Japan at AIR Studios article.

[MOF]

Good to see the Japan article in SOS August 2021.
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... pan-ghosts
As a side note I realised that there’s no forum section for discussing magazine articles, so I thought I’d put it here as it refers to the original AIR Studios at Oxford Circus and Engineer/Producers Steve Nye and John Punter. I could have put it in the Synthesizers section as that is what Richard Barbieri is mostly talking about.
Another side note, I bought banks of his sounds for the Pro53, unfortunately Native Instruments dropped support for it.
I was lucky to be given weekend and school holiday work there as a general cleaner, errand boy and helping Kath take down trays of teas to the studios each afternoon.
I was there when Japan were in the studio with John Punter, who had the monitors very loud from what I remember, and Steve Nye arranged for me to sit in on a Bryan Ferry session for a while.
I think that the photographs are from studio 4 and it had quad monitors.
Studio 3 nextdoor had one of the first, if not the very first, NECAM automated faders. Amazing to think how much all of that high-end gear is now modelled and in our DAWs.

[BillB]

Looking forward to reading the article - "Ghosts" is one of the most astounding pop singles ever.

[BJG145]

Looking forward to reading the article - "Ghosts" is one of the most astounding pop singles ever.

Wow, yes. It's a song I thought I'd like to have a go at, but after a few listens I gave up. For now.

I was there when Japan were in the studio with John Punter

[Mike Stranks]

As a side note I realised that there’s no forum section for discussing magazine articles...

The de facto place where most people will comment on articles in the magazine is the 'Feedback' section of the Forum...

[Ian Shaw]

Looking forward to reading the article - "Ghosts" is one of the most astounding pop singles ever.

'Tis indeed a most original & outstanding piece of work which seemed to mark a real sea change for the musicians involved. Still sounds as fresh as ever.

No Autotune there...

[Ian Shaw]

just found this: https://youtu.be/ij089OiN8cc

with David Rhodes & Sakamoto no less

[MOF]

MOF wrote: ↑

As a side note I realised that there’s no forum section for discussing magazine articles...

The de facto place where most people will comment on articles in the magazine is the 'Feedback' section of the Forum...

Thanks Mike, I was looking on the ‘Main forum’ page, not the ‘forum index’ page.

[Martin Walker]

Looking forward to reading the article - "Ghosts" is one of the most astounding pop singles ever.

Agreed - I not only have Japan's performance of it on TOTP on my hard drive recorder, but am also lucky enough to call Richard Barbieri a friend after meeting him on several occasions at the Exeter music show some years ago.

He even gave Mitt & I a nice quote after we sent him a pre-release copy of our first CD together.

Martin

[Hugh Robjohns]

As a side note I realised that there’s no forum section for discussing magazine articles...

The de facto place where most people will comment on articles in the magazine is the 'Feedback' section of the Forum...

...and have moved this whole thread there.

[MOF]

...and have moved this whole thread there.

Thanks Hugh.

[RichardT]

Just listened to 'Ghosts' for the first time. Fascinating!

[Forum Admin]

...am also lucky enough to call Richard Barbieri a friend after meeting him on several occasions at the Exeter music show some years ago.

Richard B was a guest speaker on the panel at the last real-world SOS SynthFest UK exhibition/seminars. He joined us for curry later and drank lots of champagne, before we retired to the hotel bar and enjoyed his plethora of superb anecdotes.

Nice guy.

[jjlonbass]

Excellent article. Tin Drum is one of my favourite albums and still sounds strange and other-wordly in a good way even after 40 years.

John

[Arpangel]

Thanks for posting this, much appreciated, Sylvian is thee most amazing song writer, and synth programmer, ever, in my book.
Seen him many times live, never disappoints, always absolutely spot on and gives the word "professional" a whole new meaning.

[tea for two]

I like this
“We were listening to a lot of world music, classical music, avant‑garde music. David might be listening to Frank Sinatra. Mick would be listening to Turkish pop music. I think they had an influence. You can hear that in Tin Drum. It’s kind of electronic world music.”

And this
“We were all self‑taught,” says Barbieri. “I didn’t have any musical theory, so I didn’t have any reference points for how things should develop. It’s another language to me I don’t really understand. So, I was coming at it from a different angle. Steve Jansen was placing beats where you just didn’t normally place beats. Steve had this kind of sound designer way of looking at it. Mick obviously was from somewhere else. I think probably David was the stabilising force. He had a handle on how to construct a song and an arrangement and use what we were doing in a way that made it work.”

::::

Ghosts is an 80s version of
1961 Milton Babbit with Soprano Bethany Beardsley : Vision and Prayer by Dylan Thomas
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pYe5Rhnb1Mo

This was the first time a Live Vocal performance was accompanied by Tape Electronica.