George Shilling visited Grammy winning mix engineer and producer Simon Gogerly at Hub II Studios to chat about his views and techniques. This video runs for just under an hour but we think it's worthy as the conversation is very interesting.
Simon Gogerly is one of the UK’s leading mix engineers. He has worked with a number of the world’s top selling recording artists and was awarded a Grammy in 2006 for his work on the U2 album “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb” which won the coveted “Album Of The Year” award.
Simon started his career in music as a singer/guitarist with various London based bands followed by a stint as keyboard player on tour for the outrageous 80’s electro pop band Dead Or Alive. On the recommendation of an engineer friend, he landed an assistant engineer post at London’s prestigious Mayfair Studios where he trained with John Hudson, one of the top mix engineers of the 70’s and 80’s. During four years at Mayfair he worked with a huge number of artists as an assistant and progressed to mixing several hits including “Altogether Now” by The Farm and “Missing You” by Soul II Soul (working with Nellee Hooper in the process – a meeting that would lead to future collaboration).
LARGE SIMON GOGERLY PHOTO GALLERY
In 1992 Simon went freelance and started working regularly with producer Stephen Hague. One of his first projects was recording the New Order album “Republic” at Real World and RAK. This led to him touring with the band through 1993 as programmer.
In the mid 90’s his work continued with Stephen and a variety of other producers such as Sly & Robbie (Maxi Priest, Suggs) and Boilerhouse (Texas, Stereophonics). Simon also joined forces with hip-hop producer Syze-Up and the pair worked together on a large number of remixes for top US hip-hop acts (Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, Lil’Kim, Rakim & Mase) under the name Desert Eagle Discs.
Towards the end of the 90’s Simon re-teamed with Nellee Hooper in order to mix projects for Nellee’s label Meanwhile (Headrillaz & Hexdragon). This led to him becoming Nellee’s mix engineer of choice. Their on-going relationship has included work with Gwen Stefani, U2, No Doubt, Andrea Corr, Massive Attack and Lamb.
Short video with Simon talking about his studio and also an older interview is here
Simon joined the roster of Stephen Budd Management in 2005 enabling him to spread his wings and develop new areas of his mixing and production work. There have been collaborations with Steve Lironi (Luan Parle), Rick Nowels (Yusuf Islam) and Ewan Pearson (Tracey Thorn) along with additional production/mix work for a whole variety of up and coming artists like Little Boots, Doll & The Kicks, Jont, King Creosote, Operator Please, Heads We Dance, Bishi, Ella Chi, The Floe and Huski. He has also worked with various overseas acts including Nayo (Nigeria), Najoua Belyzel (France), Mumiy Troll, Gornostay & Valeriya (Russia) and Ilanois (Holland).
When time allows, Simon also works on development projects with new, unsigned acts in a production capacity (current projects: Angry Vs The Bear & The Vanities). 2010 projects include: producing & mixing an album for Bogdana Chivas, mixing Underworld, N-Dubz & Bashy and developing tracks with Carey from Athlete.
In 2008 Simon opened his own SSL/Pro Tools HD mix room, Hub II
Hub II equipment
SSL AWS900+SE console
Protools 9 HD2 Rig With SSL Alpha/Delta Link interfaces (& lots of plug-ins)
Antelope OCX master clock
LogicPro Rig with MOTU 828 interface
SSL X-Rack w/8 x dynamics modules, Culture Vulture Mastering limited edition, Bricasti M7, Focusrite ISA430 mk2 recording channel, Mutronics Impressor, various other outboard by TC, Yamaha, Roland, SPL etc.
Focal, Yamaha, NHT and Auratone monitors
Various microphones, samplers, keys, guitars, amps, thingumyjigs and whatnots.
Highlights from Simon's discography
All credits are for mixing unless otherwise stated.
Underworld – “Barking” album
Bashy – “Make My Day” single
Athlete – “Somewhere Beneath My Skin”
N-Dubz – “I Need You” (UK No.5)
Little Boots – Add. Production and mix “Magical”
Operator Please – “Just A Song About Ping Pong”
Yusuf Islam – “An Other Cup” album
Tracey Thorn – “Out Of The Woods” album
U2 - "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" (UK No.1) & "City Of Blinding Lights" (UK No.2)
Gwen Stefani - recording "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" & “Sweet Escape” albums
No Doubt - recording "Rocksteady" album
N.E.R.D. - "Lapdance" remix
Massive Attack - "What Your Soul Sings"
Jay Sean - "Stolen" (UK No.4)
Nelly Furtado - "**** On The Radio" remix
Missy Elliot - "The Rain" remix
Holly Valance - "Down Boy" (UK No.2)
Texas – various mixes
New Order - recording "Republic" album
Soul II Soul - "Missing You"
The Farm - "Altogether Now"(UK No.4)