Love the interview. I so wish we could get Trevor and Seal in the same room and have them walk us through the making of Seals first and second albums… two masterpieces in my opinion.
Great to listen to Trevor Horn speaking about his work. Thanks to the interviewer for giving him plenty of space without interruption. Great clip, both parts.
Really nice interview and so relaxed. I like Trevor Horn, no ego or attitude like some young kids have today after using pre made loops and beats and thinking they are musical geniuses. The poor guy has been through a lot of emotional strain over the years but his work speaks for itself.
I remember thinking Trevor Horn was arrogant in the 80s, but now realise I was confusing pragmatism and competence with arrogance, as so many people do. He's actually very humble and self-deprecating when describing his approach regarding his own musical performances, specialized musicians and the needs and direction of the music. He describes music like an untamable animal that one has to guide but not control and prevent its natural expression. I doubt there's a musician or producer alive who experienced the eighties and wasn't influenced by Trevor Horn. Perhaps his influence also reaches those much younger.
I was thinking about that last night, thinking that somehow, with this new generation of kids doing paint by numbers tracks, that the whole of musicianship has been reduced to being referred to as "a beat". It could have full strings and a horn section, but if you play 8 bars of it to one of these loop kids, they'll say, "That's a good beat". It just makes you want to facepalm so hard.
@@Billkwando Don't get me started on that subject. Most TH-cam tutorials from the screen gazing, entitled millennial generation use adjectives like "dope" or "cool" etc etc. Very rare do you get anything that is genuinely inspiring. I am so glad I grew up in the 70's and 80's.
@@Billkwando There's nothing wrong with beats or a loop. What do you think Trevor Horn was doing when he programmed sequences the hard way or loaded samples into a Fairlight? "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" is full of loops. There's a lot to dislike about pop hit music today, but a huge amount of great music is still being made if you open your ears and search it out. E.g. Polyphia's "40oz" or "Paying God", beats and loops turned into phenomenal instrumentals by talented musicians.
Trevor Horn talks about preferring to play parts from start to finish as opposed to building them in 2-bar chunks. I discovered this when I transitioned from tape to sequencers. Initially, it seemed like a 100% win to copy/paste sections to build a song. However, sequencing, via the grid editor, also revealed all the nuances and idiosyncrasies of my playing; I was late on some notes, early on others and my phrases often spanned and completed themselves over far more bars than I had originally thought. I also instinctively inserted dynamics in and out of sections. All this, in hindsight, seems obvious. However, it took me a while to understand exactly why my sequenced tracks seemed weirdly emptied of feel and excitement and why I had to fabricate them back in. All this trouble just to reproduce what I could already do with a live take.
Trevor is a complete hero as far as I'm concerned. Just look at the tune's he is the master of from Yes to Grace Jones. And such a nice fun bloke too. Hero.
Less than 4,000 views and the wealth of information provided here, is proof that the music industry is in cardiac arrest. Of course, people were saying the same exact thing in the late 70's...a renaissance is approaching
Thanks for your comment. I had the interview up on Blip tv before moving it here after Blip stopped. It had over 100,000 views before so hope people will share :-) Please check out our other producer features, new ones are being recorded all the time...
@callyharley The "Frankies" definately weren't complaining when Trevor gave them one of the biggest selling singles of the 1980's and countless appearances on TV and touring the world followed. They would not have had that success without Trevor doing what he did.
Yeah, this is the 2nd interview (3rd if you count the 2 parts separately, lol) with him I've watched, hoping he would talk about AoN and not a single mention.
@@alexjewell2351 Such a difficult tragedy to deal with. Wikipedia says Jill was in a coma from approximately 2006-2011 as a result of their son, Aaron, accidentally shooting her in the neck with an air rifle. Jill regained consciousness in 2012, but was almost completely paralysed and died of cancer in 2014. Protracted, potentially terminal, but uncertain illnesses must be a nightmare to handle, especially when the cause and the victim are both family members.
Great interview, both parts, but considering where they are, and who Trevor is, you'd think they could balance the sound out so both interviewer and interviewee are the same level. The mic needed to be more between them. Alternatively, they could have taken down the interviewer by 20 dB in the post mix?
Seems we're in a phase of one guy in the band knowing how to track then sending it out to get professionally mixed. Solo artists also producing them selves at home, and send it off to get mixed. I'm basically a full time mixer now. That works. Self production. Now, for no talent TikTok stars, they are heavily produced but people have no respect for their art.
In this context he means high frequencies, ie treble. But not necessarily at the fundamental instrument frequencies, it also means up in the overtones (harmonics) which add "air" or "sparkle" to the sound.
