Glyn Johns

Glyn Johns (born February 15, 1942 in Epsom , England ) is a British sound engineer and music producer who has been involved in the production of numerous important sound recordings since the 1960s and has played a key role in the development of British beat bands and their beat music .

Career

After graduating from school in 1959, Glyn Johns completed an apprenticeship in the renowned IBC studios in London as a tape technician and sound engineer . There he actually developed into a sound engineer for all productions related to rock and beat music. He spent four years here as a staff engineer, particularly with producer Shel Talmy .

Beat music

Glyn Johns was instrumental in the sound development of British beat bands and thus in the success of beat music. He is considered one of the discoverers of the Rolling Stones , because he produced the first five demo recordings of the still unknown Rolling Stones on March 11, 1963 in the IBC studios in London and presented them to the big Decca Records label , which they did with them on May 9 1963 signed a record deal. The first studio recordings were made there on July 9, 1963 with Johns as a sound engineer. He then assisted the music producer Shel Talmy on The Kinks hits You Really Got Me (July 1964; IBC Studios) and All Day and All of the Night (23 September 1964; Pye Recording Studios). For The Who he recorded I Can't Explain (November 1964; Pye-Studios), Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (April 13 and 14, 1964; IBC -Studios), My Generation (October 13, 1965; IBC ), between April and November 1965 he worked as a sound engineer on the Who LP My Generation . After an interim phase, the collaboration with The Who continued on hits such as Won't Get Fooled Again (April to May 1971 in the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio) and the album Who's Next (May to June 1971).

On March 5, 1965, Johns supervised the two early studio recordings I Pity the Fool and Take My Tip by David Bowie (then still as Davie Jones / The Manish Boys), on which Jimmy Page also participated. In another collaboration with Bowie (as Davy Jones & The Lower Third), You've Got a Habit of Leaving and Baby Loves that Way were created on August 20, 1965 .

Johns recorded the live performances of the Rolling Stones on a three-track device between March 5 and 16, 1965, from which the EP Got Live if You Want it emerged. He produced in the IBC studios until October 1966. From November 8, 1966 he was responsible for the album Between the Buttons in the Olympic Studios as a sound engineer and supervised five subsequent albums of the group. Johns used his editing technique on all of the Rolling Stones albums he produced at Olympic Studios. The group often left the sound aspects to him because they were happy with his results. "There's no doubt about it, Glyn Johns was one of the greatest engineers of all time," said Shel Talmy. Ritchie Yorke said something similar in his Led Zeppelin biography: "... he is trustworthy and competent."

Independent sound engineer

Glyn Johns became the UK's first independent sound engineer in October 1965 and remained the only one for a long time. He was no longer employed by the IBC studios, but was now allowed to work in all recording studios. So it happened that he carried out his work at IBC, Pye Recording Studios, Decca Studios, Abbey Road Studios or Olympic Studios. But the recording studios were initially reserved because his status violated the conservative ideas of employed sound engineers. At Olympic Studios, however, he was mainly active from October 1966. Soon he was the sound engineer preferred by some beat bands. He grew to be one of the preeminent sound engineers alongside Geoff Emerick of Abbey Road Studios.

The Beatles

His performance on The Beatles album Let It Be became known . In early March 1969, John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave Glyn Johns the thankless task of taking care of the completion of the album. Johns faced the problem of finding enough material that was suitable for publication from the uncompleted recordings that had been recorded over numerous hours - many of them chaotic and uninspired. Johns worked out several versions, whereby he wanted the recordings to sound as natural and "untreated" as possible. He also added many of the studio conversations that had been recorded during the recording sessions between the individual tracks to convey the atmosphere during the studio sessions. At the end of May 1969, Johns had created his first version. In December 1969, Johns was commissioned to create a new version of the album as a soundtrack to match the song material of the film of the same name. On January 5, 1970, Johns had created a new version of the album. This version could not convince the Beatles either and remained unpublished. Only the later revision by Phil Spector led to the publication on May 8, 1970. It is interesting that Johns' versions were honored in retrospect, because the revision and re-release of the Let It Be album under the title Let It Be… Naked was an orientation adhere to its original concept. Glyn Johns' opinion of Spector's version was clear, as he once said:

"I cannot bring myself to listen to the Phil Spector version of the album - I heard a few bars of it once, and was totally disgusted, and think it's an absolute load of garbage."

