Mick
Glossop
History
History
The
detailed history..........
1970 After playing bass in school bands and pursuing a short-lived university course in electronics, Mick began his adventures in the music industry within the maintenance workshop at Wessex Studios in North London, acquiring technical experience in studio maintenance and audio circuit design. After a short time, he was "thrown in at the deep end" one evening, when an assistant engineer fell sick. This was during the recording of "Lizard", the third album by King Crimson and led to his first experiences in session work, with many artists including The Moody Blues, Georgie Fame, Alan Price, Stevie Wonder, and numerous live orchestral sessions.
1972 He moved to Nova Studios in Marble Arch for further work as an assistant on sessions with Joe Cocker, The Sweet, Paul Ryan, Jade Warrior, Billie Davis and many more. He moved up to the role of recording engineer, working on albums, singles, film soundtrack and jingles projects.
1973 Mick received a call from a Canadian recording engineer, Nick Blagona, who had previously worked at Wessex; it was an irresistible offer to work in Canada, and Mick moved to Montreal for a nine month engagement at Studio Son Quebec. This studio was sited on the east side of the city, and most of its clients were from the French sector of the Canadian music business. It was very different from the London scene!
1974 Accepting an offer from a French-Canadian rock group, Offenbach, with whom he had worked in Montreal, Mick spent four months recording and mixing the music and live soundtrack to a documentary movie based on a national tour of France by the band. This was directed by Claude Faraldo, anarchist director of “Bof” and “Themroc”, both major cult films in France. The recordings were made using a mobile recording truck on loan from The Chateau Herouville, the "Honky Chateau" where Elton John had recently recorded his album of the same name. The truck was a modest vehicle, about the size of an ice-cream van, and housed a very small 16 channel mixer of dubious heritage, a Scully 16 track tape machine, a pair of semi-pro powered monitors and a meagre selection of microphones. Luckily the band's lineup was simple; drums, bass, guitar, organ and vocals.
1975 After a chance meeting with Philip Newell, a contact from his days at Nova Studios, Mick was offered the job of chief recording engineer at Virgin Records residential recording studio in Oxfordshire, known as The Manor. The studio had been constructed by Phil and Tom Newman, producer of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells". Tom and TB engineer, Simon Heyworth, were moving on to other projects, and Mick was part of a radical rejuventation of the studio, whose subsequent success eventually led to the creation of one of London's legendary music recording facilites, The Townhouse. This opportunity brought Mick into contact with many international recording artists including Mike Oldfield, Mott The Hoople, Kiki Dee, David Bedford, Tangerine Dream, Gong, and led to his acclaimed work with Van Morrison and Frank Zappa. At the same time, his previous experience in the technical side of studio operations was enhanced by direct involvement in the re-design of The Manor Studios (click here for details of the redesign of The Manor Studios).
1979 The subsequent success of The Manor Studios led to the building of a brand new studio complex for Virgin in West London. The Townhouse has since acquired an international reputation as one of the top recording facilities in the world.
1980 After some considerable success as an emerging producer/engineer, Mick left The Townhouse to go freelance. This marked the continuation of a substantial career in recording and music production, highlighted by the success of many projects including 15 albums with Van Morrison, “Joe’s Garage” by Frank Zappa, four albums with Lloyd Cole, “Magic” by Ian Gillan, “Making Contact” by UFO, “The Whole Of The Moon” & “This Is The Sea” by The Waterboys, “Never Loved Elvis” & “The Size Of A Cow” by The Wonder Stuff, number 1 hit single, “Dizzy” by Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff, and “The Happy Club” by Bob Geldof. Mick has worked on many music projects outside the UK. He has recorded and produced five albums which have achieved platinum status for the Spanish artist, Revolver, has enjoyed success with the no.1 selling Italian artist, Pino Daniele, and has produced the Dutch band, The Crox, "Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival", the first ever DVD from Van Morrison, Lloyd Cole, Canadian singer/songwriters, Jeremy Walsh and Rachelle van Zanten, and acclaimed American blues pianist David Maxwell. There have been projects in most of the other European countries, the USA, Canada and the Far East. Click here for the full Mick Glossop discography.
During his career, Mick has maintained a personal endeavour to keep abreast of technical advances in sound production and processing techniques. Since the early 1980’s he has worked with MIDI programming, digital samplers, and computer-based mixing systems, and in 1994, invested in a Digidesign Pro Tools hard disk recording and editing system. This was updated first to Mix Plus status, and subsequently to HD Accel 3. These have been major tools in his work over the past 12 years. Although, like many of his contemporaries, his work has traditionally encompassed the analogue domain, he has fully embraced the latest developments in digital technology. This has recently culminated in the construction of his own production studio, designed by the team of Andy Munro at Munro Acoustics. Click here for details.
A developing interest in film sound has led to Mick's involvement in many projects involving sound design and film post-production; one of the most recent being the role of music editor and music mixer for the “The 51st State” starring Samuel L. Jackson & Robert Carlyle. Further film work has included sound design and mixing for several independent films.
