Norman Smith (Норман Смит)

3 марта 2008 не стало Нормана Смита - звукооператора Битлз с 1962 по 1965 год. При всей казалось бы утилитарности его работы в качестве звукооператора он пользовался большим уважением у битлов. Вспоминая Смита в интервью Льюисону, Маккартни называл его "великим техником, динамитом".
После записи альбома "Rubber Soul" Битлз, зная о том, что Смит уходит от них и становится продюсером, в знак признательности за его работу подарили своему звукооператору золотые часы с гравировкой "Норману. С благодарностью от Джона, Пола, Джорджа и Ринго".
Когда в 1972 хит Смита (записанный под псевдонимом Харрикэн Смит) "Oh Babe What Would You Say?" занял первое место в американском хит-параде, первыми с успехом его поздравили телеграммой Джон и Йоко.
Малоизвестен факт того, что Битлз чуть не записали песню его сочинения для альбома "Help". Не сохранилось ее название, известно лишь то, что она понравилась Джону, и он согласился записать ее.
Неизвестно, будет ли издана широким тиражом книга его воспоминаний "Джон Леннон называл меня "Нормал".

Beat for the Beatles and Pink Floyd



Norman "Hurricane" Smith - Record producer, singer
22-2-1923 - 3-3-2008

IN JUNE 1962, recording engineer Norman Smith was assigned to a test recording by an unknown Liverpool group for EMI's Parlophone label. "Go and pick up George from the canteen," said Smith to tape operator Chris Neal after hearing the demo, "and see what he thinks of this."

The "George" was George Martin, head of artist and repertoire for Parlophone, and he was equally impressed by what was to be the Beatles' first EMI single, Love Me Do. From then on, Martin and Smith supervised all the Beatles' recordings until the end of 1965, concluding with the Rubber Soul album — in all about 180 songs.

Smith, who has died of cancer in East Sussex, England, aged 85, was later entrusted with remixing Beatles tracks into stereo sound. He had been a teenager in the 1930s, a world away from the the Beatles and their contemporaries from the early 1960s.

And, just like other EMI employees, Smith was smartly dressed and politely spoken. On first encountering the band, he told author Brian Southall, he "couldn't believe what louts they looked with their funny haircuts".

The bands Smith engineered included another highly successful Liverpool group, Gerry and the Pacemakers. Smith, said the Pacemakers' leader, Gerry Marsden, was "shocked that these Scousers invaded his recording studio, bringing rum and Coke and swearing and smoking, putting their feet up on the mixing console".

The Beatles called him "two-decibels Smith" because kept asking group members to turn down the volume on guitar amplifiers; John Lennon nicknamed him "Norman Normal".

Smith was born in Edmonton, north London. He trained as a glider pilot in the RAF during World War II, but did not see combat.

In 1959, Smith lied about his age (EMI's limit was 28 and he was 35) when he applied to become an apprentice engineer at the Abbey Road studios.

Beginning as a tape operator, Smith was soon promoted to balance engineer, in which capacity he was assigned to work with Martin. He engineered hits by Helen Shapiro and Frank Ifield.

After moving up the EMI hierarchy he received an invitation to the UFO Club. There he saw a group that even had a light show, Pink Floyd.

"What I saw absolutely amazed me. I was still into creating and developing new electronic sounds in the control room, and Pink Floyd, I could see, were exactly into the same thing; it was a perfect marriage," he said.


Smith persuaded EMI to offer a very high advance payment, £5000, against royalties and produced the group's second hit single See Emily Play, in 1967, followed by Pink Floyd's first four albums.

He helped to construct the spacy sounds on the group's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Smith was "old-school, with a dry sense of humour", recalled the Floyd's Roger Waters. "I liked him enormously."

Smith had played trumpet in a traditional jazz band in the 1950s and was an accomplished pianist, drummer and songwriter. But his decision to launch his own recording career in 1971 was a surprise.

