Nigel Godrich

Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since OK Computer (1997) and most of singer Thom Yorke's solo work. He is a member of Atoms for Peace (with Yorke) and Ultraísta. Godrich has also worked with acts including Beck, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement and Roger Waters. He is the creator of the music webseries From the Basement.

Nigel Godrich
Godrich performing with Atoms for Peace in 2013
Background information
Birth name	Nigel Timothy Godrich
Born	(1971-02-28) 28 February 1971 Westminster, London, England
Genres	Alternative rock, experimental rock, electronic
Occupation(s)	Recording engineer, record producer, musician, DJ
Instruments	Keyboards, guitar, bass
Associated acts	Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Atoms for Peace, Ultraísta, Beck, Travis

Early years

Nigel Godrich was born in Westminster, London, the son of Victor Godrich, a BBC sound supervisor, and Brenda Godrich.[1][2] He was educated at William Ellis School in North London, where he shared classes with his friend and future Zero 7 member Henry Binns. Godrich began playing guitar, inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. He became interested in sound engineering and studied at the School of Audio Engineering. After graduating, Godrich became a junior staff member at the Audio One studio complex, working primarily as a tea boy.[1]

After the closure of Audio One, Godrich became the house engineer at RAK Studios, where he became a tape operator for producer John Leckie, with whom he worked on albums by Ride and Denim. In 1995, Godrich left RAK to work with Binns on electronic dance music at their collective Shabang studio. Within six months he began working with mainstream acts including McAlmont & Butler.

Godrich credited producer Phil Thornalley for teaching him his craft. He named his "heroes" as Beatles producer George Martin, for "inventing the job", and Trevor Horn, for being "the thing that really made me sit up and listen".[3]

Radiohead

Godrich first worked with Radiohead when Leckie hired him to engineer two songs for their 1994 EP My Iron Lung.[1] The band nicknamed him "Nihilist", approving of his efforts to take their sound in new directions.[1] He went on to engineer Radiohead's second album The Bends (1995), working under Leckie as producer. When Leckie left the studio to attend a social engagement, Radiohead and Godrich stayed to record B-sides; one of the songs intended for a B-side, "Black Star", was instead included on the album.[1] In 1995, Godrich produced Radiohead's charity single "Lucky", plus the B-sides "Bishop's Robes" and "Talk Show Host", released on the "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" single.[1]

Radiohead invited Godrich to produce their third album, OK Computer (1997).[1] Working in improvised studios without supervision, he and the band learned as they went, and credited the open process with the record's success. In 2013, Godrich told the Guardian: "OK Computer was such a big thing for me because I was given power for the first time. Some of these incredibly intelligent and insightful people said 'do what you want' to me so I worked my arse off for them and together we did something that represents where we all were at the time. And it stuck for some reason. People got it, so that changed my life."[4]

Godrich has produced every Radiohead studio album since, and won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album for Hail to the Thief (2003).[5] Godrich's father died during the recording of Radiohead's ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016); Godrich wrote: "Making this album was a very intense experience for me. I lost my dad in the process. Hence a large piece of my soul lives here in a good way."[6]

In 2006, CBC described Godrich's longtime collaboration with Radiohead as "the most adventurous band-producer partnership in modern rock".[1] He has been dubbed the "sixth member" of the band, in an allusion to George Martin being called the "Fifth Beatle".[1] In 2016, Godrich said: "I can only ever have one band like Radiohead who I've worked with for this many years. That’s a very deep and profound relationship. The Beatles could only have ever had one George Martin; they couldn’t have switched producers halfway through their career. All that work, trust, and knowledge of each other would have been thrown out of the window and they’d have to start again."[7]

Thom Yorke and Atoms for Peace

Godrich (left), Joey Waronker (rear) and Flea performing with Atoms for Peace in 2014

Godrich has produced most of Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's solo work, including his albums The Eraser (2006), Tomorrow's Modern Boxes (2014)[8] and Anima (2019).[9] Yorke credits Godrich with helping edit his work, identifying which parts need improvement and which have potential. He gave the example of "Black Swan", a song from The Eraser, which originally was "a six-minute load of crap, except for this one juicy bit, and [Godrich] goes past and goes, 'That bit. Fuck the rest.' Usually it's something like that."[10]

In 2009, to perform songs from The Eraser, Godrich and Yorke formed Atoms for Peace, with Godrich on guitar, keyboards and synthesisers. The band also includes bassist Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, drummer Joey Waronker of Beck and R.E.M., and percussionist Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark.[11] In February 2013, they released an album, Amok, produced by Godrich,[12][13] followed by a tour of Europe, the US and Japan.[14]

Other projects

Following his success with OK Computer, Godrich mixed most of Natalie Imbruglia's hit album Left of the Middle (1997)[1] and R.E.M.'s Up (1998).[1] Godrich has collaborated with American singer-songwriter Beck several times, on Mutations (1998), Sea Change (2002) and The Information (2006). The first two of these albums, particularly Sea Change, were noted for their atmospheric folk/pop sound, a major departure from the sample-heavy, spontaneous style Beck was known for. Godrich has also worked with Travis three times, producing their commercial breakthrough The Man Who (1999) and its followup The Invisible Band (2001),[1] and co-producing The Boy With No Name (2007) with Brian Eno and Mike Hedges.

