Nigel Godrich
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Nigel Godrich, born in England in 1971, is a Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and record producer. He is best known for his work with the English alternative band Radiohead, but has also worked with acts such as Paul McCartney, Travis, Beck, Pavement, Air, Natalie Imbruglia, U2, and R.E.M. His production technique is notable for its dense "layers" of sound.[1]
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[edit] Work
[edit] Radiohead (1994-present)
Nigel Godrich is sometimes informally credited as the "sixth member" of Radiohead due to his longtime collaboration with the Oxford band. He has gained notice for helping to define Radiohead's distinct sound, which established them as one of the more acclaimed rock bands in the world during the 1990s and 2000s. He is younger than any member of Radiohead, a rare situation among producers for popular acts. When working on OK Computer at improvised studios without the close supervision of longtime veterans or record labels, both he and the band learned as they went along, ultimately crediting the open process with the record's success.
Godrich's first collaborations with Radiohead were on certain songs on the 1994 My Iron Lung EP, such as "The Trickster" and "Permanent Daylight". He went on to engineer Radiohead's second record The Bends (1995) and co-produced "Black Star" from the same album. Later in 1995, after the band found they got on well with him, he produced Radiohead's charity single "Lucky" (later to appear on OK Computer) as well as the track "Talk Show Host" ("Street Spirit" b-side and a fan-favourite).
Godrich has been co-credited with Radiohead as producer on every one of their albums since OK Computer (1997), on which he made his name. He also produced singer Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album The Eraser. According to recent band statements, Godrich is now working with the band again on Radiohead's seventh album, following their aborted recording sessions with mixer Mark "Spike" Stent.[citation needed]
As of December 2006 Godrich was in his third month of recording sessions with Radiohead on the band's as-yet-untitled seventh studio album to be released somewhere in 2007.
[edit] Beck and Travis (1998-present)
Godrich has collaborated with American singer-songwriter Beck several times, on Mutations (1998), Sea Change (2002) and The Information (2006). The former two of these albums, particularly the highly acclaimed Sea Change, were noted for their atmospheric folk/pop sound, a major departure from the sample-heavy, spontaneous style Beck was best known for. He has also worked with Travis thrice, producing the Scottish band's breakthrough The Man Who (1999), the follow-up The Invisible Band (2001) and on their forthcoming The Boy With No Name (2007), although the band has also worked with Brian Eno and Mike Hedges on the same album.
[edit] Other projects (1998-present)
Coming off his success with OK Computer, Godrich mixed most of R.E.M.'s largely electronic Up (1998) and Natalie Imbruglia's hit Left of the Middle. He also produced Pavement's final album Terror Twilight (1999).
Godrich received his greatest visibility in 2005 for his work on Paul McCartney's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, a job he got after being recommended by legendary Beatles producer George Martin. McCartney also admired Godrich's work with Radiohead, Travis and Beck. According to interviews, the idea of bringing in a younger producer was for McCartney to challenge himself, and accordingly Godrich fired McCartney's touring band on the first day's sessions, and demanded the star abandon songs Godrich felt to be clichéd, over-sentimental or subpar. The resulting album was nominated for several Grammys including Album of the Year, and Godrich was nominated for Producer of the Year. Time Magazine claimed it was McCartney's first worthwhile album since the breakup of The Beatles.
Godrich's partnership with British singer-songwriter Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) resulted in Regeneration (2001). In 2001, Godrich remixed U2's track "Walk On" for its single release. Godrich also mixed and contributed additional production on the French electronic pop band Air's 2004 comeback Talkie Walkie, and on the Band Aid 20 charity single in 2004.
Air's latest effort, Pocket Symphony, was released in early 2007 and again produced by Godrich. Godrich is also contributing production to the solo debut by Lovefoxxx, due later in 2007 and also featuring production work by Timbaland.
[edit] Awards
Godrich had been nominated several times previously for the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. In 2000 he won a Grammy Award for producing Best Alternative Album winner (and Album of the Year nominee) Radiohead's Kid A. In 2004 he won Best Engineered Album for Radiohead's Hail to the Thief.
