A LIFETIME
OF SOUND
One-on-One with Jeremy Darby
Lou Reed , Keith Richards , Pink Floyd , David Bowie , Prince , Saturday Night Live , Live Aid , MTV Unplugged , Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions — Toronto-based engineer Jeremy Darby has done it all .
By Michael Raine
When a mutual friend in the audio products industry asked if I ’ d ever met Jeremy Darby , he was surprised that I hadn ’ t . And honestly , I knew Darby ’ s name , that he was based in Toronto , and that he ’ d had an illustrious and highly respected career . But when I googled him up , I was still blown away by his CV : Lou Reed , Keith Richards , David Bowie , Elvis Costello , Ella Fitzgerald , Aretha Franklin , Saturday Night Live , MTV Unplugged , Live Aid , and even the video game Cuphead ! The prestige and variety of artists and projects he ’ s worked on — across live sound , live recording , broadcast , and studio recording — over a five-decade career that spans the globe is truly remarkable .
And so , I immediately reached out to Darby and am I ever glad I did ! Like the old Brit that he is , he was more than happy to tell stories , have a laugh , and share his wisdom . Rarely have I enjoyed an interview this much and we hope you enjoy it too .
This interview has been edited for clarity and length .
PS : Growing up in England , how did you get into music and find an interest in audio ?
Jeremy Darby : I had a primary school teacher called Mr . Wiles and he had a group of us nineand 10-year-olds doing the sound effects for a school play . I was fascinated by the fact that you can record things and make them sound unlike they were . My mother was a wireless mechanic and radar operator during World War II , as well as a concert pianist . She got arthritis , so she couldn ’ t continue with the concert pianist side of things , but she was always like , “ Oh yes , I built this radio myself ,” and there was always music around . So , I bugged her and at 11 years old , she bought me my first Philips tape recorder — mono with a green eye for the level . Then I moved on through that to being involved in all the school drama stuff , like doing lighting and sound effects . I started a school radio station and used to some of the gear I had from home . This is at a time when people didn ’ t have school radio stations , much to the chagrin of some teachers [ laughs ].
PS : So , was it the technology and engineering side that most appealed to you , or the artistic side ?
Darby : It was music first and music was always a big thing to me . I studied violin and I took pity on my parents and gave that up at age 13 . I hated school , so I opted out of school at age 15 and got a part-time job at a component supply store . And then one of the places I ’ d applied to was the Marlowe theatre in Canterbury as assistant technician and my school drama teacher and her husband , who was also a theatre stage manager at the other theatre in town , gave me a glowing review . Within a month of me leaving school , I was assistant technician at this theatre , in charge of doing sound effects and any sound reinforcement that needed to be done and training on lighting .
PS : How ’ d this snowball from theatre to live music and studio recording ?
Darby : Working in theatre , I did sound for any act that would come by . In saying “ doing sound ,” that was basically just putting up two microphones , but I was fascinated by it . I was fascinated by creating aural experiences that would be pleasant . As I stayed in the theatre , I found out that all my friends there were musicians . Canterbury had a very strong progressive rock and jazz community , which was great .
Move forward about a year and a half , I get poached by my ex-drama teacher ’ s husband to go up to another theatre in Canterbury at the university where I became a member of staff at 17 or 18 years old . That came with all the staff perks and I had a theatre where I could record
JEREMY DARBY
a beautiful Bechstein grand piano … I did some demos for different people , a lot of jazz , recorded my first big band at age 18 — I was in so far over my head ! I almost ‘ ballsed ’ it up really well ! [ laughs ].
That progressed and then I got into buying more recording equipment . I bought a fourtrack tape machine and then I bought a stereo Ferrograph tape machine so I had something to bounce down onto . I had a little mixer and there was another guy in town who was also interested in this stuff and he had a hit record . So , we got together and we built this tiny studio . You had to walk up three flights above a cafe to get to it , so the piano movers were not impressed when they saw that !
We did a couple records there that were successful and that led to me getting more calls to work on other stuff . Then I got a break with a friend of mine who was our tech . He worked in this studio in London called Chalk Farm Studios , which was a big reggae studio . So , there I am , 17 or 18 years old , and we drive up there and there ’ s this big cloud of smoke in the room . The producer , whose son actually lives in Toronto , was a guy called Sid Bucknor , who produced tons and tons of reggae hits . He was very welcoming and I was gobsmacked . It ’ s like , 16-track ?! They had some of the early EMI tube mic pres from Abbey Road and a Helios console . It was a tiny little studio , but it was exciting . Sly and Robbie were on the session !
Then the phone started to ring with people hearing my live sound stuff and then a company said , “ Hey , do you want to come out and work with us ?” This was 1977 or something like that . “ I said , sure , I ’ ll give it a try ” and I took to it like a duck to water . So , that snowballed and I started working with some really great acts . A folk act that I worked with called Steeleye Span , there was a Philadelphia trio called The Three Degrees who I used to tour with . The current king of England used to come and see them regularly and I ’ m not too sure about what was going on between him and the lead singer but
26 PROFESSIONAL SOUND