Transcript Eddie meets Miles Davis

Eddie Offord
• YES Engineer.
1969 - 1970
Co-Producer &
Engineer.
1971 - 1975, 1980
• ELP Engineer
1970 - 1972
Getting started
Eddie came into the recording business after
deciding to go university to study physics.
To fill in time he settled into a job at Advision and
never left.
He hustled his way into being a trainee engineer,
and within a short time was working as an engineer.
Being an Engineer - Producer
His success he puts down to being in the right place at the
right time.
There's been a gradual change in the recording industry
that started to evolve when the Stones and Beatles were
prominent and he feels he came along at a time when
people didn't want straight producers anymore.
"Five years ago you could have been a great engineer, but
no one would have recognized you. It's changed a lot."
"If an artist is into what they are doing, they know
how their music should sound in their heads. I have
to work with a person and try to get their ideas on to
tape, and obviously I need to have my own ideas.
Not being a producer as such means that there is no
middleman and I am in direct contact with the artist.”
(Melody Maker, Feb 1972)
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
(1970)
“Working with ELP wasn’t
nearly as bad [as Yes] in
terms of trying to referee.
I was able to concentrate
more on engineering than
when I was with Yes.
I had a fair amount of say
with some of the material, but
they came into the studio far
more rehearsed [than Yes].”
Keith’s Keyboards
“Keith Emerson’s keyboard setup
consisted mostly of Hammond B3 and
Moog synthesiser. The synthesiser had
only recently been invented, and I was
actually the one who programmed all the
sounds for him.
There were no polyphonic
synthesisers…we had to do a lot of
overdubs, it would take maybe ten or
twelve tracks to do a string section.”
Pictures at an Exhibition
(1971)
• “Their [ELPs] music is
mechanical and does not
have a feel to it like most
rock and roll. It is strong
effects music. It seems that
the steady hustling presence
Greg Lake puts over would
be totally removed from
Eddie. But he is a sound
freak and digs working with
a hand purely into sounds.”
Tarkus (1971)
• Eddie must be one of the few
Engineers or Producers to
have a song written about
him.This was included on the
Tarkus album.
• Note the reference to the big
new thing: 16 track recording.
Trilogy (1972)
• "I do record them because I
like the sound, and it gives
me a chance to experiment
in sounds, especially with
the Moog. I think Keith is a
brilliant player, techniquewise. Their music is a
forceful type of thing that
does not need relaxation."
Decision Time
• “So, I had a lot of fun with
those bands [Yes and ELP]
and it was really interesting.
However, it turned out there
was a lot of jealousy
between Yes and ELP, and at
one point I was forced to
choose between one or the
other and I decided to go
with Yes.”
Eddie Engineer’s Yes
“I think it was luck and good
timing that made the
collaboration with Eddie last as
many albums as it did.
We could see quite quickly in
his work that he was very in
tune with us and could
understand us even though we
were playing a lot of busy stuff
together.”
- Steve Howe
Yes (1969)
Time and a Word (1970)
The Yes Album (1971)
• “There were lines he [Eddie]
•
could focus on and get the
sounds and pull the thing
together, and we were very
pleased about this.
He [Eddie] had a terrific effect
on our sound as a group and
although he always had a
musical opinion, he would
never interfere musically.”
- Steve Howe
“What he [Eddie] did was bring in a logical engineering
perspective into it, saying ‘You can’t do that, but you can
do this’, or ‘If you want to do that, it has to be done this
way’, and so on. So we were doing things we thought had
never been done before, like miking up amps that were
on the floor, pointing up at the ceiling.
We just experimented within our own comparatively
limited resources and we attempted to make something
sound different. I don’t think we realised just how
different it was until we finished The Yes Album and
heard what an almost peculiar-sounding record it was, yet
it sounded so good.”
- Steve Howe
Fragile (1971)
• It was through Eddie Offord’s
•
•
production skills that the bass of
Chris Squire was brought to the
foreground. Squire doubled his
Rickenbacker 4001S (through a
Marshall ) with an acousticallymiked Gibson jazz guitar.
