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Nick Launay

January 01, 1970

Nicolas Launay (born 5 March 1960) is an English record producer, composer and recording engineer, currently residing in Los Angeles, CA.[1] He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Anna Calvi, IDLES, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arcade Fire. Noted for his flamboyant style, he is among the most successful producers of the post-punk era, helming records from pivotal acts including Public Image Ltd, Gang of Four, Killing Joke, The Birthday Party, and The Slits.

Nick Launay
Birth nameNicolas Launay
Born (1960-03-05) 5 March 1960 (age 64)
London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
Years active1978–present

Launay is known primarily for his passionate approach to recording with emphasis on raw sounds and capturing mood. Other artists he has worked with include: Kate Bush, Talking Heads, David Byrne, INXS, Models, Midnight Oil, Grinderman, Lou Reed, The Veils, Anna Calvi, Supergrass, The Living End, Band of Skulls, Silverchair and IDLES. He lives in Hollywood, United States and travels to London frequently.[2] More recent work includes producing Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Mosquito, It's Blitz!, mixing Arcade Fire's Neon Bible and The Suburbs, and producing and recording Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Push the Sky Away, Skeleton Tree along with Grinderman and Grinderman 2.[3]

He is also known for setting trends by finding lesser known Recording Studios in the world and making them popular. In 2012 he encouraged Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to record what became the Push the Sky Away album at a little-known studio in France called La Fabrique. At the time no foreign band had worked there. Since then Morrissey, Radiohead, and Foals have all followed suit. Similarly with La Frette studios he produced Skeleton Tree and then recommended it to Arctic Monkeys via Domino Recording Company owner Laurence Bell. Alex Turner now records all his projects there, and others have followed.[citation needed]

Biography edit

Background edit

The son of French author André Launay and fashion model Eve Launay, he was born in London, England and moved with his family to the village of Frigiliana in Spain at age eight, where his parents adopted a bohemian lifestyle.[citation needed] The family returned to England in 1976, where Launay developed a love of punk rock.

Career edit

In 1978, he began working at Tape One studios on Tottenham Court Road, where he was trained to edit hit songs for K-tel Top 20 compilation albums, reducing their length to 2½ minutes in order to fit 20 songs on one album. He recalled: "The trick was to keep all the good bits that people would recognise."

According to his website, Launay was late at work one night "frantically editing and reconstructing an experimental version of "Pop Muzik" by UK pop band M, for his own amusement, when he was visited by respected mastering engineer Denis Blackham." Blackham was so impressed with the new extended version, he played it the next day to M's Robin Scott. Launay says his version was released as a 12-inch single and became a Top 10 hit in the UK and other countries.

In 1980, Launay moved to Virgin Records’ Townhouse studios, where he worked as an assistant engineer on albums including The Jam’s Sound Affects and XTC’s Black Sea, assisting producers John Leckie, Tony Visconti, Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham.

In 1981, as the most junior member assistant engineer, he was conscripted to work on a Public Image Ltd recording session for a single, "Home is Where the Heart is". In a PiL fansite interview[4] Launay recalled:

None of the other assistant engineers at the Townhouse wanted to work with PiL because of John's reputation for throwing up, walking all over the mixing console, and being verbally abusive. The session started very slow because the engineer/producer they had chosen wasn't very familiar with the then very new and experimental SSL mixing console. This meant I had to keep showing him which button did what. Back then an assistant engineer's place was to stay very quiet, at the back of the room, operating the analogue tape machines. John sat in a big arm chair with two crates of Red Stripe, the Jamaican Beer, one on each side, and watched with amusement at me going back and forth trying my best to help the engineer out. John wanted a triplet delay on a particular vocal line, and the engineer didn't seem to understand what he meant. I was really into Dub Reggae at the time, so I set it up and it worked well. Later the engineer got up and left the room to have a piss. John got up and locked the door behind him. When he came back he started thumping on the door shouting, "Let me in..." John told him to fuck off.

Days later Launay was told PiL wanted him to mix a new song they had worked on. He was asked by the Townhouse manager whether he had done a mix before. "I remember lying and saying, 'Yes of course I have," he said. "She told me I would have to work alone, as no other assistant would do it. Once again I couldn't believe my luck."

Launay co-produced the band's The Flowers of Romance album (1981), which brought praise for its sonic oddities and prompted other bands including Killing Joke, The Slits, The Birthday Party and Gang of Four to collaborate with him in the studio.

