Questions For Tony Visconti

Hello Mr. Visconti. I've admired your work since the first time I heard Space Oddity many, many years ago. My favorite albums you produced would have to be Ziggy Stardust and The Man Who Sold the World. I have two sort of related questions. What musicians you haven't worked with from the classic rock era do you admire? Also, which other producers' work from the same era do you admire?

 

I can't add high end to the acoustic guitar without thinking of the Ziggy album. Great production!

What (if any) production value (or lack of) do you think is the most painfully prevelent or over-used in popular music overall? In other words, are there any common techniques that grate on you when you hear them?

One of mine would be: shimmery reverb on drum machines.

Peace Love and THANK YOU, Mr. Visconti
Marky

 

Hi Tony,

Glad to have you with us first of all.

Just curious, what's your prfered way to listen to Bowie these days? Original vinyl, CD, SACD etc.?

 

Thank you very much for your great answers, Tony. My favourite Visconti productions are Bowie's Low and ''Heroes''. I haven't heard those sounds anywhere else.

I'd love to know your opinion on two very different producers: one classic one-band-only producer, George Martin (also your opinion on the new Love album mixes by -mainly- his son; it would be great to hear something like that on Bowie, remixed by TV, of course); and one current producer with a different 'taste', John Parish.

Cheers!

 

Welcome to the forum! I'm a big fan of your work, and the artists you work with. I'm impressed that's there's really no "Visconti sound." You seem to go for what's right for the artist. One common thread, though, is that even the most far-out tracks sound organic and uncluttered. There's a "realness" to your work, and for that, I thank you.

 

Wow, Tony Visconti... Thanks for being here!

 

Tony, do you think having to work a bit harder back then to get those "magical" sounds was part of them ending up "magical" and may have added to it all, in comparison to relative ease in getting things done with current technology? What about the sound of the older equipment/tape decks/etc.?

 

Hi Tony,

It's an honor having you here!

You mentioned your mentor, Denny Cordell...did you work on any of the early Procol Harum recordings that he was involved with?

 

Dear Tony,

Many thanks for your remarks regarding the Morrissey 'Ringleader' sessions. I'm sure many fans are curious about Morrissey in the studio, and your remarks (whilst clearly respecting Morrissey's privacy) were very insightful.

Thankyou.

 

Welcome, Tony!

Jeez! So much for all of these guys being forced by the marketing departments to squash dynamics.

Do you ever hear any other producers complain about it?

Do you think the loudness madness will ever end?

Thanks!

 

Hopefully, said mastering engineer did what you asked, or did you need to sack him?

Derek

 

I just saw Richard last night. It's been really hard to syncronise since we're both very busy. I think we'll get to finish it this year for sure. There are amazing tracks to be finished.

 

The Oblique Strategies deck of cards is like an artistic Tarot Deck. We used it sparingly, as the purpose is to stimulate the creative mind by cutting the deck, read the intructions, either obey or disregard it -- either way the deck was a catalyst for what you were about to do. It was fun -- and a good read!

 

Any chance of you doing more 5.1 work on any more Bowie Hi Res releases??[/QUOTE]

No plans, as of this moment. I'd love to get my hands on the "trilogy" tapes. DTS financed Stage and David Live. I guess the mixing and packaging costs are too prohibitive to release such a small interest amount. It's sad. We have the technology we've dreamed of for years and the big seller is MP3s.

 

"Over the years I rarely see anyone mention that you produced the Iveys (later Badfinger) “Maybe Tomorrow” album. Any stories that come to mind that you’d like to share? How did the process of this album evolve.? I understand that they had quite a bit of songs written by this point. Also how did you get involved with these guys?"

My boss Denny Cordell spent two days in the studio with them and gave up on them -- he didn't like them. As his assistant I stayed on to produce their early songs, including "Maybe Tomorrow." I have related a funny episode in my book where Paul McCartney drops in unexpectedly and my heart almost leaps out of my chest. He said he went to Trident by accident, but he hung around to check us out. He started to make mixing suggestions which were opposed my the band and me, so he muttered that he'd better find out where the "boys" were recording that day - the "boys" being the rest of the Beatles.

"Also wondering how the (very few) overdubs on the “Born To Boogie” soundtrack came about. I mean who thought these should be added?"

Every live album has overdubs. Today U2 uses about 30 prerecorded tracks on some when they play live, don't you know that live embellishment goes on? With T.Rex the band were bad backing singers so Marc and I redid the backing vocals. He also wanted to fatten his guitar by adding a second one. We did realitively few overdubs compared to what some other people do.

In the case of David Bowie's Stage, that was a completely live album, including the lead vocals. Everyone in his line up were excellent and they sang spot on backing vocals.

"One more, what is David Bowie’s involvement with these surround mixes that you’ve been working on?"

