Wikipedia

Draft:Steve Lyon (music producer)

  • Comment: Sentences like " committed to mentoring emerging talents and passing on his expertise and passion" are not neutral and need reworking, citing and / or removing. MarcGarver (talk) 19:46, 24 November 2024 (UTC)



Steve Lyon
Steve Lyon
Steve Lyon
Background information
Birth nameStephen Charles Lyon
BornTwickenham, West London, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • Mix Engineer
DiscographySteve Lyon production discography
Years active1984–present
LabelsChurch Studios,Mute Records
WebsiteSteve Lyon Offical Website

Stephen Charles Lyon, aka Steve Lyon (born in Twickenham, West London, England), is a British record producer, recording and mixing engineer, working mostly across pop rock, alternative and electronic rock musical genres with collaborations including Depeche Mode, The Creatures, The Cure, Recoil, Nitzer Ebb, The Wedding Present, Laura Pausini, Amplifier, MrNorth, Subsonica. Since 2010, he is based at his own studio, Panic Button Studios, in South London.[1]

Early Life and recording works

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After a technical degree at University, Lyon began his career on film sets at the National Film and Television School, before moving on to recording studios starting as an assistant to Glyn Johns on the production of Scottish band Big Dish's album, Swimmer, in 1984.

"I wanted to try my hand at all styles of music, without being a musician myself. I thought this could be a job for me... I've been told that Glyn was looking for an assistant. I applied and went to his studio in Surrey...I'd hang around the studio and watch him work. As time went by, he ended up showing me how to use the equipment. We had sessions with some incredible studio musicians like drummer Henry Spinetti on drums, Andy Fairweather-Low on guitar’.[2]

After Johns returned to work in Los Angeles, Lyon worked at the Townhouse Studios in Shepherd's Bush then at The Manor Studio as in house engineer then met Paul McCartney's collaborator, Jon Jacobs, who recommended him for him for Sir George Martin’s Air Studio where he worked as an assistant engineer then engineer. [2]

He was asked to work at Sir Paul McCartney’s own studio for sessions with various musicians, initially with producer Phil Ramone on songs which were included on Flowers in the Dirt and Flaming Pie Collections. "It was crazy because when I was younger, my grandmother, who ran the restaurant at Twickenham film studios, introduced me to Paul and Linda McCartney on the set of a video for London Town by Wings."[2]

This led to another collaboration with Sir George Martin on Mc Cartney’s single Once upon a Long Ago. While at Air Studios, Lyon mixed The Wedding Present’s first album George Best and subsequently recording and mixing the band’s second album Bizarro at Jacobs Recording Studios.

Early 90’s, Lyon started to work as a freelance for Church Studios, collaborating with Dave Stewart (Lilly was here soundtrack) and Suzanne Vega (tracks Cassidy and China Doll for the album Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead, 1991)."[2]

Recording with Depeche Mode and Alan Wilder (Recoil)

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While working at Church Studios, Lyon was offered to work for Depeche Mode with producer Flood and Alan Wilder on the band's iconic album Violator (1990).[3] When he joined the team, the band had already recorded some songs in Denmark and mixed single Personal Jesus and B-side Dangerous in Milan.

"I'd never met Flood but I knew of his work for Nick Cave and on U2's The Joshua Tree. When Mute sent me all their back catalogue, it was love at first sight, especially the Black Celebration album."[2]

Lyon worked on numerous tracks among which Clean, Halo and Policy of Truth, producing and mixing instrument tracks and B sides on the album then contributed to the soundtrack of Until the end of the World by Wim Wenders, recording and mixing at Guillaume Tell Studios in Paris Depeche Mode’s track Death’s Door, programming the World Violation Tour with Alan Wilder and recording a number of live shows for Mute Records.

Lyon became a long term collaborator with Alan Wilder working on re-mixes of Nitzer Ebb’s Come Alive and Family Man for the As Is EP, leading onto their next full album release, Ebbhead (1991) and on Wilder’s solo Recoil projects: Bloodline (1992)then Unsound Methods (1997), mostly recorded at Wilder's home studio.

Flood called Lyon again for Depeche Mode's following album Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)[4], setting up a studio in a private villa near Madrid and recording in studios in Hamburg the London, including re-mixes and B-sides among which the track My Joy. An extensive period followed of programming and sequencing over two months with Alan Wilder in London’s Olympic Studios and at Wilder's home studio.

"Alan and me didn't not see anyone for three or four months. It was a very different situation to the run-up to the World Violation tour. We just locked ourselves away, sampling stuff from Depeche Mode records and basically created another album"[5]

Further work with Depeche Mode included co-production of recordings of the Devotional Tour Live and a remix of Condemnation.

"Together with Steve Lyon, Wilder set about mixing the live soud for a video of the Devotional Tour - Simply titled Devotional - and a live version of the Songs of Faith and Devotion album based on recordings made by Lyon in Copenhagen (May 27), Milan (June4) and Liévin (July 27), assisted by Euromobile's Peter Brandt."[6]

Recording with The Cure

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His work with Depeche Mode gained the attention of Robert Smith from The Cure who wanted to work on a different type of album he had in mind, recorded outside a conventional studio, in a manor at 'St Catherine's Court (Bath, England).[1]

"Smith had obviously taken a liking to working in stately country manors, because he was insistent about revisiting the idea for Wild Mood Swings....It helped that Steve Lyon had already recorded with Depeche Mode in a rural setting"[1]

Two years later, in 1996, came album Wild Mood Swings, [7]which Lyon co-produced with Smith.[8], including the hit singles The 13th, Gone and Mint Car. Also completed in this period with The Cure was a version of the David Bowie anthem Young Americans on 104.9: an XFM compilation album, which can also be found on The Cure's compilation album Join the dots: B-side and rarities (2004)[1]

Work with other artists

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From late 90’s, Lyon has worked on a diversity of projects across many territories including : albums for Maggie Estep (USA, 1997), fFinish band 4R, The Creatures, two albums with Amplifier (UK), French bands Daisy Box (Diagnostic, 2005) and Tafta (Un jour, une vie, 2007), three albums with MrNorth (USA), British bands Soho Dolls[9](No regrets, 2006), British gothic metal band Paradise Lost's album Host (1999) and The Wedding Present (Kennedy, 2007), German pop rock band Reamonn’s album, Tuesday, which included the hit single Super Girl.

