Joe Meek

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Joe Meek ( Robert George Meek , born April 5, 1929 in Newent , Gloucestershire , † February 3, 1967 in Islington ) was a British music producer , songwriter and owner of a record company .

Career

Joe Meek showed an early interest in technology as a child. Even during his school days, after taking lessons, he worked in an electronics store. Joe Meek began working for the RAF as a radar technician in 1948 . There he expanded his knowledge, which then enabled him to build his own television and tape recorder . He used the tape recorder for recording experiments. He worked as a television technician before he got his first job as a sound engineer at the International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC Studios) in 1954 , which in addition to pop music also produced many recordings for the English program on Radio Luxembourg . Apart from Star Sound, IBC was the only independent recording studio in London. Here he was employed as a sound engineer for Radio Luxemburg's "People Are Funny" road show in 1956 and was promoted to chief sound engineer, although he had no musical ear (he could not distinguish between pitches perfectly). He first worked as a sound engineer in September 1955 for Gary Miller's British version of The Yellow Rose of Texas (Pye-Nixa N 15004). His first assignment in the role of the sound engineer responsible for balance under producer Alyn Ainsworth (orchestra leader of the orchestra named after him) was for the orchestral pop collection Film Themes in October 1955. He leveled It for the great star of US blues Big Bill Broonzy Feels So Good (LP Tribute To Big Bill ) in October 1955. In August 1956 he was a sound engineer for Chris Barbers Jailhouse Blues (EP That Patterson Girl Vol. 2 ). On October 10, 1956, the LP Plays (Vol. 3) was recorded for Chris Barber , on which one of the early versions of Petite fleur was included. Joe Meek is mentioned on the cover of the LP as the sound engineer responsible for the balance. In this role he was responsible for many recordings of British trad jazz: He made recordings with Chris Barber (LPs Chris Barber Special 1956, Jazz Parade Vol. I ; 1958), Alex Welsh ( Dixieland to Duke ; 1957), Acker Bilk ( Acker's Way ; 1959) and Terry Lightfoot ( More Terry ; 1959).

producer

Humphrey Lyttelton - Bad Penny Blues

He got his first producer job for Humphrey Lytteltons Bad Penny Blues , which, unlike all other songs recorded by the jazz band at Abbey Road Studios and produced by George Martin , was created in the IBC studios. Denis Preston acted as the official producer , but he did not intervene. When recorded on April 20, 1956, Meek violated pretty much all conservative rules of contemporary recording art when he recorded the tracks Bad Penny Blues / Close Your Eyes . He overdriven the drums being played with the broom, provided it with an echo and caused the left half of the piano to be reproduced in a distorted manner due to the placement of the microphone. While conventional jazz recordings conveyed the impression that the rhythm section was felt rather than heard, Meek overemphasized the drums. He also compressed the entire recording, causing the basses to cross over into the piano and trumpet parts . As a result, the sound was compressed more than was previously the case with jazz recordings. Official producer Preston said that the punchy drum sound created by Meek helped make the Bad Penny Blues the first British jazz record to get into the top 20 with a 19th place. It remained Lyttelton's only hit and was also Meek's first hit parade as a producer. On January 25, 1957, Meek worked as a sound engineer in the production (Denis Preston) of the live performance of Lonnie Donegan when he gave his famous concert in Conway Hall (LP Donegan on Stage ). Of the 15 recordings, the title Cumberland Gap was re-recorded in the studio on February 24, 1957 (without Meek) and released as a single in April 1957, which reached the top of the British charts.

New recording studio

In September 1957 Meek left the IBC and founded Landsdowne Recording Studios with Denis Preston in December 1957 , which he set up largely himself with his technical skills. The core of this is a 12-channel mixer he designed with an equalizer on each channel (unique at the time) and two used stereo decks from EMI that he installed . Meek provided the studio with stereo equipment in 1959. A Meek production from the Landsdowne Studios developed into a mean hit. Mike Preston's Mr. Blue climbed to twelfth place in October 1957. The successes encouraged Meek, but brought him into conflict with studio owner Preston because he made negative comments about the productions of his employer Preston. As the conflicts increased, Preston fired Joe Meek in November 1959.

Own recording studio

At a time when EMI and Decca were dominating the UK record market and Pye had to assert itself in niche markets, Joe Meek founded an independent record company with Triumph Records . He found a financial supporter in William Barrington-Coupe who helped him found the company on February 25, 1960. Triumph Records was officially registered on March 31, 1960, but the first record was released as Triumph 1000 as early as February 1960 by Peter Jay & Blue Men under the title Just Too Late / Friendship . Besides the Flee-Rekkers with the title Green Jeans (Triumph RGM 1008) with a rank 23 and Michael Cox with the title Angela Jones (composed by John D. Loudermilk for Johnny Ferguson) with a rank seven (Triumph # 1011; May 1960) In the British charts, no title from Triumph could reach the hit parade.

  • Peter Jay & Blue Men - Just Too Late

  • Michael Cox - Angela Jones

  • John Leyton - Johnny Remember Me

  • Tornadoes - Telstar

On September 12, 1960, Meek also founded RGM Sound Production in his rented apartment. The attic room on the third floor served as an echo chamber , the other rooms fulfilled several functions. At RGM he used a used two-track Danish TR16 tape recorder in which Meek synchronized the recording and playback heads.

