Interview with Producer Hugh Jones on recording
Jun 1, 2011 10:33:20 GMT
out of this world likes this
Post by ME Forum Master on Jun 1, 2011 10:33:20 GMT
AFTER THE SNOW (Hugh's answers are in italics)
The band state that you were very influential in developing their sound. When you first heard the band what were the songs like and what did you do to get them to change their sound?
I think the band would agree that I succeeded in persuading them that the notion of a ‘Chorus’ need not necessarily represent a betrayal of their musical integrity.
One of the things I really like about After The Snow is that the tracks come across as quite complicated, for example part way through the track all the instruments would go silent except for the bass, or the keyboards and then the whole band would come back in again, or the drums would stop and then start again later. Did you give them the idea for this?
Fragmentation = interesting. If you play at eleven for long enough, it just doesn’t sound like eleven anymore.
'I Melt With You' has become an enduring 80's classic in the US. When you first heard it did you think it would be a hit and what influence did you have on the development of this track?
Mick played me the first two chords of what would become the chorus and said the band weren’t sure about taking it any further because they were concerned it might be too commercial. I told him they were out of their minds.
Do you have any specific enduring memories from recording the 'After The Snow' album?
Not much sleep.
What do you remember about the characters of the band back then? Who were the ones mostly involved in the song writing?
I think most of the original sketches came from a combination of Mick, Gary and Robbie (in no particular order)Were there any, tracks the band had written for After The Snow which weren't recorded?
I don’t think so. Noone will ever persuade me that the version of ‘Face of Wood really works, so, given this was 4AD, I think we just ran out of time and budget.
How much were you involved in selecting tracks for singles and did you do the ‘Extended mix’ for the 12” version of ‘Life In The Gladhouse’?
Not at all. Though, if no-one had considered ‘I Melt With You’, I probably would have had to kill myself. Yup, 12” version of ‘Gladhouse’ rings a bell, though, to be honest, club mixes weren’t really my forte.
Were there any mixes/recordings of tracks which didn't get release (for example there were two recordings of 'I Melt With You', one which was released on the album and the other on the single)?
Not that I remember. We went into Utopia studios to do a 7” mix of ‘I Melt With You’ where we edited out one of the drop ‘The future’s…’ bits and I added some harmony vocal earlier in the arrangement for the benefit of radio. But that’s all I remember.Which is your favourite ‘After The Snow’ track and why?
I have really good memories of the whole process, whether it be the digital delay on the bass, drums and percussion in ‘Gladhouse’ or recording a flute played by a weird little American girl on ‘Carry Me Down’ at six in the morning. Actually, I like the faux-grandeur of ‘Someone’s Calling’. It was the first track we recorded and I think it may have convinced the band I might possibly know what I was doing.
The band state that you were very influential in developing their sound. When you first heard the band what were the songs like and what did you do to get them to change their sound?
I think the band would agree that I succeeded in persuading them that the notion of a ‘Chorus’ need not necessarily represent a betrayal of their musical integrity.
One of the things I really like about After The Snow is that the tracks come across as quite complicated, for example part way through the track all the instruments would go silent except for the bass, or the keyboards and then the whole band would come back in again, or the drums would stop and then start again later. Did you give them the idea for this?
Fragmentation = interesting. If you play at eleven for long enough, it just doesn’t sound like eleven anymore.
'I Melt With You' has become an enduring 80's classic in the US. When you first heard it did you think it would be a hit and what influence did you have on the development of this track?
Mick played me the first two chords of what would become the chorus and said the band weren’t sure about taking it any further because they were concerned it might be too commercial. I told him they were out of their minds.
Do you have any specific enduring memories from recording the 'After The Snow' album?
Not much sleep.
What do you remember about the characters of the band back then? Who were the ones mostly involved in the song writing?
I think most of the original sketches came from a combination of Mick, Gary and Robbie (in no particular order)Were there any, tracks the band had written for After The Snow which weren't recorded?
I don’t think so. Noone will ever persuade me that the version of ‘Face of Wood really works, so, given this was 4AD, I think we just ran out of time and budget.
How much were you involved in selecting tracks for singles and did you do the ‘Extended mix’ for the 12” version of ‘Life In The Gladhouse’?
Not at all. Though, if no-one had considered ‘I Melt With You’, I probably would have had to kill myself. Yup, 12” version of ‘Gladhouse’ rings a bell, though, to be honest, club mixes weren’t really my forte.
Were there any mixes/recordings of tracks which didn't get release (for example there were two recordings of 'I Melt With You', one which was released on the album and the other on the single)?
Not that I remember. We went into Utopia studios to do a 7” mix of ‘I Melt With You’ where we edited out one of the drop ‘The future’s…’ bits and I added some harmony vocal earlier in the arrangement for the benefit of radio. But that’s all I remember.Which is your favourite ‘After The Snow’ track and why?
I have really good memories of the whole process, whether it be the digital delay on the bass, drums and percussion in ‘Gladhouse’ or recording a flute played by a weird little American girl on ‘Carry Me Down’ at six in the morning. Actually, I like the faux-grandeur of ‘Someone’s Calling’. It was the first track we recorded and I think it may have convinced the band I might possibly know what I was doing.
