Ah, the eighties. Every record sounded like it was made in a stadium, every singer working their uppermost range until it seemed as if their vocal cords were about to leap out of their throat, every hit wrapped in a glossy package of shimmering guitar leads and silky bass.
And, of course, every snare drum was passing through a gated reverb.
Hugh Padgham is largely responsible for many of those sounds—particularly the latter— but he’s also responsible for crafting many of the greatest records of the era, The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” Genesis’ “Tonight’s the Night,” and Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” among them.
His ultra-clean signature sound raised the bar for every engineer and producer of the era and had a major impact on the shift from the dead, close-miked records of the seventies to the open, ambient sounds of the nineties and beyond.
Padgham’s unique abilities and versatility are probably best reflected in the fact that he’s won four Grammys in four different categories: Album of the Year (Collins’ 1985 No Jacket Required), Record of the Year (Collins’ 1990 “Another Day in Paradise”), Best Engineered Album of the Year (Sting’s 1993 Ten Summoner’s Tales), and the 1985 Producer of the Year award. [read]
