(CelebrityAccess) Audio trade magazine PSN Europe recently sat down with famed producer Hugh Padgham to talk with him prior to Padgham receiving the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music at MPG Awards, which takes place at London’s Grosvenor House Feb. 28.
Padgham’s revered career in the UK includes more than 150 million units bearing his name sold worldwide, and his engineering, mixing and producing skills have been used to make records for acts like David Bowie, Sting, The Police, Genesis, and Phil Collins.
Padgham was asked what one of the biggest changes has been over the years.
“Going from analogue to digital, undoubtedly,” he said. “There was nothing to overcome other than digital didn’t sound as good as analogue to start with (and even though it’s obviously much better now, I still believe well recorded analogue sounds better).”
He was also asked about his ideal studio setup.
“These days it is to have very good microphones and mic amps (nice old Neve 1084s for instance), and very high quality A to D converters so that I have the best possible signal path into Pro Tools.”
As for the so-called “bedroom producer”:
“The fact that almost anyone can have their own studio for very little money compared to the analogue era is a really wonderful and liberating thing. However, because people are o en on their own and send files to people (who are probably also on their own) to overdub, for instance, for me, takes away the camaraderie and, very o en, humour and banter that makes making records such fun. Also creative accidents tend to happen less.”
The full interview is available here.
