Brian Kehew might know more about Sound Techniques than even Sound Techniques founder Geoff Frost or new owner Danny White. We are joking but we might also be serious – Brian can supposedly tell a Sound Techniques recording (Chelsea, Trident, De Lane Lea, Sunset Sound, Elektra etc.) just by listening to the sonic audio quality of a recording.
So with this knowledge proceeding us, we looked forward to meeting Brian at his studio in North Hollywood, California. Brian is a successful musician, having toured with the likes of The Who, as well as being in his own band The Moog Cookbook. He co-produced Fiona Apple‘s Extraordinary Machines album and has done studio work with Aimee Mann, Eels, Beck & Jon Brion to name just a few. His mixing credits are truly astonishing, covering all corners of rock and roll royalty and he has co-written a book called Recording the Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums.
Brian became an avid Sound Techniques enthusiast whilst researching The Beatles book. Through listening to original master tapes from studio archives from the late 60’s & early 70’s he came to realise that the studios that had Sound Techniques desks were the clearest and best sounding of the period. An example of this Brian gives as Walk On The Wild Side by Lou Reed, recorded and mixed at Trident Studios on the Sound Techniques “A-Range” by Ken Scott and produced by David Bowie & Mick Ronson.
Brian hails the Sound Techniques EQ module extracted from the original 1968 Elektra desk that he acquired some years ago as his most prized piece of equipment in his well equipped recording studio. As you could expect, he is very excited for the future of Sound Techniques now being brought into the 21st Century by Danny White. It was such a pleasure getting to know and hanging out with Brian over the several occasions we met him whilst we were in LA. Thank You Brian for some fun nights out and a great interview!