Lyon also worked on productions in Italy: electronic pop Subsonica in 2004 followed the mixing of two albums with 99 Posse for BMG Italy. In 2008, he recorded and mixed Laura Pausini’s album Primavera in Anticipio which won Best Female Pop Vocal Album at Latin Grammy Award in 2009.

Since 2010, Lyon has settled his own studio in South West London, Panic Button Studios, keeping on developing new talents (Suzerain, Fugue, Our Propaganda, The King's Parade...) and working on a diversity of projects including sessions with Eric Clapton for Chris Barber's album Memories of my trip and a collaboration with Eros Ramazzotti (Battito Infinito in 2022). Lately, he directed artistically the creation and album of supergroup Bloom for Giusi Ferreri in 2024[10]. He has lately recorded live and mixed the Rolling Stone Magazine France Live sessions[11] with tracks from Rival Sons, Cedric Burnside (July 2024), Theo Charaf, The Inspector Cluzo and Jessie Lee & The Alchemists.

For the last few years, Steve Lyon has been holding masterclasses and conferences including, Rimini in Musica[12], Midem 2024[13], SoundEdit Festival 2024 and also participated in the jury of Una voce per San Marino[14] selecting Italian artists for Eurovision in 2021 and of Sanremo Rock 33rd edition in 2020 [15]

On the 27th of October 2024, Lyon's career was celebrated with the Man with Golden Ear award at Soundedit Festival in Poland.[16]

Selection of recording and production works

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Albums & Singles as assistant recording engineer

Albums and Singles as recording and or mixing engineer

as record producer or co-producer

Awards & Nominations

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  • Best Female Pop Vocal album - Latin Grammy Awards 2009 (record engineer for Laura Pausini's album Primavera in Anticipio
  • Nominated Record of the Year - Latin Grammy Awards 2009 (record engineer for Laura Pausini's album En cambio no[17]
  • FIM Award 2016 'Legend of Music Production'[18]
  • Man with the Golden Ear Award 2024, for visionary and pioneering solutions in music production. - Soundedit Music Producer Festival [19]in Poland

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Price, Simon (2023-11-09). Curepedia: An immersive and beautifully designed A-Z biography of The Cure. Orion. p. 695. ISBN 978-1-4746-1934-9.
  2. ^ a b c d e "«Hors-Série Spécial DEPECHE MODE» de la revue «ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE»". ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE (in French). p. 107. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
  3. ^ May, Kevin; McElroy, David (2022-09-29). "Steve Lyon (UK) engineer on Violator at the Church Studios in London". Halo: The Story Behind Depeche Mode's Classic Album Violator (1st ed.). London: Grosvenor House Publishing (published 2022). pp. 113–143. ISBN 978-1-80381-302-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ "Depeche Mode Biography 1993". depechemodebiographie.de. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  5. ^ Malins, Steve (1999). Depeche Mode: the biography (1st ed.). London: Andre Deutsch. p. 228. ISBN 9780233994253.
  6. ^ Miller, Jonathan (2009-11-05). Stripped: Depeche Mode. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-026-7.
  7. ^ Apter, Jeff (2009-11-05). Never Enough: The Story of The Cure. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-024-3.
  8. ^ "THE CURE: Recording Wild Mood Swings". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  9. ^ Stereoboard.com. "Sohodolls Announce UK Tour - Stereoboard". Stereoboard.com. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  10. ^ "Musica: arriva in radio "Mai Più", il nuovo singolo di Bloom, la band di Giusy Ferreri". www.primapaginanews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  11. ^ ROTA, Alma (2024-06-22). "Rolling Stone Live Sessions: Un vinyle 5 titres enregistré au Blues Passions". Rolling Stone (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  12. ^ Buzzacchi, Dario (2023-08-31). "STEVE LYON - LASCIA STARE I TREND - INTERVISTA". WU (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  13. ^ Crétal, Léa (2024-01-09). "MIDEM+ 2024 : De La Soul, Baxter Dury, French 79... réunis à Cannes - TSUGI" (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  14. ^ "🇸🇲 First jurors revealed for Una Voce Per San Marino". That Eurovision Site. 2021-11-18. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  15. ^ Rock, Sanremo (2020-09-03). "Steve Lyon tra gli " Stellati Internazionali" della giuria 33^ 2020 - Sanremo Rock" (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  16. ^ Rédaction, La (2024-11-04). "Le Soundedit Festival célèbre les producteurs de musique". Rolling Stone (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  17. ^ "Calle 13 Leads List of 2009 Latin Grammy Nominations". BMI.com. 2009-10-01. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  18. ^ Colombo, Lorenzo (2016-05-02). "Steve Lyon, storico collaboratore dei Depeche Mode al Fim di Erba". Erbanotizie (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  19. ^ "Steve Lyon". soundedit.pl. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
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