He worked for two months as engineer on Kate Bush’s self-produced The Dreaming (1982), about which he remembers:

She had all these wild ideas. She would come in in the morning and go, in her very high voice, "Nick, can we make the drums sound like cannons?" So we would go in and try to make this drum kit sound like it was cannons going off – every kick drum, every snare. We made up these corrugated iron tunnels coming out of the drum kit, and we would mike up the tunnel.[5]

He worked with producer Colin Newman of Wire on the Virgin Prunes’ If I Die I Die (1982) before securing his first major production role on the fifth album by Midnight Oil, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (1982).

Production technique edit

Asked in the Mix interview[5] for his formula for making a record, he said he usually went into rehearsals for about two weeks, experimenting with songs and arranging them in different ways, but with "strong, solid ideas" about how the songs should be arranged. After about two weeks' work, he enters the studio with the band:

I always work in studios where the whole band can be in the same room looking at each other ... The main point is to have fun and to basically capture that band at that point in their life doing the absolute best performance of that song. And if it takes 20 takes, then we'll do 20 takes. If they do two takes and the first one is just killer, then I might push them to do five just to see. And we might go back to that first take and use that. I record on analog because it sounds the best. There's nothing in the digital area yet that sounds as good as analog. Anybody who says there is hasn't listened to analog or hasn't lined their tape machine up properly.

Production credits edit

Mix/Recording credits edit

Filmography edit

ARIA Music Awards edit

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
1997 Nick Launay for Freak Show by Silverchair ARIA Award for Producer of the Year Nominated [6]
1998 Nick Launay for "The Door" by Silverchair ARIA Award for Engineer of the Year Won [7]
1999 Nick Launay for "Supposed to Be Here", "24000", "This Is the Sound" and "Come to Take You Home" by Primary and Neon Ballroom by Silverchair Producer of the Year Nominated [8]
Engineer of the Year Won
2001 Nick Launay for Roll On by The Living End Producer of the Year Nominated [9]
Engineer of the Year Nominated
2006 Nick Launay for State of Emergency by The Living End Producer of the Year Nominated [10]
Engineer of the Year Nominated

References edit

  1. ^ "Nick Launay". Pro Mix Academy. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  2. ^ . launay.com/. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  3. ^ "Nick Launay Discography". Discogs.com.
  4. ^ "PiL Interviews | Nick Launay interview". Fodderstompf. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  5. ^ a b . Mixonline.com. 1 February 2004. Archived from the original on 30 May 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  6. ^ "1997 ARIA Awards Winners". Aria.com.au.
  7. ^ "1998 ARIA Awards Winners". Aria.com.au.
  8. ^ "1999 ARIA Awards Winners". Aria.com.au.
  9. ^ "2001 ARIA Awards Winners". Aria.com.au.
  10. ^ "2006 ARIA Awards Winners". Aria.com.au.

