Mike Hedges (born 1954) is a British audio producer/engineer best known for his work withthe Cure,Siouxsie and the Banshees, andManic Street Preachers.^[1][2] During his career, Hedges has worked with an eclectic roster of artists ranging from rock and pop acts such asU2,Dido,Travis,Texas,the Beautiful South, andEverything but the Girl, to cult-indie bandthe Cooper Temple Clause and classically oriented projects,the Priests andSarah Brightman.^[3] His creative input and influence dramatically impacted the trajectories of bands such as the Cure,the Associates,Manic Street Preachers, andTravis.^[4][5][6]

Hedges was born inNottingham, England in 1954 and grew up inNorthern Rhodesia (nowZambia), where he attended aJesuit school.^[7][8][9] He comes from a Catholic family.^[9]

Hedges returned to the UK in 1969 and was working inHaywards Heath as a squash coach when he was offered a job as atape op at London'sMorgan Studios.^[9][8] His first engineer credit came in the form ofHeatwave'sCentral Heating.^[8] In 1981, he left Morgan Studios to become a freelancer and start Playground Studios inCamden Town, then moved on to work atAbbey Road Studios for ten years.^[8][9]Siouxsie and the Banshees,the Associates, andWah! were among some of his earliest clients.^[8] Hedges lived in theWillesden area of London near Morgan Studios.^[10]

In 1990, he purchased Chateau de la Rouge Motte, a home inDomfront en Poiraie in theNormandy countryside, and retired for less than a month in 1992.^[8][10] He renovated the chateau to act as a new studio and outfitted it with a 16 channelEMI TG12345 Mark IV mixing desk, which he bought directly from Abbey Road Studios in 1983.^[11][12][10] The desk was originally installed inAbbey Road Studios, and had been used to recordThe Dark Side of the Moon byPink Floyd andJohn Lennon's single "Imagine".^[12][10] Among the albums recorded there wereLush'sSplit,Manic Street Preachers'Everything Must Go (BRIT Award recipient)^[13] andThis Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, andTravis'The Man Who (partially).^{[14][10][15][16]}James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers recalled that Hedges greeted them with a hand covered inNormandy brandy and lit on fire, which is how Hedges claimed to welcome every new band.^[17]

There were four floors in the chateau: Hedges and his family lived on the top floor; the ten bedrooms on the first floor are for visiting musicians; and the ground floor and basement are control rooms and recording studios.^[10] Hedges moved the Mark IV desk back to London in the early 2000s, where it resided in the front room of a studio, and in 2017 was auctioned off for £1.4 million.^[18][9][19]

Hedges has also worked as part of the musical team for a number of films includingHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire andThe Doom Generation.^[20][21]

In 2009, he was working in anA&R role atSony BMG, where he signedthe Priests.^[9] He also discoveredFriar Alessandro in Italy in 2012.^[22]

He has four children.^[23][24][25]

• Allmusic.com discography

• English record producers
• English audio engineers
• Living people
• 1953 births
• People from Nottingham
• White Zambian people

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