DC meets Geoff Emerick
AES is the Audio Engineering Society, the professional organization (http://aes.org/) that is a wealth of information and the center of the audio engineers’ universe. They put on a couple trade shows every year and I’ve been going to them since I was a student member a LONG time ago.
But it’s been years since I’ve been to one, opting to go to the NAMM Show (National Association of Music Merchants) as it’s held in Anaheim in January and is much more comprehensive of the total music scene.
Nonetheless, it was great to walk the aisles at the Moscone Center and see many friends and business associates who rep the various companies. I came across many of my old crew from the Capitol Studios days, including Nick Dofflemeyer and Peter Doell, as well as Leslie Ann Jones. Leslie and I first worked together in San Francisco at David Rubinson’s studio, The Automatt, working on “Frankie Beverly & Maze”. A wonderfully warm and talented engineer, she now heads up the studio at Skywalker Ranch. We reconnected with Maureen Droney, another engineer from the Automatt days, at the party she was co-hosting, ironically, across the street from the where the Automatt used to be! Maureen heads up the Producers & Engineers Wing of the The Recording Academy.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Geoff Emerick is the man behind the board who engineered the Beatles from “Revolver” through “Sergeant Pepper”, and “Abbey Road” Yeah... that guy! Pretty huge...
He was at the after party put on by SPARS and The Recording Academy, where Alan Parsons received an award. I had to take the opportunity to let him know personally how much his efforts were appreciated. And I couldn’t resist the opportunity to snap a photo. Only another engineer knows what we go through to make it happen in the studio. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at those sessions! I must’ve spent hundreds of hours as a young spud, wearing headphones, trying to figure out those records.
Geoff shared with me that he recently completed a re-recording of “Sergeant Peppers” using the original vintage gear but utilizing the talents of contemporary bands like Oasis, The Killers, Travis, and Razorlight.
AES SFO 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