Very little. When they're finished he comes in a listens to it all and is really amazed by the sound. I try to faithfully match the original stereo balance but I do improve the EQ on these surround mixes.

"Thanks for taking time to humor us, and also what to thank you for the “Electric Warrior” surround mix. I just love how faithful sounding it is. I often cuddle up to the back speakers to hear the backing vocals on ‘Monolith’, gets me every time!!"

Lovely, thank you.

Tony

 

First of all, the illustrious Ken Scott produced Ziggy Stardust. I mixed the movie.

I love Traffic and Led Zep, gosh, so much music from the 70s was just great.

Chris Thomas was a truly great producer, so was Roy Thomas Baker. Paul Samwell-Smith did my favourite Cat Stevens records -- they sound fresh and modern today.

 

You must address that comment to the illustrious Ken Scott. I didn't produce that album.

The compressor is the most overused and misused piece of gear.

 

In person (I just couldn't resist it).

Since all my Bowie's vinyls are at my ex-wives homes I think anything else sounds great. It depends on who mastered the albums, not the medium.

 

I'm very adaptable. If I hear a sound in my head I can get it any number of ways, it's not specific gear dependent for me. I always said that Eric Clapton woud sound like himself on a Fender Squier. You can fill a room to the ceiling with expensive, vintage gear, but if you don't know what you're doing nothing great will come of it.

Having said that, every piece of gear has a sound personality -- the high end stuff less of a sound and the low end more of a sound. There are certain microphones that truly amaze me, one is the Telefunken Elan 251. It is my favourtie vocal mic ever. Urei 1176s just work well with little fiddling. Some recent plug ins really work, especially the Oxford and GML plugs. Wow.

 

Hi Tony. Thanks again for taking the time to do this!

Another question for you. You mention in your book that when you met John Lennon during the Young Americans sessions you you asked him about the "Hard Day's Night Chord". Now, first I'd like to congratulate you for the presence of mind to actually ask him such a great question!

But my question is: Did John show you the chord ... and secondly, was it the right chord (if you can recall)?

 

I was the assitant producer on Shine On Brightly, supervising many sessions in Denny's absence (he was off producing The Move). I completely produced the track "Magdelene, My Regal Zonophone."

 

John was one of the most open human beings I've ever met. He inspired me to be the same. He showed me the chord he played, what a guy!

 

Hi Tony, (a belated) welcome to our forum and thanks for joining up!

I loved your book and was wondering if there is a dedicated website for it--if not, there should be. Too bad I don't do web design...

Oh, one other quick question, Tony--did you take any photographs of the Berlin Wall from Kötherner Strasse, where the main Hansa Tonstudios is located? It would make a nice addendum webpage illustration for your book.

Folks, I cannot recommend this book enough! It's not your average "All You Need Is Ears"-type read that you might expect from an 'A-list' studio guru like TV--along with some great recording details, you get some great insight into Italian-American communities in the post-WW2 years, and then you get his 'youthful close encounters with the Mafia @ the Catskills' scene (a real hair-raiser of a tale, closely followed by the scene at the Army Induction Center). There are loads of priceless observations about certain rock elite, about Joe Cocker, Bolan, Eddie Kramer, Tom Verlaine, Thin Lizzy and countless others.

VW

 

I won! Are you kidding? There is a pecking order in Rock.

Artist
Producer
Engineer
Mastering engineer

I would have appreciated it if the Mastering Engineer was looking out for the artist's reputation, as I do, but the selfish reasoning was absurd.

 

Ha Cha Cha! Thank you so much. I am about to write up a big article dedicated to my book for my website www.tonyvisconti.com, with more photos.

There are plenty of photos left over from the book. It's so hard to keep up a website if you're a working guy. It was an incredibly hard task to write the book whilst I was in production. I'd do a couple of hours at night, speak to Richard Havers in the morning after I'd zap my last ramblings to him. In the end I had to take a month off from work to just finish the book. Writing is fun, but it's definitely extracurricular luxury.






I loved your book and was wondering if there is a dedicated website for it--if not, there should be. Too bad I don't do web design...

Oh, one other quick question, Tony--did you take any photographs of the Berlin Wall from Kötherner Strasse, where the main Hansa Tonstudios is located? It would make a nice addendum webpage illustration for your book.

Folks, I cannot recommend this book enough! It's not your average "All You Need Is Ears"-type read that you might expect from an 'A-list' studio guru like TV--along with some great recording details, you get some great insight into Italian-American communities in the post-WW2 years, and then you get his 'youthful close encounters with the Mafia @ the Catskills' scene (a real hair-raiser of a tale, closely followed by the scene at the Army Induction Center). There are loads of priceless observations about certain rock elite, about Joe Cocker, Bolan, Eddie Kramer, Tom Verlaine, Thin Lizzy and countless others.

VW[/QUOTE]