Using the nom de disque "Hurricane" Smith and a gravelly vocal delivery, his first single Don't Let It Die, reached No. 2 in the British charts. It was followed by Oh Babe, What Would You Say, a top five hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Later records were less successful and Smith reverted to producing and engineering.

He was in virtual retirement in the 1980s and '90s, breeding horses for a while, but returned to the recording studio in 2003, aged 80, to record From Me to You.

Produced by his son Nick Smith, this album reprised the Hurricane Smith hits and also included a series of spoken reminiscences about his career. Smith's final public appearance was at a Beatles convention in New Jersey last year, where he launched a limited edition memoir, John Lennon Called Me Normal.

He is survived by his wife Eileen, son, daughter and a grandson.

GUARDIAN

Момент работы над хард дэйс найтом. на переднем плане похоже Эпстайн.

возможно то же время

Продюсеры: Норман Смит вместе с Аланом Парсонзом. 9 ноября 2006 года.

Смит и Кен Скотт, бывший когда-то тэйп-оператором Битлз.

Главный хит Смита "Oh Babe What Would You Say?"

Смит начал музыкальную карьеру в 1959-м году оператором Abbey Road Studios. В его актив звукоинженера вошли около 180 песен The Beatles — от самой первой их записи в студии до альбома "Rubber Soul". В начале 1966 года он был приглашен в штат отдела A&R EMI, и его продюсерским дебютом стал альбом Pink Floyd "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". За ним последовали "A Saucerful of Secrets" и "Ummagumma". Поклонникам группы известен тот факт, что на записи трека "Remember a Day" Норман Смит заменял Ника Мэйсона. В то же самое время Норман продюсировал первые работы The Pretty Things и имеет непосредственное отношение к одному из первых в роке концептуальных альбомов, "S.F. Sorrow". С приходом 70-х он стал записываться сам, под псевдонимом Ураган Смит, и его синглы "Don't Let It Die" (1971) и "Oh Babe What Would You Say" (1972) фигурировали на верхних строчках хит-парадов. В марте 2007-го года ограниченным тиражом издана автобиография Нормана Смита "John Lennon Called Me Normal".

http://pink-floyd.ru/archive/2008/Mar/05/norman_smith_passed_away.html

Norman Smith: Engineer for The Beatles, producer for Pink Floyd and, briefly, a pop star
Friday, 7 March 2008
The Independent
Link

When Norman Smith, a former Royal Air Force glider pilot and failed jazz musician, saw an advertisement in The Times in 1959 stating that EMI were looking for apprentice engineers under the age of 28, the 35 year old decided to lie about his age. At the interview, his cheeky criticism of Cliff Richard, the label's rising star, chimed with his interlocutor's views and also made Smith stand out among the hundred or so applicants. He was one of the three apprentices hired on the spot and began work at EMI's Abbey Road Studios.

For the next six years, Smith worked closely with the producer George Martin, most famously as engineer on all of the Beatles' sessions, from their audition in June 1962 up to the Rubber Soul album at the end of 1965. Although he didn't take part in the Sgt Pepper sessions, Smith went on to produce several albums which helped define British psychedelia. Between 1967 and 1969 he produced Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets and Ummagumma , and helped the band experiment as they sought a way out of the chaos following the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett.

Smith also helmed the sessions for S.F. Sorrow, the 1968 concept album by the Pretty Things, recorded concurrently with Pink Floyd's Piper and the Beatles' Sgt Pepper, in adjoining studios at Abbey Road. During his time at EMI, Smith also worked with Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Swinging Blue Jeans, Helen Shapiro, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Manfred Mann, Barclay James Harvest and Kevin Ayers.

In the early 1970s, under the name Hurricane Smith, he scored hit singles with two of his own compositions, "Don't Let It Die" – written when John Lennon joked that the Beatles were short of a song while recording the soundtrack for Help! – and "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?", as well as "Who Was It", originally recorded by Gilbert O'Sullivan. Indeed, the material on Hurricane Smith's début album, also called Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? (1972), was strongly reminiscent of O'Sullivan's rather whimsical approach.