On the bass, highs were miked,
and low frequencies were DI’d.
Fragile took five weeks and
$30,000 to make.
philosophy
“Experiment by all means, but at the end of the day
be prepared to say, ‘well, it didn’t really add that
much’. There’s nothing wrong with perfection, but
there can be a tendency to loose the soul. Doing too
many overdubs, drowning out the essence of the
song …been there, done that!”
•“My philosophy was ‘never kill an idea before
you’ve tried it’. But, working with Yes it evolved
into ‘unless you’re specifically going for a
background effect, it has to work up front, and if in
doubt - leave it out.’ ”
Yes
Eddie Offord - interview
“An Engineer-Producer is the first time one has ever
joined the band, as it were, really. I do consider myself as a
member; it’s a very tight sort of thing.
The Yes album was the first thing I had any hand in
production with; it was a nice experience. Then I got into the
PA and started creating the sounds on the stage that I’d done
on the albums – giving them the same balance and
everything, and it was just like a really nice thing.
It’s like everything else; it has to be used subtly – it
has to be used to add to the music and not to subtract from it.
Although I’m into electronics, the only music that counts for
me is music from the heart, and that mustn’t be interfered
with.
Eddie Offord - interview
Yes music; the way it is recorded is just a skeleton of an
idea, and the you come in and do maybe a few minutes of music,
and next evening another few minutes and develop ideas.
Gradually the thing builds up to a track, but it doesn’t, possibly,
have the continuity it would have, or quite the same feel if they
played it all the way through, which they do on stage.
We’ve been toying with the idea of recording the album
once, but not releasing it, just to get the thing together and to see
what you’re doing. Then going on stage and playing it a bit, then
coming back to the studio and recording it again – this time with
feeling.”
Close to the Edge (1972)
“For the guitar solo on Siberian
Khatru I had two mikes; one
close up, and the other on a 20’
cord which I had the assistant
swing in a circle around the
studio. It was going close to
Steve’s amp on every cycle, and
that gave it a real kind of Doppler
effect as it went by.”
“What we wanted to do on that album were things we’d
never done before. We’d never played anything that long
before, used sound effects or intricate timings.
We had effects and bits of music flying in from tapes that
we had recorded separately, such as an organ that Rick
played in a London church, which was flown in to the 16
track tape for overdubs”
Melody Maker Interview, 1972
"If an artist is into what they are doing, they know how
their music should sound in their heads. I have to work
with a person and try to get their ideas on to tape, and
obviously I need to have my own ideas. Not being a
producer as such means that there is no middleman and
I am in direct contact with the artist."
"Basically I'm a soundfreak. I just sit and think of ideas
to really blow people's minds...I like to know that when
they hear that sound they are going to smile. But
obviously it has to be subtle. I think what I do is a cross
between arts and science. Working behind the desk is
an art and I think things can be done in two ways, they
are either subtle or totally brash."
This picture is from the
back cover of the Close
to the Edge album.
Eddie is featured
alongside a photo of each
band member.
So that’s how it was done
The method Yes used was to record short chunks
(less than a minute) which were then spliced together
to give long tracks. This method predates using
soundbites and loops by 30 years!
“If there was something heavy followed by an
acoustic passage we might mix the two sections
separately. But the art was perfecting the overlap on
the edits. So when we finished a section, everyone
would say ‘now, don’t move a thing on the desk,
because if you do the next section won’t work!’
Then we would sit there for the next hour trying to get
the next section right but, of course, somewhere in
there you were bound to move something. You’d stick
the two bits together and then realise, ‘oh, the hi-hat’s
dropped in volume’. So you’d have to mix that section
again!
Certainly we had to record with edits in mind.”
America (1972)
• This single was a rework of
the Simon and Garfunkel
classic.
• “I can recall Bill [Bruford]
saying ‘I want to put congas
through a wah-wah’. I said
‘fine’ and we did it. After
all, why not?”
Milli Vanilli?
For playing live Yes had to go back and learn the music
from the studio recording.
As the album arrangements got more advanced Eddie
went on tour with the band as their livesound engineer.
