Roy Thomas Baker Int.

Rip It Up, Issue 57, 1 April 1982, Page 8

Roy Thomas Baker Int.

Duncan Campbell

Heads turn to look at the man who walks into the restaurant at the South Pacific Hotel. Dressed in red track suit and yellow clogs, with green and red hair, r he's not a regular sight on a, i Sunday afternoon. ~ The man is Roy Thomas Baker, best known for producing Queen and the Cars, and currently <vorking with Cheap Trick. His heavy, grandiose productioni style has helped create more than a handful of hits.

He's been here for a couple of weeks, running a production seminar at Harlequin Studios, assisted by the Queen Elizabeth Arts Council. Baker wanted to be constructive, but was quick to point out where things were lacking.

"Some people just needed brushing up on international techniques, while there were others who didn't even know what a studio was like until they went on this course. It's been quite interesting as far as we're concerned, but I think a lot of it might have fallen on stony ground." Baker was accompanied on the visit by his engineer, lan Taylor. Baker knows his way around a mixing desk, but seldom touches it, preferring to listen and make suggestions.

"You're teaching people who probably aren't too advanced in recording," says Taylor. "It's very difficult to teach a person recording anyway, because it's something you have to do, it's all down to practice. On an artistic level it's been dull because it isn't really creative recording.

"When we make a record, we create in the studio," says Baker. "It's like painting a picture, and it's very hard on this level to show people how to be creative. It doesn't matter how well you teach someone, they can't be a

Picasso if they haven't got it; inside them to do it." "I hope' they . learn • something out of it," says Taylor. "It had shock value, if anything.- \ . T "I think we worked the equip-: ment to. its fullest, to the extent where the people who were in the 1 ’ studio thought',we were going to blow it up. We drove it like a Ferrari; even though it's basically .a ; Fo'rd."-."‘i^^B^pSWHiMWW . ' NZ ? recordings have been notorious for their lack of depth, ■. something Baker puts down to a combination of . technical shortcomings and a somewhat timid, 'attitude. "When we started here, we did ' it the way we're used to doing it,, with the sound very hard and loud and upfront, with lots of . rumbly bottom and lots of treble. But people were actually soffended. They walked out because it hurt their ears. But that's the way it's got to sound in the control room, to come across .’on , a little radio. That's what they've got to work for." " Baker and Taylor were also perturbed by the apparent dislike musicians here have of producers, and vice versa. There, seems to v '' be this kanimosity, and a bit of a void between the technical people and the musical people," says Taylor. '.'l've, never seen anything like ft," says Baker. "We were workf ing with musicians and songs we'd never heard before. But under “normal ’ circumstances, when we decide to work with someone, /we| not only see whether we can work with them personally, but we also listen to some of their new songs. There's this exchange of ideas. It could be a good four months or. so before we actually get into the record. We work very closely with the bands that we have to work with. For instance, we're now doing Cheap Trick, and they're actually re-writing songs in the studio, which is a good idea anyway. We're up. t 026 songs now, just to get 10 songs off. And that's a -good way of working." Are musicians afraid of studios? "Maybe - the first . time, but basically, the people we work with have got their own eighttracks at home, and they do their . own demos. . Because of that, they know what they can do and

what they can't do." "•"Asa musician these days, you have to be aware of the technical aspect," says Taylor. "It's a very important part." ‘ •" The key to Baker's success lies in his judgement as a listener. He describes his role in the studio as that ■of a layman, listening ias a non-musician ' (he plays no instruments) to see if things sound right. ' He recorded D.D. Smash, Blam Blam Blam and the Garage Crawlers, but while finding some interesting ideas, he had reseriVations^>Pfltt^gftjM^pHqHßl Baker and Taylor both stress that they can't really judge in the short time they've been here. But Baker points out that the feeling of isolation here is mental, not physical, and travel is essential to broaden the outlook. "If anyone asks me what they should do, I tell them to get on one of those cheap flights and go to America, even if it's only. for two months. Suss things out. But people here don't want to do that. They want to go to Australia. They're scared to go anywhere else, and I can't see why." Baker is British by biith, but has been an American resident for several years. He doesn't knock Britain, and is very critical of the state of American music. .. "England is good, but the audiences are so fickle. They love you when you're starting out, but as soon as you get a hit record, they hate you. The press there is terrible for that. But if you can break through that barrier, then you've got a good chance of making it in America. And once you do that, you've got sustaining power. "With the music industry-in America, because of the recession, there's a.need for financial stability. It slows down money going into new bands, budgets for existing bands, and radio stations are playing the same thing they were playing last year, and the year before: It's a tried and tested formula, and it's going to stay that way until stability returns." Roy Thomas Baker is always keen to hear from new bands. If you think you've got what it takes, post your tape to him at 1340 Sunset Plaza Drive, Los Angeles, California 90069. %