During this video, I'm getting adverts for musical instructors, this one being Hans Zimmer. No disrespect to the man, but after listening to Trevor Horn's unpretentious and matter-of-fact approach to music recording and production, Hans Zimmer asserting that music is _"like having a conversation"_ provokes an _"Ah, fuck off!"_ from me. Yes, OK. Music has emotional, mysterious and perhaps even spiritual aspects to it. However, let's not be arty-farty twats about it. It is still a job comprising moments of inspiration and joy, but also basic and unmysterious mechanics, tedium and hard work.
is it just my headphones or is the audio on both parts 1 & 2 full of digital clipping? You used possibly one of the best mics available and you screwed it up, and you work for a magazine that deals with sound recording. Doesn't surprise me really, kids of today can barely spell their own name these days. But, shame on you. If you are interested i could give you some tips, especially on compression and normalising as the low bits are very low and the high bits are clipping.
Thanks for watching both parts, hopefully you at least found it interesting, sorry that this wasn't up to your technical standards. It's very kind of you for offering "If you are interested i could give you some tips, especially on compression and normalising".. Please email us and we will be happy to come over to record your feature and give you a full refund 😃
@@RecordProduction - No refund necessary mate, and it was kind of intended as a bit of a joke anyway, but really, WTF. How is this level of incompetance even possible these days? An answer to that would be appreciated instead of turning your answer into a joke. Yes the bits i could hear where very valuable thanks. NEVER let the input be overloaded, you can normalise it all afterwards and then compress to get something decent sounding, but if it's clipping you can't really do anything about that afterwards.
We have checked this and it plays fine on the studio system here, maybe your headphones have an issue or the TH-cam artefacts…. In any case, the conversation is clear and the discussion easy to follow.
jezzby47: Yes, it is just your headphones you entitled muppet. And, if you’re gonna offer advice in such a gracious manner, why not use your real name?
Love the interview. I so wish we could get Trevor and Seal in the same room and have them walk us through the making of Seals first and second albums… two masterpieces in my opinion.
Great to listen to Trevor Horn speaking about his work. Thanks to the interviewer for giving him plenty of space without interruption. Great clip, both parts.
Fantastic interview. I think 8 hours with Trevor wouldnt be enough
Finally a good interviewer who lets them just speak. Lots of great knowledge shared here from Trevor Horn.
Superb interview.
Love hearing Trevor’s opinions on music.
Really nice interview and so relaxed. I like Trevor Horn, no ego or attitude like some young kids have today after using pre made loops and beats and thinking they are musical geniuses. The poor guy has been through a lot of emotional strain over the years but his work speaks for itself.
I remember thinking Trevor Horn was arrogant in the 80s, but now realise I was confusing pragmatism and competence with arrogance, as so many people do. He's actually very humble and self-deprecating when describing his approach regarding his own musical performances, specialized musicians and the needs and direction of the music. He describes music like an untamable animal that one has to guide but not control and prevent its natural expression. I doubt there's a musician or producer alive who experienced the eighties and wasn't influenced by Trevor Horn. Perhaps his influence also reaches those much younger.
I was thinking about that last night, thinking that somehow, with this new generation of kids doing paint by numbers tracks, that the whole of musicianship has been reduced to being referred to as "a beat". It could have full strings and a horn section, but if you play 8 bars of it to one of these loop kids, they'll say, "That's a good beat". It just makes you want to facepalm so hard.
@@Billkwando Don't get me started on that subject. Most TH-cam tutorials from the screen gazing, entitled millennial generation use adjectives like "dope" or "cool" etc etc. Very rare do you get anything that is genuinely inspiring. I am so glad I grew up in the 70's and 80's.
@@Billkwando There's nothing wrong with beats or a loop. What do you think Trevor Horn was doing when he programmed sequences the hard way or loaded samples into a Fairlight? "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" is full of loops.
There's a lot to dislike about pop hit music today, but a huge amount of great music is still being made if you open your ears and search it out. E.g. Polyphia's "40oz" or "Paying God", beats and loops turned into phenomenal instrumentals by talented musicians.
I remember the day I bought “Slave to the rhythm” and put it on the turntable.. It changed everything for me.
Wow - thank you for putting this up. Some beautiful knowledge being shared here!
Mesmerisingly fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the great interview!
Trevor Horn talks about preferring to play parts from start to finish as opposed to building them in 2-bar chunks. I discovered this when I transitioned from tape to sequencers. Initially, it seemed like a 100% win to copy/paste sections to build a song. However, sequencing, via the grid editor, also revealed all the nuances and idiosyncrasies of my playing; I was late on some notes, early on others and my phrases often spanned and completed themselves over far more bars than I had originally thought. I also instinctively inserted dynamics in and out of sections. All this, in hindsight, seems obvious. However, it took me a while to understand exactly why my sequenced tracks seemed weirdly emptied of feel and excitement and why I had to fabricate them back in. All this trouble just to reproduce what I could already do with a live take.
Trevor is a complete hero as far as I'm concerned. Just look at the tune's he is the master of from Yes to Grace Jones. And such a nice fun bloke too. Hero.
excellent interview.
