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 and is sometimes called the Sixth member. He 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]
Work
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 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 seventh studio album In Rainbows.
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 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 the latest The Boy With No Name (2007), although the band has also worked with Brian Eno and Mike Hedges on the same album.
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. 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 2001, Godrich remixed U2's track "Walk On" for its single release. Godrich also mixed and contributed additional production on the French electronic group Air's 2004 comeback Talkie Walkie, their latest album Pocket Symphony (2007) and on the Band Aid 20 charity single in 2004.
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.
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]
Discography
Notes
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