Smith kept in touch with the Fab Four. When "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?" knocked Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" off the top spot in the Cashbox charts in the US in February 1973 – it peaked at No 3 on the Billboard listings –Lennon sent a telegram to congratulate him.

Born in 1923, Norman Smith dabbled with various instruments as a child and teenager, including drums, piano, vibraphone, trombone and stand-up bass. This versatility would later stand him in good stead as he replaced the Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, who couldn't quite come up with the right drum part for the track "Remember A Day", during the recording of A Saucerful Of Secrets in 1968. After serving in the RAF during the Second World War, Smith played trumpet in a trad-jazz band for several years but failed in his attempts to "become a famous jazz musician."

Joining Abbey Road, the EMI studio in London, was the making of him. He rose from lowly apprentice making tea, sweeping floors and pushing the odd button to tape operator, assistant engineer and then engineer on hits like Frank Ifield's 1962 UK chart-topper "I Remember You". He was also present when the Beatles auditioned for Ron Richards and Martin on 6 June 1962. "I couldn't believe what louts they looked with their funny haircuts. They didn't impress me at all," Smith told the writer Brian Southall. Still, the engineer went on to oversee an estimated 180 tracks for the group, taking in nine UK No 1 singles and the six best-selling albums Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul.

In 1966, Smith was promoted to a producer and A&R role. The following year, he saw Pink Floyd play at the UFO Club in London and decided to sign them: "Their music did absolutely nothing for me," he conceded. "I didn't really understand psychedelia. But I could see that they did have one hell of a following even then. I figured I should put my business hat on, as it was obvious that we could sell some records."

The American-born Joe Boyd produced the Floyd's first hit "Arnold Layne" but, at the behest of his EMI superiors, Smith took over for "See Emily Play", which fared even better in the heady summer of 1967. However, given Barrett's frail state of mind and eventual collapse, and the arrival of the guitarist David Gilmour to join Mason, the bassist Roger Waters and keyboard-player Rick Wright, Floyd sessions often didn't go according to plan. Taking advantage of a break in proceedings, Smith began recording a demo of "Don't Let It Die" and played the result to his friend, the producer Mickie Most, who suggested he should release it under his own name.

Taking up the "Hurricane Smith" moniker from a 1952 film, he eventually issued "Don't Let It Die", which reached No 2 in the UK in the summer of 1971. In the post-Beatles era, British pop still ruled the planet and the once staid Smith became a long-haired, moustachioed, bona-fide pop star when the quaint "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?" turned into a worldwide hit the following year.

"The melody was happy and simple," he said about his signature song.

It was the producer in me that designed the lyric to recapture the era I grew up in. It's almost a true story of my life. I would go to a ballroom, but I was so shy I couldn't even ask someone to dance. I'd walk home imagining a romance when I'd never even reached first base. "Oh, Babe" was about those fantasies.

Smith scored a third hit with "Who Was It?" but the charm of his throwback to the big band era sound soon wore thin and the singles "Beautiful Day, Beautiful Night" and "To Make You My Baby" flopped. For a while, he bred horses in Surrey but kept his hand in with occasional sessions for Denny Laine, of the Wings and Moody Blues fame, and even played trumpet on Kilimanjaro, the 1980 début by the Liverpool group the Teardrop Explodes.

Later, Smith moved to Rye, in Sussex, and enjoyed his retirement, though he relished telling stories of his days at Abbey Road and took part in the occasional documentary about the Beatles or Pink Floyd. In 2004, he released From Me To You which included new versions of his 1970s material, and a cover of the Beatles song the album was named after. Last year, he self-published an autobiography, John Lennon Called Me Normal, and sold it at Beatles conventions.

"Norman Smith taught us a lot of things in the studio," said Mason.

He helped us a lot, since he was simultaneously a musician, sound engineer, and producer. He . . . could do anything in the studio. In fact, he had a very peculiar style and a very peculiar sound. Just listen to his records.