Less than 4,000 views and the wealth of information provided here, is proof that the music industry is in cardiac arrest. Of course, people were saying the same exact thing in the late 70's...a renaissance is approaching
Thanks for your comment. I had the interview up on Blip tv before moving it here after Blip stopped. It had over 100,000 views before so hope people will share :-) Please check out our other producer features, new ones are being recorded all the time...
@callyharley The "Frankies" definately weren't complaining when Trevor gave them one of the biggest selling singles of the 1980's and countless appearances on TV and touring the world followed. They would not have had that success without Trevor doing what he did.
I'm listening right here. I was told to tell where i was listening/watching from. Listening and obeying the destructions. Geez.
Awesome 👏
Thank you! Cheers!
would have loved to hear his time with Art of Noise...
Yeah, this is the 2nd interview (3rd if you count the 2 parts separately, lol) with him I've watched, hoping he would talk about AoN and not a single mention.
That heartbreaking pause after mentioning his wife, Jill. Wow
watching the same video right now..just caught that moment as you did
She was still alive when this was filmed.
@@alexjewell2351 Such a difficult tragedy to deal with. Wikipedia says Jill was in a coma from approximately 2006-2011 as a result of their son, Aaron, accidentally shooting her in the neck with an air rifle. Jill regained consciousness in 2012, but was almost completely paralysed and died of cancer in 2014. Protracted, potentially terminal, but uncertain illnesses must be a nightmare to handle, especially when the cause and the victim are both family members.
@@Valelacerte Such a tragic accident, a very cruel accident too. As you say, so very difficult to deal with, I can't even imagine.x
@@alexjewell672 What actually happened Alex? If you don't mind me asking?
Great interview, both parts, but considering where they are, and who Trevor is, you'd think they could balance the sound out so both interviewer and interviewee are the same level. The mic needed to be more between them. Alternatively, they could have taken down the interviewer by 20 dB in the post mix?
And I just told my Big Mackie not to take it personally...we can't all be SSL's.
So , what are the best microphones ??
And are they , still made in Germany or Austria
Interestinginsights😀
Seems we're in a phase of one guy in the band knowing how to track then sending it out to get professionally mixed. Solo artists also producing them selves at home, and send it off to get mixed. I'm basically a full time mixer now. That works. Self production. Now, for no talent TikTok stars, they are heavily produced but people have no respect for their art.
What does "top end" mean?
The treble 🎵
Tinnitus
B Hardie my brother has that. To many Motörhead concerts. 💚🎵
Top end means ££££
In this context he means high frequencies, ie treble. But not necessarily at the fundamental instrument frequencies, it also means up in the overtones (harmonics) which add "air" or "sparkle" to the sound.
During this video, I'm getting adverts for musical instructors, this one being Hans Zimmer. No disrespect to the man, but after listening to Trevor Horn's unpretentious and matter-of-fact approach to music recording and production, Hans Zimmer asserting that music is _"like having a conversation"_ provokes an _"Ah, fuck off!"_ from me. Yes, OK. Music has emotional, mysterious and perhaps even spiritual aspects to it. However, let's not be arty-farty twats about it. It is still a job comprising moments of inspiration and joy, but also basic and unmysterious mechanics, tedium and hard work.
Sorry about the adverts
Oh yes, "The Analog Myth" (TM). The inadaquacies of old technology are *so* much more endearing when you can chose to recreate them - or not.
i think the interviewer is a bit of a drip
This interview with the legend Nigel Jopson was recorded in 2008. 💩
EO - German
Full of advertising.....
Not our doing..
this has to be on your end., you either have no pro account or no adblocker installed. or both
Pay for TH-cam Red Premium Gold Music All Access Whatever and never see TH-cam ads on any device if you're logged in.
is it just my headphones or is the audio on both parts 1 & 2 full of digital clipping? You used possibly one of the best mics available and you screwed it up, and you work for a magazine that deals with sound recording. Doesn't surprise me really, kids of today can barely spell their own name these days. But, shame on you. If you are interested i could give you some tips, especially on compression and normalising as the low bits are very low and the high bits are clipping.
Thanks for watching both parts, hopefully you at least found it interesting, sorry that this wasn't up to your technical standards. It's very kind of you for offering "If you are interested i could give you some tips, especially on compression and normalising".. Please email us and we will be happy to come over to record your feature and give you a full refund 😃
@@RecordProduction - No refund necessary mate, and it was kind of intended as a bit of a joke anyway, but really, WTF. How is this level of incompetance even possible these days? An answer to that would be appreciated instead of turning your answer into a joke. Yes the bits i could hear where very valuable thanks. NEVER let the input be overloaded, you can normalise it all afterwards and then compress to get something decent sounding, but if it's clipping you can't really do anything about that afterwards.
We have checked this and it plays fine on the studio system here, maybe your headphones have an issue or the TH-cam artefacts…. In any case, the conversation is clear and the discussion easy to follow.
jezzby47: Yes, it is just your headphones you entitled muppet. And, if you’re gonna offer advice in such a gracious manner, why not use your real name?
Blimey that escalated quickly 🤣 sounds good to me.