Dave Harries – From Abbey Road to British Grove
I’ve just spent a very enjoyable hour or so in the company of Dave Harries. I met Dave on a visit to the accreditation body JAMES a couple of months ago when Dave asked if he could come up to Lincoln to have a look at our recording studios.
Dave has had a very interesting career in the recorded music industry starting out as a technical engineer at Abbey Road studios where he worked with Sir George Martin and Geoff Emerick and recorded the first version of Strawberry Fields Forever with The Beatles. He later worked as the Technical Director at Air Studios (recording and mixing Pink Floyd’s Meddle), then on to Air in Monserrat, Decca and is currently the Technical Consultant at Mark Knopfler’s British Grove studios. Dave has worked with The Beach Boys, Donovan and The Temptations to name but a few.
With such a trusted pair of ears giving our studios the once-over, it was great to hear Dave praise our set-up here in Lincoln and he gave me some excellent advice on how to improve the acoustic treatment of the recording areas. We also discussed work experience opportunities for our students at British Grove. With that in mind, I asked Dave for advice to students hoping to work in the recording studio world. He answered: ‘Be prepared to work all the hours that God sends and be approachable and friendly.’
Dave has kindly offered to return the favour and I’ll be visiting British Grove early in the new year. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be giving them any advice on how to improve the acoustics of their studios.
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