Sandy Roberton has lived his whole working life in the music world. He produced nearly 40 records at Sound Techniques Chelsea, nearly all of which he brought along to The Pig’s Ear pub on Old Church Street in London. We had a great talk with Sandy about the atmosphere of the studio and the characters who created the incredible recordings there. From the days of 4 track up until the close of the studio, Sandy was a constant figure, so we sat down to talk about the incredibly strange job of being a record producer and the fine art of balancing the instruments and the artists.
From 1969 until 1976 Roberton produced Steeleye Span, Shelagh McDonald, Plainsong, Decameron, Hard Meat, Keith Christmas, Ian Matthews and Shirley Collins among many others. Sandy called Sound Techniques “British Folk Rock Central” and talked with us about how the studio crafted a different sound to what was happening in the United States at the time which helped cement its unique and lasting reputation in sound.
As with fellow producer Joe Boyd having his Witchseason Productions, Sandy had his September Productions to also manage his artists and through his many albums at Chelsea, he developed a long working relationship with in-house engineers Vic Gamm and Jerry Boys.
His work aside also we chatted about the anonymity of producers and growing sense that the public doesn’t know who is making the music they love so much. Of course, that’s what our film is all about! Filled with stories and ideas, Sandy remains a totally wonderful, engaged and passionate music geek, in the best possible way, reading over liner notes of record sleeves, adding to his encyclopaedic knowledge of decades of musical history. He certainly helped create some of it at Sound Techniques.
