I know he really liked them a lot [ laughs ].
So , that snowballed and I was based out of a warehouse where there were three different sound companies and they ’ d just say , “ Hey , are you available to do this ? Are you available to do that ?” It ’ s no wonder I learned on the fly . As equipment changed , I learnt it and focused on it . I had a good set of ears , so I ended up working with [ Elvis ] Costello , with Squeeze , with anybody that was on that management company , touring around Europe . It was a lot of prog rock , like Caravan , Steve Hackett from Genesis , U2 , lots and lots of varied acts . It was Sammy Davis , Jr . this week and then U2 the next month . U2 was the last thing I did in Europe and that would be ‘ 82 ?, so they were really just starting out …
I actually ended up moving to the States in ’ 83 after I ’ d finished Joe Jackson ’ s Night and Day Tour . I got hired on by a sound company and they paid for my visa . Joe Jackson lived in New York and he hired me on as his audio consultant and the guy that he would get to do anything for him .
So , I did a lot of touring , lots of different bands , like Talking Heads , Blue Oyster Cult , and lots and lots of different things here . A bit of Leonard Cohen thrown in there , but mainly Joe Jackson and Squeeze until about ’ 85 and then I got a call to from [ legendary remote recording pioneer ] David Hewitt , who I ’ d met on a Joe Jackson gig in Boston . He was impressed by the fact that I interfaced all my PA stuff easily with a truck , got it line checked , got it all clean , no buzzes or hums . By this time , I was very 16-track proficient and done a couple of things on 24 . And so , he and I did a few things together …
David was very , very helpful to me and I was glad to be returning favours for him giving me work occasionally . It was a two-way street — I ’ d send him stuff , he ’ d send me stuff , he ’ d get me out on certain tours and then came Live Aid . David was like , “ You know all about PA systems and how that interfaces with remote trucks . We ’ ve got this little project …” [ laughs ]. So , it wasn ’ t so little ! He said , “ I want you to make sure that we ’ ve got all the bases covered .” So , I was in Philadelphia , I was basically the interfacing consultant . It was like , “ We ’ re going to need a big stage … we ’ re going to need a revolving stage … how big is the biggest revolving stage we can get in two weeks ’ time ?” Money was no object . So , we ended up with five remote trucks and I had to build in redundancy and map it out so each truck knew where they were going and what they were doing when they arrived . I was 27 then .
PS : You ’ ve had your hands in live sound , live recording , broadcast , and studio recordings , but obviously now , decades later , you ’ re best known for your work in the studio . Was that the plan or is that just happenstance ?
Darby : I kind of morphed into the studio thing . I did a thing with Keith Richards back in ’ 86 . I came off of a Joe Jackson tour and his business manager said , “ I have this client I ’ d like you to take care of .” Keith wanted to make a record in Canada and he ’ d never been back to Canada since he was arrested . And so , there ’ s all sorts of technical stuff and different issues and I got to know Keith and moved heaven and earth to get all the gear that was required into Le Studio . I mean , our engineer at the time , Don Smith , was like , “ I need 20 Neve strips , I need four Pultec equalizers , I need these microphones …” I ’ d find them , deal with all the shipping and stuff . That was what I was used to , shipping stuff around the world . Then having to take care of the band and Keith ’ s wishes , and the book on that will come when he dies [ laughs ]. He ’ ll probably be the last person on the planet . It was pretty amazing .
PS : How did the working relationship with Lou Reed begin ?
Darby : I hooked up with Lou Reed after I ’ d worked with Keith . My manager would say , “ Hey , you ’ re going to do such and such .” And so , I ended up doing this thing with John Cale and Lou Reed in a little church in Brooklyn . I had a look at the church and went , “ Okay , this is going to sound awful . So I put a distributed system all over the whole building , a Meyer Sound system , worked out the delay times , etc ., so there wasn ’ t a bad seat in the house .” Then I recorded it to my DAT machine I got the year before . Lou heard the tapes when I played it back in the room . He was just like , “ Oh my god , this is really fantastic .” So , after that I did the record of Songs for Drella album , which was John Cale and Lou ’ s homage to Andy Warhol , which has become an iconic collector ’ s piece . I did a live album for him in London . I also toured as his sound engineer and then I was mixing front of house for him and getting rave reviews on the tour . One of those dates I also had recorded with David Hewitt . We shipped up the truck from New York and recorded a live record in Montreal from the New York tour .
We built his home studio together and we
CAPTION ??
got along really quite well . Lou was curmudgeonly and found it hard to deal with people . People would always go , “ Yes , yes sir , of course we can ,” for him . I ’ d say , “ No , that can ’ t be done , but here ’ s an easier way of doing it ,” and I ’ d present the options . So , he appreciated my honesty . I didn ’ t get to do the Velvet Underground reunions , though ; I wonder why [ laughs ].
Around this time I married a Canadian woman who I met when we were in Montreal recording that live album . This girl comes up to me , very beautiful , looked like Susan Sarandon meets Michelle Pfeiffer . She said , “ What kind of board is that ?” and I said , “ It ’ s old and it ’ s English like me .” We ’ d began a relationship and I ’ d fly her down to wherever I was going to have a couple of days off on a tour or whatever . And then we got together and she moved to New York and I decided to slow down on my touring and just concentrate on working around New York . I got the house gig at Radio City , which also led me to work with Ella Fitzgerald and tour with her and with Aretha Franklin . I previously worked with Tony Bennett and his band , probably in ‘ 87 or so , but by 1989- ‘ 90 , I was like , “ Radio City is my bread and butter and I ’ ll do some TV mixing .” I ’ m not going to tell you what TV show it was , but it was pretty awful . Also , I was doing a lot of audio work for MTV and their Unplugged series . I did 90 Unplugged shows .
PS : Didn ’ t you also have a studio in Nashville around this time ?
Darby : I did , in the early ‘ 90s . Right after we got married and decided we ’ re going to have a baby . We had a lovely brownstone apartment in New York . A beautiful place . So , we went to the gynecologist and the bill for one visit was so astronomic that I was like , “ I think we have to move out of this town .” It didn ’ t matter where I lived because MTV or the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would fly me wherever I needed to be . So , we moved to Nashville and I managed to acquire a 7,000-sq . -ft . property with covered parking . A beautiful brick building that had
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 27