17. Great Memories of Gerry Rafferty

 

Confessions of a Studio Rat

One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net!

(Hit Factory. If this wasn't the room we used, it looked very much like this!)


ENGLAND (1988, 1994): I can rarely remember how these things come about, but I somehow found myself finishing off and mixing some projects with Gerry Rafferty and his friend/collaborator/producer Hugh Murphy. I enjoyed those sessions so much! The arrangements, songs and lineup of musicians were all superb!

If memory serves, we did our first project together (which became the North and South album) at Comforts Place Studios, in Surrey, owned by my friend Andy Hill.  (Remember Bucks Fizz? His creation. No more playing bass on jingle sessions for him!) Comforts Place was a great mix room with a large SSL. I did several projects there very happily. Gerry and Hugh were simply a gas to work with. Complete gentlemen, never any problems. The two of them had recorded all of the tracks at Gerry’s place and must’ve had a great time with all their amazing players because the vibe on the tracks was great.

Gerry wanted each track to flow into the next one and we ended up using the Publison “Infernal Machine” (IM-90?? How do I remember that?) to generate odd sound effects to create crossfades from track to track.

Working on Gerry’s vocal track, he leans over and asks me to add a 33ms delay to his voice. I remember thinking How does he know that?, but I did it, and instantly the track became a Gerry Rafferty record. That was The Sound! I loved that moment, the guy totally knew what he was doing.

Normally I’m not comfortable with the Artist hanging out in the control room while I’m putting a mix together, but these two guys just let me do my thing. They were reading papers and conversing quietly in the back. However, they would often make mention of someone they knew, a Harry Hooper, who seemed to have definite likes and dislikes, and his name kept popping up in conversation. It started to bug me- just who was this guy? They would never explain who he was, only what he liked or disliked. I was supposed to figure it out! This went on for a number of days before I finally caught onto the riddle, and now I knew who Harry Hooper was, I could make the lives of others miserable!

I got called help out mixing another project with them, this time on the big Neve desk at The Hit Factory in London. This project would form the Over My Head album (1994), another treat for my ears. Harry Hooper was by then part of the routine. I have to admit, of all the albums I’ve worked on over the years, these are still the ones I enjoy listening to the most.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2023 at 10:51 AM

    Great insight Brad. It's great to hear the small details, I'll have to revisit the album.

    ReplyDelete

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