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Eddie Offord. YES - Engineer. 1969 - 1970 Co-Producer & Engineer. 1971 - 1975, 1980 ELP - Engineer 1970 - 1972. Getting started. Eddie came into the recording business after deciding to go university to study physics.
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Eddie Offord • YES - Engineer. 1969 - 1970 Co-Producer & Engineer. 1971 - 1975, 1980 • ELP - Engineer 1970 - 1972
Getting started Eddie came into the recording business after deciding to go university to study physics. To fill in time he settled into a job at Advision and never left. He hustled his way into being a trainee engineer, and within a short time was working as an engineer.
Being an Engineer - Producer His success he puts down to being in the right place at the right time. There's been a gradual change in the recording industry that started to evolve when the Stones and Beatles were prominent and he feels he came along at a time when people didn't want straight producers anymore. "Five years ago you could have been a great engineer, but no one would have recognized you. It's changed a lot."
"If an artist is into what they are doing, they know how their music should sound in their heads. I have to work with a person and try to get their ideas on to tape, and obviously I need to have my own ideas. Not being a producer as such means that there is no middleman and I am in direct contact with the artist.” (Melody Maker, Feb 1972)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970) “Working with ELP wasn’t nearly as bad [as Yes] in terms of trying to referee. I was able to concentrate more on engineering than when I was with Yes. I had a fair amount of say with some of the material, but they came into the studio far more rehearsed [than Yes].”
Keith’s Keyboards “Keith Emerson’s keyboard setup consisted mostly of Hammond B3 and Moog synthesiser. The synthesiser had only recently been invented, and I was actually the one who programmed all the sounds for him. There were no polyphonic synthesisers…we had to do a lot of overdubs, it would take maybe ten or twelve tracks to do a string section.”
Pictures at an Exhibition (1971) • “Their [ELPs] music is mechanical and does not have a feel to it like most rock and roll. It is strong effects music. It seems that the steady hustling presence Greg Lake puts over would be totally removed from Eddie. But he is a sound freak and digs working with a hand purely into sounds.”
Tarkus (1971) • Eddie must be one of the few Engineers or Producers to have a song written about him.This was included on the Tarkus album. • Note the reference to the big new thing: 16 track recording.
Trilogy (1972) • "I do record them because I like the sound, and it gives me a chance to experiment in sounds, especially with the Moog. I think Keith is a brilliant player, technique-wise. Their music is a forceful type of thing that does not need relaxation."
Decision Time • “So, I had a lot of fun with those bands [Yes and ELP] and it was really interesting. However, it turned out there was a lot of jealousy between Yes and ELP, and at one point I was forced to choose between one or the other and I decided to go with Yes.”
Eddie Engineer’s Yes Yes (1969) “I think it was luck and good timing that made the collaboration with Eddie last as many albums as it did. We could see quite quickly in his work that he was very in tune with us and could understand us even though we were playing a lot of busy stuff together.” - Steve Howe Time and a Word (1970)
The Yes Album (1971) • “There were lines he [Eddie] could focus on and get the sounds and pull the thing together, and we were very pleased about this. • He [Eddie] had a terrific effect on our sound as a group and although he always had a musical opinion, he would never interfere musically.” - Steve Howe
“What he [Eddie] did was bring in a logical engineering perspective into it, saying ‘You can’t do that, but you can do this’, or ‘If you want to do that, it has to be done this way’, and so on. So we were doing things we thought had never been done before, like miking up amps that were on the floor, pointing up at the ceiling. We just experimented within our own comparatively limited resources and we attempted to make something sound different. I don’t think we realised just how different it was until we finished The Yes Album and heard what an almost peculiar-sounding record it was, yet it sounded so good.” - Steve Howe
Fragile (1971) • It was through Eddie Offord’s production skills that the bass of Chris Squire was brought to the foreground. Squire doubled his Rickenbacker 4001S (through a Marshall ) with an acoustically-miked Gibson jazz guitar. • On the bass, highs were miked, and low frequencies were DI’d. • Fragile took five weeks and $30,000 to make.
philosophy “Experiment by all means, but at the end of the day be prepared to say, ‘well, it didn’t really add that much’. There’s nothing wrong with perfection, but there can be a tendency to loose the soul. Doing too many overdubs, drowning out the essence of the song …been there, done that!” • “My philosophy was ‘never kill an idea before you’ve tried it’. But, working with Yes it evolved into ‘unless you’re specifically going for a background effect, it has to work up front, and if in doubt - leave it out.’ ”
Eddie Offord - interview “An Engineer-Producer is the first time one has ever joined the band, as it were, really. I do consider myself as a member; it’s a very tight sort of thing. The Yes album was the first thing I had any hand in production with; it was a nice experience. Then I got into the PA and started creating the sounds on the stage that I’d done on the albums – giving them the same balance and everything, and it was just like a really nice thing. It’s like everything else; it has to be used subtly – it has to be used to add to the music and not to subtract from it. Although I’m into electronics, the only music that counts for me is music from the heart, and that mustn’t be interfered with.
Eddie Offord - interview Yes music; the way it is recorded is just a skeleton of an idea, and the you come in and do maybe a few minutes of music, and next evening another few minutes and develop ideas. Gradually the thing builds up to a track, but it doesn’t, possibly, have the continuity it would have, or quite the same feel if they played it all the way through, which they do on stage. We’ve been toying with the idea of recording the album once, but not releasing it, just to get the thing together and to see what you’re doing. Then going on stage and playing it a bit, then coming back to the studio and recording it again – this time with feeling.”
Close to the Edge (1972) “For the guitar solo on Siberian Khatru I had two mikes; one close up, and the other on a 20’ cord which I had the assistant swing in a circle around the studio. It was going close to Steve’s amp on every cycle, and that gave it a real kind of Doppler effect as it went by.”
