Producer Martyn Phillips; on Londonbeat, Erasure, Jesus Jones & The Beloved.
Martyn Phillips(Erasure, Jesus Jones)
1:08:28•887 views
How does a producer find the sound that a song needs?
Martyn Phillips joins Steve Blame to explore the decisions behind Londonbeat’s “I’ve Been Thinking About You”, Jesus Jones’ “Right Here Right Now”, The Beloved’s “The Sun Rising” and “Hello”, and his work with Erasure on Chorus.
From a musical childhood in Oxford and studying engineering to repairing synthesizers and learning his craft in recording studios, Martyn describes how his technical curiosity became a career in music.
He recalls programming for Swing Out Sister, mixing “The Sun Rising” as dawn broke over London, reshaping Londonbeat’s breakthrough hit, and bringing together Vince Clarke’s technical approach and Andy Bell’s expressive world.
We also discuss collaboration, the move into home studios, and Martyn’s personal ideas about analogue sound, tuning and our emotional connection to music.
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Chapters
00:00 Coming up: Martyn Phillips
01:35 Remembering Londonbeat’s double-decker bus party
02:44 A musical childhood in Oxford
04:04 Discovering progressive rock through headphones
05:15 School, loneliness and music as a safe haven
08:16 Encounters with Tolkien, Betjeman and Hugh Laurie
10:57 Engineering at Oxford and choosing music
12:04 Early studios and repairing synthesizers
13:29 Exploring sound and learning to listen
16:04 Finding the version of a song he wants to realise
17:56 Moving to London and becoming a studio engineer
21:25 Paul Staveley O’Duffy, Fairlight and Swing Out Sister
24:09 Programming sounds and serving the producer’s vision
25:45 Developing his own approach to production
28:52 The Beloved, club culture and Happiness
31:30 Mixing The Sun Rising as dawn broke
33:15 Blissed Out and experimenting with remixes
33:38 Hello and advice from Morten Harket
35:15 Collaboration and finding a shared vision
36:32 Reshaping I’ve Been Thinking About You
37:29 Record-company feedback and recognising a potential hit
39:04 Taking time out to produce Right Here Right Now
40:52 Success and the pressure to repeat it
42:02 Preparing to work with Erasure
43:08 Vince Clarke’s brief: analogue synths without MIDI
45:37 Recording and bridging Vince and Andy’s approaches
48:02 Why collaboration matters
49:24 Making Love to Hate You
50:54 Home studios and a changing musical landscape
55:06 New technology and exploring sound
56:32 Why the late 70s, 80s and early 90s endure
59:39 Martyn’s perspective on analogue and digital sound
1:02:32 His views on tuning, frequencies and connection
1:05:00 Emotion, personal experience and musical communication
1:07:37 Closing thoughts
