records and we go out as the top of the
bill act. We will stop while it is still fun and that is what we did in 1970.
In 1964, the DC5 were selling 180,000 copies a day!
Freddie
Mercury told Clark that the DC5 sound was his inspiration for Queen’s We Will
Rock You with the stamping, clapping onto 20 tracks to get that stadium sound.
It was DC5’s hit Bits and Pieces that inspired it all. In the sixties, Kerridge
had a call from the Daily Mirror and the journalist asked,
“You record
the Dave Clark Five.”
“Yes, I do, I replied”
“He doesn’t
play drums on his records
Kerridge
retorted, “I have news for you, yes, he does and please don’t ring me at home
again!”
The
relationship between Lansdowne and the DC was immensely productive:
·
From
1963 to 1970 all the DC5 records and albums were recorded at Lansdowne
·
23
albums
·
over
30 global hit singles
·
100
million records sold
·
Over
100 Platinum, Gold and Silver discs awarded.
Kerridge
described his experiences in Germany’s 60’s and Belgium in the mid 70s,
recording material the new KPM Music Library and other libraries. He also
describes with humor the numerous and artistic challenges, the variety of
material from albums to commercial TV shows and musicians and artists that came
through Lansdowne and the consequences of a rapidly expanding business. He
paved the way for a generation of sound engineers. He is one of only two people
to ever be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of
Professional Recording Services. The other was awarded to George Martin. Kerridge
is meticulous in defining his golden moments throughout this incredible
document, 319 pages that chronicle the life and times of this gracious yet
humble man. Stay tuned for Volume Two. It is scheduled for publication in 2017 and
is available at Barnes & Noble.
Peace
Robert White
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