[edit] From the Basement
In September 2006, it was announced that Godrich was shooting From the Basement, a new series for British television. It was to focus on intimate, live performances by musicians, with the first episode featuring The White Stripes, Thom Yorke and Four Tet. The second, reported to be in production, would feature Beck and Jamie Lidell. Because it was deemed too uncommercial without corporate sponsors, the series was reimagined as an Internet podcast television show, with individual videos available for purchase through iTunes and elsewhere. The first episode was available for download in December 2006.[2]
[edit] Discography
| Year | Album | Artist | Credits |
| 1991 | Superstition | Siouxsie and the Banshees | Assistant Engineer |
| 1992 | Vivienne McKone | Vivienne McKone | Assistant Engineer |
| 1993 | Buffalo Skinners | Big Country | Assistant Engineer |
| 1994 | Carnival of Light | Ride | Engineer |
| 1994 | Heitor | Heitor | Engineer |
| 1994 | My Iron Lung EP | Radiohead | Producer, Engineer |
| 1995 | The Bends | Radiohead | Engineer, Producer on one song ("Black Star") |
| 1995 | Feeling Mission | Harvest Ministers | Engineer |
| 1995 | Totally | Tee | Engineer |
| 1995 | Booth and the Bad Angel | Tim Booth & Angelo Badalamenti | Engineer |
| 1996 | English and French | Hopper | Engineer |
| 1996 | Sound of..McAlmont & Butler | McAlmont and Butler | Engineer, Assistant Engineer, Mixing |
| 1997 | OK Computer | Radiohead | Balance Engineer, Recording Technician (Producer) |
| 1997 | Silver Sun | Silver Sun | Producer |
| 1997 | Plagiarism | Sparks | Engineer |
| 1998 | Left of the Middle | Natalie Imbruglia | Mixing |
| 1998 | Mutations | Beck | Producer, Mixing |
| 1998 | Sisters in Pain | Jamaica | Engineer |
| 1998 | Try Whistling This | Neil Finn | Remixing, Mixing |
| 1998 | Up | R.E.M. | Mixing |
| 1999 | Can You Still Feel? | Jason Falkner | Engineer |
| 1999 | The Man Who | Travis | Producer, Mixing |
| 1999 | Terror Twilight | Pavement | Producer |
| 2000 | Kid A | Radiohead | Producer, Engineer, Mixing |
| 2001 | "Walk On (Single)" | U2 | Remixer |
| 2001 | Amnesiac | Radiohead | Producer, Engineer |
| 2001 | The Invisible Band | Travis | Producer, Mixing |
| 2001 | Regeneration | The Divine Comedy | Producer |
| 2002 | Rouge On Pockmarked Cheeks | Brazzaville | Producer, Mixing, String Ensemble, Fender Rhodes |
| 2002 | Sea Change | Beck | Producer, Engineer, Mixing, Synthesizer, Percussion, Keyboards |
| 2003 | City Reading (Tre Storie Western) | Air & Alessandro Baricco | Mixing |
| 2003 | Hail to the Thief | Radiohead | Editing, Mixing, Operation, Recording (Producer) |
| 2004 | Absent Friends | The Divine Comedy | Mixing |
| 2004 | Heroes to Zeros | The Beta Band | Mixing |
| 2004 | Talkie Walkie | Air | Producer, Engineer, Mixing |
| 2004 | When It Falls | Zero 7 | Guitar, Sounds |
| 2005 | "Do They Know It's Christmas?" | Band Aid 20 | Producer |
| 2005 | Chaos and Creation in the Backyard | Paul McCartney | Producer, Guitar Loops |
| 2005 | Guero | Beck | Mixing |
| 2005 | The Roads Don't Love You | Gemma Hayes | Mixing |
| 2006 | The Eraser | Thom Yorke | Producer, Mixing, Musician, Arranger |
| 2006 | 5:55 | Charlotte Gainsbourg | Producer, Mixing |
| 2006 | The Garden | Zero 7 | Acoustic guitar, Engineer |
| 2006 | The Information | Beck | Producer, Engineer, Mixing, Keyboards, Programming, Effects, Scratching, Tambourine, Percussion, Background Vocals, Speak 'n Spell Whistle, Tote A Tune, Kalimba, Drums, Game Boy |
| 2006 | Dad's Weird Dream | Silver Sun | Remixing |
| 2007 | Pocket Symphony | Air | Producer |
| 2007 | The Boy With No Name | Travis | Producer |
| 2007 | Luv 2 Luv U Foxxxy | Lovefoxxx | Producer |
| 2007 | Radiohead's seventh studio album | Radiohead | Producer |
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
| Radiohead |
| Thom Yorke | Jonny Greenwood | Ed O'Brien | Colin Greenwood | Phil Selway |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Pablo Honey | The Bends | OK Computer | Kid A | Amnesiac | Hail to the Thief | TBA |
| EPs: Manic Hedgehog | Drill | Itch | My Iron Lung | No Surprises/Running from Demons | Airbag/How Am I Driving? | I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings | COM LAG (2plus2isfive) Singles: Creep | Anyone Can Play Guitar | Pop Is Dead | Stop Whispering | My Iron Lung | High and Dry/Planet Telex | Fake Plastic Trees | Just | Street Spirit (Fade Out) | Paranoid Android | Karma Police | No Surprises | Pyramid Song | Knives Out | There There | Go to Sleep | 2 + 2 = 5 DVDs: Live at the Astoria | 7 Television Commercials | Meeting People Is Easy | The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time |
| Related articles |
| Covers of Radiohead songs | Dead Air Space | Nigel Godrich | Stanley Donwood | Trivia |
| Other projects |
| Bodysong | The Eraser | Spitting Feathers |
