1984-12-08 BFBS Radio 1, Cologne, Germany

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Notes

The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides information and entertainment for British troops stationed abroad. BFBS used to have many barracks in Germany in the last century and so it was widely available throughout Germany. This recording of this interview misses the beginning and end.

• Duration: 02:55 minutes

Transcript

Andy: [...] we choose Berlin is through quite a few reasons. It has probably one of the best mix-rooms in the world, it's quite cheap, it's good to have a different atmosphere to London because it gets a bit boring recording over there, our engineer and co-producer really knows the studio very well, and also we have a very good right.

Interviewer: So is it then only for technical reasons and financial reasons that you come to Berlin? Or is there anything else that's special about the place, that makes you perhaps perform better?

Andy: Well, there's the nightclubs, and "Big Sexy Land". [Laughter] Obviously, there are other reasons... No, we do like the 24-hour-a-day syndrome, because we work very long hours. We start recording about 12 or 1 in the afternoon, we work till about 1 or 2 in the morning, and it's nice to be able to go for after- because imagine it, after working all that long, you have to wind down. It's very hard just to go back to your hotel and go straight to sleep, so it's nice to go for a drink and wind down.

Interviewer: Tell me about the mechanics of recording a single. Where does the first idea come from?

Andy: Well, Martin writes most of the songs, and he'll write them at home, and he'll finish them - they will be quite completed, he makes a demo, quite bad quality, but most of the ideas are there, and he will sort of, like, play it to us and then see what we think. And if we decide to record it, we will go into a studio, and start from there.

Interviewer: From the time that you have the idea of the song, what happens after that?

Martin: Well, after I've played it to the others, I may make copies or something to give to the others so they can sort of get to know the songs. And then we will go into a rehearsal studio or, actually into the recording studio, and sort of discuss the songs and maybe change the structure, maybe if we feel it's not working perfectly, and then we just start recording, working on sounds, which is not really my strong point. That's more, let's say, Alan's strong point. Yeah so, we all got sort of different roles within the band. And we just sort of start on the basic tracks and work on it till it's finished.

Interviewer: Now, the band has become quite famous, I suppose, for using what is called "sample music".

Andy: It was a couple of years ago that computers came on the scene. What these instruments enable you to do is, you can record any sound you like, for instance, if you like tapping the table [taps the table] or something, you can record that, and play it, and put it in a sequencer on a keyboard, which means, really, your sounds are unlimited, so you can create any a- [recording stops]

Lineage

• low generation Maxell XLII 90 high position cassette, 1982 - 1984 Europe stock -> Technics RS-AZ7 cassette deck -> Yamaha RX-V1300RDS receiver -> Roland R-05 (24/48) -> WAV (16/44) -> encoded to MP3 for streaming
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