When the sessions for Brilliant Trees reconvened in London, following the initial gathering at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, the location was JAM studios situated in Tollington Park, North London. Joining co-producer Steve Nye for this stint was engineer Peter Williams. ‘JAM was owned by two brothers, the Nordmarks, Swedes, and their sister Lena ran the whole place. It was the old Decca 4 studio and became JAM. We used that a lot because it was a reasonable price, the quality of the equipment was good, and so we did a number of things there,’ Peter told me. ‘JAM, from memory, was a Harrison desk, Studer 24 track and Studer ½” 30 inch per second mastering, and a pair of big Urei speakers, 513s or whatever they are called, a bunch of amps etc.’
A familiar and reliable set up was no doubt welcome to David Sylvian and co-producer Steve Nye, who had battled technical issues in Hansa’s basement, hindering the album’s progress despite the fact that creative spirits had run high. Sylvian: ‘I wasn’t in the best studio in the building, it was like falling to pieces actually. For the first week we couldn’t record anything, you know, it was just trying to get the machine into record…I didn’t get as much done as I wanted by the end of that period of time, and then I decided I’m definitely not going to carry on recording there, you know, it was becoming so slow. I went back to London, wrote some more material, and went back into the studio there.’
Continue reading “Nostalgia”