“What we wanted to do on that album were things we’d never done before. We’d never played anything that long before, used sound effects or intricate timings. We had effects and bits of music flying in from tapes that we had recorded separately, such as an organ that Rick played in a London church, which was flown in to the 16 track tape for overdubs”
Melody Maker Interview, 1972 "If an artist is into what they are doing, they know how their music should sound in their heads. I have to work with a person and try to get their ideas on to tape, and obviously I need to have my own ideas. Not being a producer as such means that there is no middleman and I am in direct contact with the artist." "Basically I'm a soundfreak. I just sit and think of ideas to really blow people's minds...I like to know that when they hear that sound they are going to smile. But obviously it has to be subtle. I think what I do is a cross between arts and science. Working behind the desk is an art and I think things can be done in two ways, they are either subtle or totally brash."
This picture is from the back cover of the Close to the Edge album. Eddie is featured alongside a photo of each band member.
So that’s how it was done The method Yes used was to record short chunks (less than a minute) which were then spliced together to give long tracks. This method predates using soundbites and loops by 30 years! “If there was something heavy followed by an acoustic passage we might mix the two sections separately. But the art was perfecting the overlap on the edits. So when we finished a section, everyone would say ‘now, don’t move a thing on the desk, because if you do the next section won’t work!’
Then we would sit there for the next hour trying to get the next section right but, of course, somewhere in there you were bound to move something. You’d stick the two bits together and then realise, ‘oh, the hi-hat’s dropped in volume’. So you’d have to mix that section again! Certainly we had to record with edits in mind.”
America (1972) • This single was a rework of the Simon and Garfunkel classic. • “I can recall Bill [Bruford] saying ‘I want to put congas through a wah-wah’. I said ‘fine’ and we did it. After all, why not?”
Milli Vanilli? For playing live Yes had to go back and learn the music from the studio recording. As the album arrangements got more advanced Eddie went on tour with the band as their livesound engineer. Part of his job was to cue in parts from tape that they couldn’t play live.
Tales from Topographical Oceans (1973) • Recorded at Morgan Recording Studios. • “That album was really a horrific album…it almost killed me…I think there was a psychological effect of ‘Oh, we’re doing a double album; now we can make things twice as long, twice as boring, and twice as drawn out’ ”
Yessongs (1973) • A compilation of live recordings. • “Eddie was having a tremendous effect on our sound but also in our lives as a person. • Eddie was clear-minded.” - Steve Howe
Relayer (1974) • “Relayer was done at Chris’ house with a setup that I put together.” • “Yes and Eddie Offord (the producer) made some of the most amazing sounding albums considering the limitations of the 1970s studio equipment which they had to work with. Their albums from the early 1970s are amazing.” -Scott McMahan, editor
Yesterdays (1975) • A compilation of songs from the first two albums. • “ The biggest part of my gig really was to try and keep all of the different, opposing factions in check…I was a kind of referee almost!”
Drama (1980) • “When we recorded the Drama album, there would occasionally be two sessions taking place at the same time in different studios ” (Townhouse & Roundhouse). “Mostly each of the band members would come in and do their own thing while no one else was around.” Drama was engineered by Hugh Padgham. Band member Trevor Horn became a sought-after producer a few years later.
Classic Yes (1981) • Classic Yes is a compilation of some of the early works. • Roundabout was recorded live at Wembley Empire Pool, 1978. It became a hit when first recorded on the Fragile album.
Yesyears (1991) • A four CD compilation of studio and live recordings. • It involved no less than 12 band members!
Union (1991) • It's ironic that the most disjointed album in Yes history is titled, "Union." • The album suffers from massive over-production. (35 musicians & 7 producers!) • Eddie co-produced two tracks.
Summary • Eddie Offord worked with two of the top progressive rock bands, both for live and studio. • His level headed approach maintained order and got results with some difficult personalities. • He was one of the early Engineer-Producers and for the time was possibly unique in being able to manage both roles simultaneously. • Many of the bands experimental sound results can be attributed to Eddie.
The musical high points of both ELP and Yes occurred while being engineered and/or produced by Eddie Offord. Thank You, you have been a great audience!
Bibliography • Inside Tracks - Richard Buskin (1999) • Good Vibrations - Mark Cunningham (1998) • Melody Maker, Feb 12, 1972 • Rolling Stone, March 30, 1972 • Yesstories: Yes in Their Own Words - Tim Morse (1996)
Other Recording Credits • Baker Gurvitz Army - Hearts on Fire (1976) P, E • Valerie Carter - Way It Is (1996) P, E • Julie Driscoll / Brian Auger - Cool on It (1986) P, E - Storm Warning (1994) P, E • The Dixie Dregs - Industrial Standard (1982) P • Platinum Blonde - Alien Shores (1985) P, E • Andy Pratt - Motives (1979) P, E
David Sancious - True Stories (1978) P, E • - Just as I Thought (1980) P, E • Billy Squier - Tale of the Tape (1980) P • 311 - Music (1993) P, E • - Grassroots (1994) P, E • Wet Willie - Greatest Hits (1977) P, E • Terry Reid - River (1973) P
John McLaughlin - Extrapolation (1969) E • Yoko Ono - Plastic Ono Band (1970) E • - Fly (1971) E • John Lennon - Imagine (1971) E • Bill Laswell - Deconstruction (1993) E • Levon Helm - LH & the RCO Allstars E • Julie Driscoll / Brian Auger - Street Noise (1968) E • - Tinsley Ellis E
Elizabeth Barraclough - Elizabeth Barraclough (1978) E • Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express (1996) E
Bonus Tracks Roger Dean did more Yes covers than Spock’s Beard could Dream (Theatre) of. Here are most of the rest.
