Welcome Legendary Rec. Engineer Mike Ross (Hendrix, PG's Fleetwood Mac, the Who, etc)

Much to my surprise I learnt yesterday that Mike has been a member of this forum for nearly a year and has been a regular poster as well.

It's hard to find a complete overview of Mike's work online, but in short:
Mr. Ross operated a studio the CBS studio New Bond Street, London by himself through the most part of the 60's.
He got to record nearly all of Fleetwood Mac's early recordings which appeared on Blue Horizon (and also pretty much everything else that appeared on that label).
He recorded the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Dec. 1966 (these sessions yielded the studio versions of Foxey Lady & the UK version of Red House).
He recorded the basic track of 'I can See for Miles' by the Who and possibly more.
He recorded Paul Mccartney (not sure where or what, you'll have to ask).
Mike also recorded quite a number of pop artists who were under contract of CBS UK in the 60's. In the 70's he moved away from pop/rock to recording classical music (orchestra's and film music).
As far as I know, Mike has been running the former CBS studio at least up untill the mid-nineties.

I'm sure this briefly worded bio does not really does the man's career justice, but it is a starting point. Prior to starting this thread I have asked Mr. Ross for his approval and he told me that he's more than happy to share stories about the recordings he made.

I for one am very interested in what Mike has to tell us. I hope he can give us a bit more background on how he got the job and how he recorded Fleetwood Mac. There's is already an interesting piece in the Ultimate Hendrix book by John Mcdermott which details the two days the Experience stayed at the CBS studio. I'll try to get that scanned one of these days.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the Forum!

I'd love to read those earlier posts. Is the username Mike Ross?

 

Welcome indeed! Quite an honor.

 

Mike worked with Mark Wirtz (Teenage Opera) when Wirtz was still a budding young producer - Mike brought the Spector sound with him. He described some incredible recording sessions to me... instruments in hallways, crazy stuff. Amazing engineer. Listen to his early/mid-60s work and you can't believe it was recorded 40 plus years ago in not so optimal conditions.

I believe this amazing Ray Singer single is Mike's handy work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duMcZjxfJSM

 

If you're searching for him on the web its Mike Ross-Trevor.

Here's his info on Discogs:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mike+Ross-Trevor#p=1&t=Credits_All

 

Thanks! Do you know his username on the Hoffman Forum?

 

No. I didn't even know he was here.

I interviewed him a number of years ago about his early work with Mark Wirtz and Ember, CBS etc. Very nice man with tons of interesting stories. Hope he see this thread... assuming its really the same Mike Ross.

 

mikrt17

 

Welcome to SHF, Mike. Glad to have you here.

 

Welcome and an honor to have such talent here!

 

Welcome to the Forum!

 

welcome Mike....if I had known who you were before, I would not have trashed you like I have, for the past almost a year now

 

Here's another early Mike Ross/Wirtz collaboration, this time its Russ Loader - a Gene Pitney sound-a-like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzuscz5y2DI

And a 14 year old, Dany Chandelle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlViKpJ3Abo&feature=related

 

FYI, this is the post that basically "outed" Mike on the forum.

 

Hi Guys .......MarkF is not kidding you I am the same Mike Ross (Mike Ross-Trevor) who recorded all the items mentioned ....I'm always around on this forum and ready to talk.

 

Hi Mike! I've been going through an incredible Byrds phase lately, and I was wondering if you had any stories about the recording of the Byrds's last album, Farther Along. Everything I've read implies how Farther Along was a reaction the the production Terry Melcher did on the album Byrdmaniax. Could you give an indication of the general attitude the guys had in recording this stripped-down follow-up? Did they give you very much input during the sessions? Was it a basic engineering job for you, or were you more of a engineer/producer on it? Thanks very much! I have been enjoying your work for quite a while..

 

Hi Mike -- I love your 60's recordings with Mark Wirtz. Here's what Mark once said about "A Touch Of Velvet - A Sting Of Brass":

"In the studio, we had one run-through, Mike Ross did one of his ingenius 'instant balance-mix' fader acrobatics, Ladybirds Maggie, Gloria, Marian and Barbara puckered up, and we recorded the thing live in one take."

 

That's cool...

 

Hi Mike! We met in London in 2004 at the Spectropop party. I always thought that maybe I surprised you by wanting to talk about all those more obscure projects like the stuff you did with Mark Wirtz.

The thing that strikes me about those Wirtz productions is how clear and BIG the percussion is. It's one thing to have multiple drums and percussion parts like Spector but often it comes out muddy. Those parts are crystal clear and they translate on record. I assume that you did most of the recording live in that period like you did on Touch of Velvet?

After I saw your name again I played some of the ones that didn't make it onto YouTube like Sheila & Jenny "But Please Don't Break Her Heart". Those things are all out on CD now!!

One thing though... Wirtz worked with some of the worst singers ever. He admits that he didn't pay attention to the quality of the vocals as much as the recording of the track.

 

The 45 version (not to be confused with the stereo re-recording done later):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c50IdwvGuRw

 

I've got the original 45rpm single, but I've never heard the Studio 2 Stereo LP.

However, there is a stereo version on the Instrumental Memories double CD whose similarity to the 45 is uncanny.

It is a superb single!

 

Welcome to the Forum. Hope to read some cool stories from your work.

 

I am not aware there was a later stereo recording the only later re-issue that I am aware of is a stereo re-mix for the Studio Two album which was done at Abbey Road and not by me ..........I did mix a stereo version at the same time I mixed the mono single version but this was not used for the Studio Two album, according to Mark Wirtz they had to remix the track to match it to the other titles on the album which were much more conventional in sound.