Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich (born 1971 in England) is a Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and record producer. He is best known for his work with the English alternative band Radiohead. He has also worked as producer or mixer with Paul McCartney, Travis, Beck, Pavement, Air, Neil Finn, Natalie Imbruglia, Lovefoxxx, Silver Sun, The Sundays, The Divine Comedy, U2, The Beta Band, and R.E.M. Godrich productions are generally known for their layered sound.
Work
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.
Godrich was brought to the attention of Abbey Road veteran John Leckie after assisting him on Ride's Carnival of Light (1994). Leckie was working with Radiohead on their second album at the time and brought Godrich into the fold. Godrich's first contributions were on certain songs of 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 always been co-credited with Radiohead as producer. His first full album production job with the band was on OK Computer (1997), on which he made his name, and he has produced every album with the band since, including Kid A (2000), Amnesiac (2001) and Hail to the Thief (2003). 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]
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 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. The Information began as a hip-hop album, a first for Godrich, but eventually incorporated other styles as well, and reviewers found his signature atmospherics to be quite apparent.
Godrich has also worked with Travis twice, producing the Scottish band's breakthrough The Man Who (1999), and follow-up The Invisible Band (2001), both very successful on the British pop charts. Godrich's partnership with British singer-songwriter Neil Hannon (aka The Divine Comedy) resulted in Regeneration (2001). Godrich also mixed and contributed additional production on the French electronic pop band Air's 2004 comeback Talkie Walkie, and on The Beta Band's swan song Heroes to Zeros (2004).
In 2004 Godrich produced the Band Aid 20 charity single, featuring contributions from Supergrass' Danny Goffey, Paul McCartney, Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, Oasis' Noel Gallagher, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Bono of U2, Sugababes and others.
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.
In 2006, in addition to Thom Yorke's The Eraser and Beck's The Information, Godrich produced Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55 album, featuring collaborations with Air, Neil Hannon, Jarvis Cocker and Tony Allen. 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.
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.
TV show
In September 2006, it was announced that Godrich was shooting From the Basement, a new series for British television. According to Rolling Stone magazine, 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 have featured Beck and Jamie Lidell. Because it was deemed too uncommercial without corporate sponsors, the series was reimagined as an Internet television show, with individual videos available for purchase through iTunes and elsewhere. The first episode was available for download in December 2006.[1]
Trivia
- Godrich 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.
- Because of his extensive work with Radiohead, some believe Godrich to be the actor who plays "Chieftan Mews" in Radiohead's DVD/Internet feature, The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All Time.
Discography
External links
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