Part of his job was to cue in parts from tape that they
couldn’t play live.
Tales from Topographical
Oceans (1973)
• Recorded at Morgan
Recording Studios.
• “That album was really a
horrific album…it almost
killed me…I think there was
a psychological effect of
‘Oh, we’re doing a double
album; now we can make
things twice as long, twice
as boring, and twice as
drawn out’ ”
Yessongs (1973)
• A compilation of live
recordings.
• “Eddie was having a
tremendous effect on our
sound but also in our lives
as a person.
• Eddie was clear-minded.”
- Steve Howe
Relayer (1974)
• “Relayer was done at Chris’
•
house with a setup that I put
together.”
“Yes and Eddie Offord (the
producer) made some of the
most amazing sounding
albums considering the
limitations of the 1970s studio
equipment which they had to
work with. Their albums from
the early 1970s are amazing.”
-Scott McMahan, editor
Yesterdays (1975)
• A compilation of songs from
the first two albums.
• “ The biggest part of my gig
really was to try and keep
all of the different, opposing
factions in check…I was a
kind of referee almost!”
Drama (1980)
•“When we recorded the Drama album, there would
occasionally be two sessions taking place at the same time
in different studios ” (Townhouse & Roundhouse).
Drama was engineered by
Hugh Padgham.
Band member Trevor
Horn became a soughtafter producer a few years
later.
“Mostly each of the band members would come in
and do their own thing while no one else was around.”
Classic Yes (1981)
• Classic Yes is a compilation
of some of the early works.
• Roundabout was recorded
live at Wembley Empire
Pool, 1978. It became a hit
when first recorded on the
Fragile album.
Yesyears (1991)
• A four CD compilation of
studio and live recordings.
• It involved no less than 12
band members!
Union (1991)
It's ironic that the most
disjointed album in Yes history
is titled, "Union."
The album suffers from
massive over-production.
(35 musicians & 7 producers!)
Eddie co-produced two
tracks.
Summary
Eddie Offord worked with two of the top
progressive rock bands, both for live and studio.
His level headed approach maintained order and got
results with some difficult personalities.
He was one of the early Engineer-Producers and for
the time was possibly unique in being able to manage
both roles simultaneously.
Many of the bands experimental sound results can
be attributed to Eddie.
The musical high points of both ELP and Yes occurred
while being engineered and/or produced by Eddie Offord.
Thank You, you have been a great audience!
Bibliography
Inside Tracks - Richard Buskin (1999)
Good Vibrations - Mark Cunningham (1998)
Melody Maker, Feb 12, 1972
Rolling Stone, March 30, 1972
Yesstories: Yes in Their Own Words - Tim Morse (1996)
Other Recording Credits
Baker Gurvitz Army - Hearts on Fire (1976)
Valerie Carter - Way It Is (1996)
P, E
P, E
Julie Driscoll / Brian Auger - Cool on It (1986)
P, E
- Storm Warning (1994) P, E
The Dixie Dregs - Industrial Standard (1982)
Platinum Blonde - Alien Shores (1985)
Andy Pratt - Motives (1979)
P, E
P, E
P
David Sancious - True Stories (1978)
P, E
- Just as I Thought (1980) P, E
Billy Squier - Tale of the Tape (1980)
311 - Music (1993)
- Grassroots (1994)
P, E
P, E
Wet Willie - Greatest Hits (1977) P, E
Terry Reid - River (1973) P
P
John McLaughlin - Extrapolation (1969) E
Yoko Ono - Plastic Ono Band (1970)
E
- Fly (1971)
E
John Lennon - Imagine (1971)
E
Bill Laswell - Deconstruction (1993)
E
Levon Helm - LH & the RCO Allstars
E
Julie Driscoll / Brian Auger - Street Noise (1968) E
- Tinsley Ellis
E
Elizabeth Barraclough - Elizabeth Barraclough (1978)
Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express (1996)
E
E
Bonus Tracks
Roger Dean did more Yes covers than Spock’s Beard
could Dream (Theatre) of. Here are most of the rest.