1970 After playing bass in school bands and pursuing a short-lived university course in electronics, Mick began his adventures in the music industry within the maintenance workshop at Wessex Studios in North London, acquiring technical experience in studio maintenance and audio circuit design. After a short time, he was "thrown in at the deep end" one evening, when an assistant engineer fell sick. This was during the recording of "Lizard", the third album by King Crimson and led to his first experiences in session work, with many artists including The Moody Blues, Georgie Fame, Alan Price, Stevie Wonder, and numerous live orchestral sessions.
1972 He moved to Nova Studios in Marble Arch for further work as an assistant on sessions with Joe Cocker, The Sweet, Paul Ryan, Jade Warrior, Billie Davis and many more. He moved up to the role of recording engineer, working on albums, singles, film soundtrack and jingles projects.
1973 Mick received a call from a Canadian recording engineer, Nick Blagona, who had previously worked at Wessex; it was an irresistible offer to work in Canada, and Mick moved to Montreal for a nine month engagement at Studio Son Quebec. This studio was sited on the east side of the city, and most of its clients were from the French sector of the Canadian music business. It was very different from the London scene!
1974 Accepting an offer from a French-Canadian rock group, Offenbach, with whom he had worked in Montreal, Mick spent four months recording and mixing the music and live soundtrack to a documentary movie based on a national tour of France by the band. This was directed by Claude Faraldo, anarchist director of “Bof” and “Themroc”, both major cult films in France. The recordings were made using a mobile recording truck on loan from The Chateau Herouville, the "Honky Chateau" where Elton John had recently recorded his album of the same name. The truck was a modest vehicle, about the size of an ice-cream van, and housed a very small 16 channel mixer of dubious heritage, a Scully 16 track tape machine, a pair of semi-pro powered monitors and a meagre selection of microphones. Luckily the band's lineup was simple; drums, bass, guitar, organ and vocals.
1975 After a chance meeting with Philip Newell, a contact from his days at Nova Studios, Mick was offered the job of chief recording engineer at Virgin Records residential recording studio in Oxfordshire, known as The Manor. The studio had been constructed by Phil and Tom Newman, producer of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells". Tom and TB engineer, Simon Heyworth, were moving on to other projects, and Mick was part of a radical rejuventation of the studio, whose subsequent success eventually led to the creation of one of London's legendary music recording facilites, The Townhouse. This opportunity brought Mick into contact with many international recording artists including Mike Oldfield, Mott The Hoople, Kiki Dee, David Bedford, Tangerine Dream, Gong, and led to his acclaimed work with Van Morrison and Frank Zappa. At the same time, his previous experience in the technical side of studio operations was enhanced by direct involvement in the re-design of The Manor Studios (click here for details of the redesign of The Manor Studios).
1979 The subsequent success of The Manor Studios led to the building of a brand new studio complex for Virgin in West London. The Townhouse has since acquired an international reputation as one of the top recording facilities in the world.
1980 After some considerable success as an emerging producer/engineer, Mick left The Townhouse to go freelance. This marked the continuation of a substantial career in recording and music production, highlighted by the success of many projects including 15 albums with Van Morrison, “Joe’s Garage” by Frank Zappa, four albums with Lloyd Cole, “Magic” by Ian Gillan, “Making Contact” by UFO, “The Whole Of The Moon” & “This Is The Sea” by The Waterboys, “Never Loved Elvis” & “The Size Of A Cow” by The Wonder Stuff, number 1 hit single, “Dizzy” by Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff, and “The Happy Club” by Bob Geldof. Mick has worked on many music projects outside the UK. He has recorded and produced five albums which have achieved platinum status for the Spanish artist, Revolver, has enjoyed success with the no.1 selling Italian artist, Pino Daniele, and has produced the Dutch band, The Crox, "Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival", the first ever DVD from Van Morrison, Lloyd Cole, Canadian singer/songwriters, Jeremy Walsh and Rachelle van Zanten, and acclaimed American blues pianist David Maxwell. There have been projects in most of the other European countries, the USA, Canada and the Far East. Click here for the full Mick Glossop discography.
During his career, Mick has maintained a personal endeavour to keep abreast of technical advances in sound production and processing techniques. Since the early 1980’s he has worked with MIDI programming, digital samplers, and computer-based mixing systems, and in 1994, invested in a Digidesign Pro Tools hard disk recording and editing system. This was updated first to Mix Plus status, and subsequently to HD Accel 3. These have been major tools in his work over the past 12 years. Although, like many of his contemporaries, his work has traditionally encompassed the analogue domain, he has fully embraced the latest developments in digital technology. This has recently culminated in the construction of his own production studio, designed by the team of Andy Munro at Munro Acoustics. Click here for details.
A developing interest in film sound has led to Mick's involvement in many projects involving sound design and film post-production; one of the most recent being the role of music editor and music mixer for the “The 51st State” starring Samuel L. Jackson & Robert Carlyle. Further film work has included sound design and mixing for several independent films.
