Ken Scott Speaks of Recording The Beatles, David Bowie and His Other Studio Adventures

Woody Allen famously said "80% of success is showing up." 16 year old recording engineer/producer Ken Scott showed up at EMI Studios less than a week after writing a letter requesting a job interview. He "passed the audition" and was rewarded with a job in EMI's tape library.

What happened from there is 100% Ken's Scott's doing and it involved far more than just showing up, though of course he did that too.

I had a chance to sit down and talk with him at The Festival For Beatles Fans in Secaucus, New Jersey, April of 2013 where he appeared on a panel with a group of others who had been associated in one way or another with The Beatles.

There was long time Ringo producer Mark Hudson, Charles Newby, a retired chemical engineer who had played for two weeks in an early '60s edition of what eventually become the The Beatles, reedman Tom Scott who had played on many solo Beatles projects, Billy J. Kramer (minus the Dakotas) and the genial moderator Martin Lewis..

Left to right: Mark Hudson, Charles Newby, Ken Scott, Tom Scott, Billy J. Kramer, Martin Lewis

After the panel discussion Scott sat down to autograph copies of his book as well as record albums brought by fans. One guy had a copy of Procol Harum's A Salty Dog that had been signed by most of the band members. Scott graciously added his signature there and to anyone who asked—whether or not they bought a copy of his book. Generous with his signature and time, Scott had as much time as the approaching and genuinely adoring fans needed, even if, as in one case, the fan was there more to talk about herself than about what Ken had accomplished.

That's just the kind of person he is and that attitude and willingness to listen no doubt contributed to his great success. Good ears and musical values obviously contributed too, since his track record for producing great sounding recordings goes back to the very beginning of his career.

After the signings had been completed we sat down and talked about "things", interrupted more than a few times by straggling autograph seekers.

Stream the audio by clicking on the "play" button below (or the file below that).

Ken Scott Interview

COMMENTS
Michael Fremer's picture

To the dozens of readers who have already read this post, the streaming audio and additional pictures have been posted.

Jim Tavegia's picture

I've read 40% of my Kindle download today.  Really interesting stuff to us amateur recordists. Will probably finish by Thursday night. 

UncleHalsey's picture

 Great story regarding Paul's fade down/fade up instructions.  Thanks for posting!  

anomaly7's picture

I haven't read Scott's book yet, but I just read Geoff Emerick's book with the above title. I loved it. It had me listenning to all my Beatles music and staying up late until my eyes were blury. It didn't help that I'd only start reading late.

One of my all time favorite books about music.

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