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Hugh Padgham | |
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| Born | Hugh Charles Padgham (1955-02-15)15 February 1955 (age 71)[1] Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England |
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| Years active | 1978–present |
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Hugh Charles Padgham (/ˌpædʒɛm/; born 15 February 1955) is an Englishrecord producer andaudio engineer. He has won fourGrammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 1993.[2] Padgham's co-productions include hits byPhil Collins,XTC,Genesis,the Human League,Sting, andthe Police. He pioneered (withPeter Gabriel and producerSteve Lillywhite) the "gated reverb" drum sound used most famously in Collins' song "In the Air Tonight".[3]
Padgham was born on 15 February 1955 inAmersham,Buckinghamshire. He was educated atSt Edward's School, Oxford.[4]
Padgham became interested in record production after listening toElton John'sTumbleweed Connection.[5] He started out as a tape operator atAdvision Studios, working on many recording sessions includingMott The Hoople andGentle Giant. From there he went toLansdowne Studios and moved from tape-operator/assistant engineer to engineer. In 1978, Padgham got a job atThe Townhouse, where he engineered and/or produced acts includingXTC,Peter Gabriel andPhil Collins. He also worked on the second album byKilling Joke.[6]
Padgham's previous work with Gabriel and Collins led to a collaboration withGenesis andPhil Collins in the 1980s, which produced the albums:Face Value,Abacab,Hello, I Must Be Going!,Genesis,No Jacket Required,Invisible Touch, and...But Seriously. In addition to his work with Genesis and XTC, Padgham co-produced two albums withthe Police:Ghost in the Machine andSynchronicity, as well as some of Police frontmanSting's solo work. He also worked onPaul McCartney'sPress to Play andthe Human League'sHysteria.
In the 2000s, Padgham worked with Sting as well asMcFly. He had four UK number one hits in 2005 and 2006 with McFly, as well as a number of other Top Ten Singles. In 2002, Padgham producedthe Tragically Hip albumIn Violet Light.[citation needed]
In 2019, Padgham was honoured in London with the MPG Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Music.[7][8]
Padgham is one of the owners of the indie labelGearbox Records.[9]
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Padgham is credited with co-creating the "gated reverb" drum sound used so prominently on Phil Collins' single "In the Air Tonight", which became the template for much of the recorded pop drum sound of the 1980s. The effect is believed to have first been used on the 1980third self-titled solo album byPeter Gabriel, which Padgham engineered and on which Collins played. At this time, Padgham was working regularly as the recording engineer for producerSteve Lillywhite, and they collaborated on many well-known albums and singles in the early 1980s.
Padgham's gated drum effect is created by adding a large amount of heavily compressed room ambience to the original drum sound, and then feeding that reverb signal through an electronic device known as anoise gate. This unit can be programmed to cut off any signal fed through it, either after a specified time interval (in this case, some tens of milliseconds), or when the incoming signal falls below a preset gain threshold. The result is the arresting 'gated reverb' effect, in which the reverberation cuts off abruptly, rather than fading away.
In a 2006 interview, Padgham revealed how the effect was first engineered:
The whole thing came through the famous "listen mic" on theSSL console. The SSL had put this massive compressor on it because the whole idea was to hang one mic in the middle of the studio and hear somebody talking on the other side. And it just so happened that we turned it on one day when Phil [Collins] was playing his drums. And then I had the idea of feeding that back into the console and putting the noise gate on, so when he stopped playing it sucked the big sound of the room into nothing.
Padgham married his long-term partnerCath Kidston in 2012.[10] He has a daughter from a previous marriage.[11]
Artists for whom Padgham has produced or engineered include:
| Year Awarded | Nominee/work | Category | Result | Ref. |
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| 1986 | No Jacket Required(Phil Collins) | British Producer | Nominated | [25][26] |
| 1987 | Invisible Touch(Genesis) | Nominated | [citation needed] |
| Year Awarded | Nominee | Category | Result | Ref. |
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| 2009 | Himself | Gold Badge Award | Won | [1] |
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