"I can't bring myself to listen to the Phil Spector version of the album - I heard a few bars and was totally disgusted, it's a big pile of rubbish for me."

- Glyn Johns, in an interview with the BBC in 1981.

Johns also directed the sound recording technology for the famous Beatles performance on the roof of Apple Studios (3 Savile Row) on January 30, 1969.

music producer

The artistic transitions from mere sound engineer to music producer were often fluid at Johns - as in other recording studios. Boz Scaggs praised Scaggs on the Sailor album (January 1968) : “During the production it turned out that Johns was much more than a sound engineer. He was a music producer like us and has brought the entire work together - even if he is not mentioned on the album cover. ”That changed with the production of the Steve Miller band album Children of the Future (April to June 1968), when Johns was the first to do so was mentioned as a music producer. Also at Brave New World for the Steve Miller Band in May 1969 in the Olympic Studios (only the song My Dark Hour , all others were produced by Johns at Sound Recorders in Hollywood) he was mentioned as a co-producer; Johns also played the guitar and acted as a background singer. For his work on Led Zeppelin's debut album Led Zeppelin (1969) he was only named as a sound engineer, while Jimmy Page claimed the production for himself. Johns disagreed with this and saw his influence on the album as essential. He didn't work with the group again. The Eagles let him produce their debut album Eagles with the single Take It Easy (February 1972); Glyn Johns created a new format in country rock . The Eagles' album On the Border ran into difficulties. While the band tried harder sounds in the recording sessions, the music producer Glyn Johns was replaced by Bill Szymczyk after the recordings for the two tracks You Never Cry like a Lover and Best of My Love and the sessions were moved to the recording studios of the Record Plant in Los Angeles relocated. The reason for the change was that Johns emphasized the country elements and harmonies in the production, while Frey and Henley intended a harder sound. As a music producer he is also on the Rolling Stones LP Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (January to April 1970) mentioned. From 1976 to 1979, Johns was a producer for Joan Armatrading . In the late 1970s, Johns produced the albums Slowhand (May 1977) and Backless (November 1978) for Eric Clapton . This was followed in particular by Midnight Oil ( Places Without a Postcard ; 1981), New Model Army ( The Ghost of Cain ; 1986), Crosby, Stills and Nash ( After the Storm ; January 27 to July 1, 1994), Joe Satriani ( Joe Satriani ; 1995) or Bill Wyman ( Struttin 'Our Stuff ; 1997). He produced John Hiatt's album Slow Turning in Nashville (May 20 to June 6, 1988), for two years his album Stolen Moments (June 1990) and Ryan Adam's album Ashes & Fire - almost 70 years old - in the Sunset Sound Factory in Hollywood (August to September 2011).

In the years 2015 and 2016 Johns reunited with Clapton together at the 23rd studio album I Still Thu .

Others

Glyn Johns has a son, Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (* 1969), who also works as a sound engineer and music producer. On April 14, 2012, Glyn Johns was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for excellent work in the recording studio.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dave Marsh, Before I Get Old. The Story of The Who , 1983, p. 147.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} David N. Howard, Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings , 2004, pp. 131f.
3. ^ Dave Marsh, Before I Get Old: The Story of The Who , 1983. p. 148.
4. ^ Ritchie Yorke, The Led Zeppelin Biography , 1976, p. 58.
5. ^ Studio Sound, Volume 41, Issues 7-12, 1999, p. 48.
6. ^ John C. Winn, That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966-1970 , 2009, p. 243.
7. ^ Dave Thompson: Wall of Pain: The Life of Phil Spector . London: Omnibus Press. P. 167.
8. ↑ Ulrich Spieß, Rockbands , 2000, p. 173.
9. ↑ Steve Miller Band: Brave New World, accessed September 12, 2011.
10. ^ David N. Howard, Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings , 2004, pp. 137f.
11. ↑ John Einarson, Desperados: The Roots of Country-Rock , 2001, p. 226 f.
12. ^ William Ruhlmann: On the Border - Eagles: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards: AllMusic. In: allmusic.com. Rovi Corp., accessed January 1, 2013 . 
13. ↑ Inductees: Glyn Johns on Rockhall.com, accessed May 7, 2012.