External links edit

  • Official site
  • Nick Launay discography at Discogs  

January 01, 1970
nick, launay, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, tone, style, reflect, encyclopedic, tone, used, wikipedia, wikipedia, guide, writing, bette. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia See Wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions February 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page especially if potentially libelous Find sources Nick Launay news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Nicolas Launay born 5 March 1960 is an English record producer composer and recording engineer currently residing in Los Angeles CA 1 He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Anna Calvi IDLES Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arcade Fire Noted for his flamboyant style he is among the most successful producers of the post punk era helming records from pivotal acts including Public Image Ltd Gang of Four Killing Joke The Birthday Party and The Slits Nick LaunayBirth nameNicolas LaunayBorn 1960 03 05 5 March 1960 age 64 London EnglandGenresRock post punkOccupation s Record producer composer recording engineerYears active1978 present Launay is known primarily for his passionate approach to recording with emphasis on raw sounds and capturing mood Other artists he has worked with include Kate Bush Talking Heads David Byrne INXS Models Midnight Oil Grinderman Lou Reed The Veils Anna Calvi Supergrass The Living End Band of Skulls Silverchair and IDLES He lives in Hollywood United States and travels to London frequently 2 More recent work includes producing Yeah Yeah Yeahs Mosquito It s Blitz mixing Arcade Fire s Neon Bible and The Suburbs and producing and recording Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Push the Sky Away Skeleton Tree along with Grinderman and Grinderman 2 3 He is also known for setting trends by finding lesser known Recording Studios in the world and making them popular In 2012 he encouraged Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to record what became the Push the Sky Away album at a little known studio in France called La Fabrique At the time no foreign band had worked there Since then Morrissey Radiohead and Foals have all followed suit Similarly with La Frette studios he produced Skeleton Tree and then recommended it to Arctic Monkeys via Domino Recording Company owner Laurence Bell Alex Turner now records all his projects there and others have followed citation needed Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Background 1 2 Career 2 Production technique 3 Production credits 3 1 Mix Recording credits 4 Filmography 4 1 ARIA Music Awards 5 References 6 External linksBiography editBackground edit The son of French author Andre Launay and fashion model Eve Launay he was born in London England and moved with his family to the village of Frigiliana in Spain at age eight where his parents adopted a bohemian lifestyle citation needed The family returned to England in 1976 where Launay developed a love of punk rock Career edit In 1978 he began working at Tape One studios on Tottenham Court Road where he was trained to edit hit songs for K tel Top 20 compilation albums reducing their length to 2 minutes in order to fit 20 songs on one album He recalled The trick was to keep all the good bits that people would recognise According to his website Launay was late at work one night frantically editing and reconstructing an experimental version of Pop Muzik by UK pop band M for his own amusement when he was visited by respected mastering engineer Denis Blackham Blackham was so impressed with the new extended version he played it the next day to M s Robin Scott Launay says his version was released as a 12 inch single and became a Top 10 hit in the UK and other countries In 1980 Launay moved to Virgin Records Townhouse studios where he worked as an assistant engineer on albums including The Jam s Sound Affects and XTC s Black Sea assisting producers John Leckie Tony Visconti Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham In 1981 as the most junior member assistant engineer he was conscripted to work on a Public Image Ltd recording session for a single Home is Where the Heart is In a PiL fansite interview 4 Launay recalled None of the other assistant engineers at the Townhouse wanted to work with PiL because of John s reputation for throwing up walking all over the mixing console and being verbally abusive The session started very slow because the engineer producer they had chosen wasn t very familiar with the then very new and experimental SSL mixing console This meant I had to keep showing him which button did what Back then an assistant engineer s place was to stay very quiet at the back of the room operating the analogue tape machines John sat in a big arm chair with two crates of Red Stripe the Jamaican Beer one on each side and watched with amusement at me going back and forth trying my best to help the engineer out John wanted a triplet delay on a particular vocal line and the engineer didn t seem to understand what he meant I was really into Dub Reggae at the time so I set it up and it worked well Later the engineer got up and left the room to have a piss John got up and locked the door behind him When he came back he started thumping on the door shouting Let me in John told him to fuck off Days later Launay was told PiL wanted him to mix a new song they had worked on He was asked by the Townhouse manager whether he had done a mix before I remember lying and saying Yes of course I have he said She told me I would have to work alone as no other assistant would do it Once again I couldn t believe my luck Launay co produced the band s The Flowers of Romance album 1981 which brought praise for its sonic oddities and prompted other bands including Killing Joke The Slits The Birthday Party and Gang of Four to collaborate with him in the studio He worked for two months as engineer on Kate Bush s self produced The Dreaming 1982 about which he remembers She had all these wild ideas She would come in in the morning and go in her very high voice Nick can we make the drums sound like cannons So we would go in and try to make this drum kit sound like it was cannons going off every kick drum every snare We made up these corrugated iron tunnels coming out of the drum kit and we would mike