To fill Triumph's record catalog, he needed song material, for which he hired Geoffrey "Geoff" Goddard, and a promoter, which he found in a young Robert Stigwood . Goddard shared Meek's preferences for science fiction , horror and anything to do with the supernatural. Also, both were fanatical admirers of Buddy Holly . Both were immediately successful: Stigwood discovered John Leyton , handsome with a moderate voice, Goddard wrote the death song Johnny, Remember Me for him . Leyton's vocal inadequacies were masked by multiple reverbs and strong overdrive and, with a fast beat and heavy overdubbing, made for the studio's first number one after its release in July 1961. In June 1960, Meek left Triumph Records , ending with Triumph in October 1960 1030 the short-lived history of the label. Meek produced the big hits in his recording studio, which was equipped with used equipment, for other record labels, in particular Decca, Pye and Top Rank Records.

The instrumental title Telstar , composed and produced by Joe Meek for the Tornados , became famous in August 1962 at the same time as the TV satellite of the same name and became a nearly seven-fold million seller at Decca , Meek's most successful hit as a composer and producer. Here Meek had intervened massively with the help of his production technology and alienated instruments and sound so much that Decca had initially refused to publish the song. He used effects such as limiting and compression at a high level, provided the melody guitar with a strong echo and - as is common in his productions - positioned the microphones directly on the instruments (“close miking”). Dissatisfied with the instrumentation of the tornadoes, Meek used a rare piano violin, played by Geoff Goddard, to carry the melody. It was a battery-powered, single-voice small keyboard. Its electronic sound was amplified by multiple overdubbing. Meek could not fully enjoy the success of the hit, because as early as March 1963 he was sued in Paris for alleged plagiarism . He won the trial because only four bars matched a 1960 film score.

Of Meek's productions, only one title achieved million-seller status, namely the first title, Have I the Right by the Honeycombs , written by Ken Howard & Alan Blaikley's team of authors . Also over-produced, with excessive foot-trampling in the wooden staircase and captured with five microphones (there are voices claiming that the model is the Dave Clark Five with Bits and Pieces ), the record became a top hit after its release in June 1964 and sold in England 250,000 times, a total of a million times worldwide. It was the last success for Meek, because meanwhile the Beatles , the Rolling Stones and other British beat groups had a firm grip on the market.

In the same year, the connection with Goddard broke. This was defeated in a court case in which Meek had to testify as a witness. From then on, Meek withdrew to his apartment and studio. Although he worked like a man possessed, he did not achieve any noteworthy successes. In 1967, the tax investigator appeared at Meek and issued an ultimatum demanding the disclosure of the accounts. It never came to that. On the anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, February 3, Meek committed suicide in his studio on Holloway Road after first shooting his landlady after an argument he had instigated.

Meek is considered one of the inventors of modern studio and recording effects in the UK. He was the first to use the technical possibilities to allow musicians to record individually and at different times. He then reworked the material for the final version - often to the point of overproduction. He used noises as a musical means of expression and alienated the sound of the instruments. So he cut z. B. on the front head of the kick drum , put carpets in it and placed a microphone in front of it, a practice that soon became commonplace. He intensified sound effects such as echo , reverb and compressor , anticipated the wah-wah effect and experimented with speed manipulation of the recordings and with sound playback as a forerunner of sampling technology .

death

Meek believed he could communicate with Buddy Holly through tape recordings and often held seances at Holly's grave. According to Patrick Pink, who was the last to see Meek alive, on the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, Meek Pink woke up and said he was "ready". Meek burned his personal belongings and documents. According to Pink's own account, she got Violet Shenton, the landlady of Meek's house, who lived below. While trying to calm Meek down, a dispute broke out in the course of which Meek shot and killed Violet Shenton with a shotgun that had been confiscated from Heinz Burt a month earlier. This fell down the stairs. Pink called out that Violet was dead. Meek reloaded the shotgun and shot himself. At the time of the crime, Meek was apparently suffering from paranoia and lack of sleep. Pink suspects that Meek hadn't planned Shenton's killing in advance.

statistics

During his short life, Meek has worked on almost 700 recordings, released 300 records, 45 of which made it into the UK Top 50 charts, and 25 singles made it into the UK Top 40. In 1963 alone, 14 Meek records were in the charts, but only three of them were top hits. Meek used sound effects to make his recordings more distinguishable from the orthodox records of the competition. This resulted in sometimes bizarre and sometimes surrealistic products with excessive saturation, limiting (throttling), compression or flanging. Meek was the first in England to use compressors not just to control dynamic range, but to create pressed and distorted effects. He turned the limiter up to the maximum to get the most intense tone levels on tape and used the natural compression behavior of tapes. For Meek, the sound was just as important as the song itself. "I hear a new world" was included on The Wire's legendary wirelist "100 Records That Set The World On Fire (While No One Was Listening)" .

literature

  • Werner Voss: The satellite from the 4-track tape machine - Joe Meek and his RGM sound . In: Gülden / Humann (eds.): Rock Session 2 - magazine of popular music . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1978.
  • John Repsch: The Legendary Joe Meek: The Telstar Man (Engl.). Cherry Red Books, 2000.
  • Barry Cleveland: Creative Music Production: Joe Meek's Bold Techniques USA, 2002.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Barry Cleveland, Creative Recording Techniques: Joe Meek's Bold Techniques , 2001, pp. 25f.
  2. ^ Gordon Thompson, Please Please Me, Sixties British Pop - Inside Out , 2008, p. 76.
  3. ↑ On October 13, 2006, Landsdowne Studios moved to larger premises in Watford
  4. ^ John Repsch, The Legendary Joe Meek: The Telstar Man , 2000, p. 95.
  5. ^ Gordon Thompson, Please Please Me, Sixties British Pop - Inside Out , 2008, p. 78.
  6. ↑ Mirror: Telstar man . August 25, 2007. Accessed May 16, 2010 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Meek, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meek, Robert George (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British record producer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Newent
DATE OF DEATH 3rd February 1967
Place of death London