He was happy to teach us rather than protect his position by investing the production process with mystique. From our first day, Norman encouraged us to get involved. He was aware of our interest in the science and technology of recording when, in his words, "most bands at the time were just trying to be part of the Mersey Sound bandwagon".

Pierre Perrone

http://forum.songfacts.com/showtopic.php?tid/144292/

А вот и телеграмма Джона - "старого друга".

Что ж это за песенка, которую Дик Джеймс покупал у автора за 15 тыс фунтов.


Smith, on June 17th, 1966 (nickname 'Normal', & '2 dB's Smith') while working with the Beatles was once offered 15,000 UKP by the bands music publishing company (Dick James Music) to buy outright a song he had written, which he offered to finalise the track line-up of the 'Help' LP.

Ник Мэйсон о работе со Смитом:

Q: Was Norman Smith another individual with indisputable importance in Pink Floyd's career?

NM: Norman Smith, better known now as Hurricane Smith, led us to EMI, our record home, and was our producer for a long time. Taught us a lot of things in the studio.

Q: Did he leave you or did you leave him?

NM: We left him, because we wanted to produce our own albums. He helped us a lot, since he was simultaneously a musician, sound engineer and producer. He can do anything in the studio. In fact he has a very peculiar style, and a very peculiar sound. Just listen to his records. But we also wanted to have our own sound!

Q: What do you think of his actual career?

NM: It's great. Norman, just has we did, wanted to become a star. And with all his potential you'd expect him to become successful. Now he's a star. I really like Norman. He has also, like Ron Geesin, a certain way to live and work. A true philosopher. Apart from that, I really don't like his songs that much.

http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/band/interviews/nbm/nbm73.html

Smith at the 2007 Fest for Beatles Fans

Norman 'Hurricane' Smith was the first recording engineer to work with The Beatles and was responsible for their entire Parlophone output from their 1962 audition for George Martin through to Rubber Soul in 1965. His production and engineering credits include Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Little Richard and Barclay James Harvest with far too many more to name.

Что-то вроде творческого отчета Нормана Смита - альбом песен и личных воспоминаний From Me To You.



'Hurricane Smith' made the transition from producer/ engineer to solo recording artist with the singles "Don't Let It Die" and the phenomenal hit "Oh Babe, What Would You Say", which reached number one in the U.S.A. charts.

Norman now returns with his album "From Me To You ". He lends his distinctive voice to huge hits such as the title track as well as the classic "Englishmen In New York" and under the watchful eye of his son and producer Nick Smith; Norman has created a truly collectable album.

The sleeve notes include never before seen photos of Norman and The Beatles, messages from David, Nick and Richard of Pink Floyd and a personal tribute from Sir Paul McCartney. The album also contains in-depth interviews in which 'Hurricane' discusses his time with The Beatles, Pink Floyd and chapters of his remarkable musical career.

Где-то была тема про связь Битлз и Пинк Флойд
Из интервью Смита:

So Pink Floyd came to EMI for the first session at Number Three Studio, I recall. My first job, obviously, was to form a friendship with them and above all to form a trust, being their producer. Anyway we're sitting there in the control room talking, getting to know one another. And the control room door opened and in walked Paul McCartney. He wanted to meet the boys. He'd heard of them. And after a little chat with them, he came across to me, puts his hand on my shoulder and he says to the Pink Floyd boys, "You won't go wrong with this bloke as your producer."

I think that started off our friendship and I hope our trust. That was very nice of Paul and I thanked him very much for that. And so we started our first session in Number Three.

2 Expert: зашел посмотреть и узнал, что его не стало.
Ведь он часть битловской истории...

Про песню для Help читал в самарском журнале. Подробностей не помню - вроде в операторской предложил Джону и Полу песню.

2Воробьёв Александр:

>Про песню для Help читал в самарском журнале.
>Подробностей не помню - вроде в операторской предложил
>Джону и Полу песню.

Вся инфа ограничивается интервью Смита, которое взял у него Льюисон.

Жалко очень.. Уходят гиганты.