up the tunnel 5 He worked with producer Colin Newman of Wire on the Virgin Prunes If I Die I Die 1982 before securing his first major production role on the fifth album by Midnight Oil 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1982 Production technique editAsked in the Mix interview 5 for his formula for making a record he said he usually went into rehearsals for about two weeks experimenting with songs and arranging them in different ways but with strong solid ideas about how the songs should be arranged After about two weeks work he enters the studio with the band I always work in studios where the whole band can be in the same room looking at each other The main point is to have fun and to basically capture that band at that point in their life doing the absolute best performance of that song And if it takes 20 takes then we ll do 20 takes If they do two takes and the first one is just killer then I might push them to do five just to see And we might go back to that first take and use that I record on analog because it sounds the best There s nothing in the digital area yet that sounds as good as analog Anybody who says there is hasn t listened to analog or hasn t lined their tape machine up properly Production credits edit1980 Heart of Darkness by Positive Noise 1981 Flowers of Romance single by Public Image Ltd 1981 The Flowers of Romance by Public Image Ltd 1981 Follow the Leaders single by Killing Joke 1981 What s THIS For by Killing Joke 1981 To Hell with Poverty single by Gang of Four 1981 Release the Bats single by The Birthday Party 1981 Earthbeat single by The Slits 1982 Empire Song single by Killing Joke 1982 Pagan Lovesong by Virgin Prunes 1982 Junkyard by The Birthday Party 1982 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 by Midnight Oil 1983 Seance by The Church 1983 The Pleasure of Your Company by Models 1983 Grapes of Wrath by Spear of Destiny 1984 Red Sails in the Sunset by Midnight Oil 1984 The Swing by INXS 1985 Big Canoe by Tim Finn 1985 Out of Mind Out of Sight by Models 1985 Over the Rainbow by Virgin Prunes 1985 Waiting for the Floods by The Armoury Show 1988 Bonk by Big Pig 1991 Honeychild album by Jenny Morris 1992 Sand in the Vaseline Popular Favorites by Talking Heads Popsicle Gangster of Love Lifetime Piling Up 1992 Uh Oh by David Byrne 1993 Earth and Sun and Moon by Midnight Oil 1994 Peach by The Lupins 1995 Example by For Squirrels 1996 Amazing Disgrace by The Posies 1997 Freak Show by Silverchair 1997 Transmitter by Automatic 1997 Never Bet the Devil Your Head by Subrosa 1998 Feeling Strangely Fine by Semisonic 1998 Freak on ica by Girls Against Boys 1998 Vicious Precious EP by Primary 1999 Neon Ballroom by Silverchair 1999 Chronicle Kings by Earth to Andy 2000 Consent to Treatment by Blue October 2000 Stereodreamscene by Deckard 2001 Roll On by The Living End 2002 Androgynous Jesus by Must 2003 Nocturama by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 2003 The Art of Losing by American Hi Fi 2004 Aiming for Your Head by Betchadupa 2004 Abattoir Blues The Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 2006 Nux Vomica by The Veils 2006 State of Emergency by The Living End 2007 Young Modern by Silverchair 2007 Grinderman by Grinderman 2007 Welcome the Night by The Ataris 2007 Is Is by Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2008 Diamond Hoo Ha by Supergrass 2008 Dig Lazarus Dig by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 2009 It s Blitz by Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2009 Quicken the Heart by Maximo Park 2009 Ignore the Ignorant by The Cribs 2010 Grinderman 2 by Grinderman 2011 Ornaments from the Silver Arcade by Young Knives 2013 Push the Sky Away by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds 2013 Mosquito by Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2014 Himalayan by Band of Skulls 2015 Coming Forth by Day by Cassandra Wilson 2015 Freedom by Refused 2016 Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds 2018 Wrong Creatures by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 2018 Hunter by Anna Calvi 2018 Joy as an act of resistance by IDLES 2019 Scatter the Rats by L7 2019 Ride Again by Shakespeare s Sister 2019 Devour You by Starcrawler Mix Recording credits edit 1981 The Dreaming by Kate Bush 1981 Face Value by Phil Collins 1985 Behind the Sun by Eric Clapton 1990 Suicide Blonde 12 by INXS 2004 A Song Is a City by Eskimo Joe 2005 Animal Serenade by Lou Reed 2007 Neon Bible by Arcade Fire 2008 Twenty One by Mystery Jets 2010 The Suburbs by Arcade Fire 2018 Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 2019 Peek by CRXFilmography editPlush 2013 ARIA Music Awards edit The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence innovation and achievement across all genres of Australian music They commenced in 1987 Year Nominee work Award Result Ref 1997 Nick Launay for Freak Show by Silverchair ARIA Award for Producer of the Year Nominated 6 1998 Nick Launay for The Door by Silverchair ARIA Award for Engineer of the Year Won 7 1999 Nick Launay for Supposed to Be Here 24000 This Is the Sound and Come to Take You Home by Primary and Neon Ballroom by Silverchair Producer of the Year Nominated 8 Engineer of the Year Won 2001 Nick Launay for Roll On by The Living End Producer of the Year Nominated 9 Engineer of the Year Nominated 2006 Nick Launay for State of Emergency by The Living End Producer of the Year Nominated 10 Engineer of the Year NominatedReferences edit Nick Launay Pro Mix Academy 20 May 2021 Retrieved 21 June 2023 About Nick launay com Archived from the original on 25 August 2012 Retrieved 27 June 2015 Nick Launay Discography Discogs com PiL Interviews Nick Launay interview Fodderstompf Retrieved 29 June 2014 a b Nick Launay Interview interview with punk and rock producer Nick Launay Mixonline com 1 February 2004 Archived from the original on 30 May 2013 Retrieved 29 June 2014 1997 ARIA Awards Winners Aria com au 1998 ARIA Awards Winners Aria com au 1999 ARIA Awards Winners Aria com au 2001 ARIA Awards Winners Aria com au 2006 ARIA Awards Winners Aria com au External links editOfficial site Interview HitQuarters Nov 2009 Nick Launay discography at Discogs nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nick Launay amp oldid 1220711899, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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