EP158 - Kevin Metcalfe - 50 Years of Sound Mastering

Part of the music industry for nearly 50 years, Kevin
Metcalfe takes a break from enjoying his recent
retirement to join me on this episode of The Paul Weller
Fan Podcast.


Kevin is an industry legend. A sound mastering engineer with an
impressive repertoire of all kinds of artists and all types of
musical styles under his belt. This fella has played a key role
on hundreds, if not thousands, of singles and album releases over
the years including David Bowie, Adele, U2, Queen, ELO, Depeche
Mode, Pulp, Simply Red, The Who, Brian Eno, Lee “Scratch” Perry,
Mark Stewart, Adrian Sherwood and more…


This is one of those episodes where we hear the connections to
Paul Weller ( he mastered
Illumination, Studio 150,
As Is Now and Catch-Flame) but
also plenty of tales from a career that started in 1973, as a 20
year old cutting discs with cassettes and 8-track at RCA…


He soon moved to Delane Lea / CTS Studios at
Wembley ( or The Music Centre as it came to be
known) - where they scored the Bond movies and the world’s great
reggae artists who’d pop in straight off the plane from Jamaica.


It was at Utopia Studios from 1979 to 1983 that
he really built his reputation as a sound and engineering
mastering expert. Kevin worked with Roxy Music, Duran Duran,
Ultravox and Japan. As the punk scene took off, Kevin worked with
The Clash, Siouxsie Soux and more…


Kevin got asked to join Virgin Records in 1982
(which later became part of EMI) and ended up staying for 15
years. He then went on to create his own company
Soundmasters UK in 1997, which led to the work
with Paul Weller, along with Adele, Damon Albarn, Can, Gary Clail
(another personal favourite), Orbital, African Headcharge…


We also have a few other PW connections with former podcast
guests - Nick Heyward, Kathryn Williams and The Zombies!.


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