Godrich produced Pavement's final album Terror Twilight (1999), with Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood contributing harmonica on two tracks.[15] In 2016, songwriter Stephen Malkmus described the album as "overproduced" and described conflicts with Godrich.[16] In response, Godrich tweeted: "I literally slept on a friend's floor in NYC to be able to make that album."[16] In 2001, Godrich remixed U2's "Walk On" for its single release, and also mixed and contributed production to Air's albums Talkie Walkie (2004) and Pocket Symphony (2007).

In 2002, Godrich was hired to produce the second album by the Strokes, but was fired when their work, according to the band, proved "soulless".[17] Godrich said of the failed collaboration: "The problem there was that me and [singer Julian Casablancas] are just too similar, we're both control freaks. He wanted to do it his way, I wanted to do it my way, and obviously that's the point of me being there. And I'm saying 'Well, why am I here if you're not prepared to try and do it the way I want to do it?' We got on great, it was just one of those laughable things where it just doesn't work. I wanted them to change, and they didn't."[3]

He produced the 20th anniversary version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?", released in December 2004, which also featured Yorke and Greenwood.[18] Paul McCartney hired Godrich to produce his album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005) after being recommended by Beatles producer George Martin. Godrich fired McCartney's touring band, and demanded that McCartney abandon songs Godrich found clichéd, over-sentimental, or subpar.[1][19] The album was nominated for several Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and Godrich was nominated for Producer of the Year.[1]

In 2010, Godrich worked with Beck to compose the score for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, his first film work.[20] In October 2012, Godrich, along with Joey Waronker and singer Laura Bettinson, released an album as Ultraísta. In 2015, he produced the live album Roger Waters: The Wall,[21] and made a cameo appearance as a Stormtrooper in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[22] He mixed the Red Hot Chili Peppers' eleventh studio album, The Getaway (2016).[23] Godrich produced the fifth solo album by Roger Waters, Is This the Life We Really Want?, released in June 2017.[24] Godrich, a fan of Waters' work with Pink Floyd, was critical of Waters' previous solo work and felt his role as producer was to "encourage him, to push him a little bit".[25]

From the Basement (2006–2009)

Main article: From the Basement

In September 2006, it was announced that Godrich, along with producer Dilly Gent, producer James Chads and John Woollcombe, were shooting the music series From the Basement, filmed from London's Maida Vale Studios.[26] The series was to focus on intimate, live performances by musicians without a host or an audience. Godrich told Pitchfork Media in an interview, "We've got a lot of people that I'd like to see on the show [that] we're talking to. [But] I don't want to mention their names. Obviously, I'm really interested to capture some really iconic, bigger names– really the whole point is to get people who are having their moment, to try and get a definitive record of what they're doing."[27]

Godrich first conceived From the Basement as a means of authentically documenting music being made. Drawing further inspiration from British television music series The Old Grey Whistle Test, Godrich came upon the idea of a television programme. Despite early reports, From the Basement did not initially appear on British television, because of not taking on corporate sponsors.[27]

When the pilot was in production, From The Basement was to be an online programme only. However, this was not feasible as it did not generate enough money to produce the episodes to the quality level desired. Instead, the producers went to international TV networks to receive money up front to produce the series.[28] The series did eventually air on television; the first UK broadcast was on Sky Arts on 1 December 2007, featuring four songs performed by Thom Yorke on 8 December 2007.[29][30] The United States premiere was on Rave HD on 22 February 2008, followed by a run on Independent Film Channel, as part of the network's "Automat" block of television programmes in the autumn of 2008.[31] On 3 November 2008, the series was released on DVD.[32]

Discography

Year	Title	Artist	Credits
1990	Scandalo	Gianna Nannini	Assistant engineer
1990	Tune In	The Silent Blue	Engineer, producer
1991	Superstition	Siouxsie and the Banshees	Assistant engineer
1992	Vivienne McKone	Vivienne McKone	Assistant engineer
1993	Buffalo Skinners	Big Country	Assistant engineer
1994	Carnival of Light	Ride	Engineer
1994	Heitor	Heitor	Engineer
1994	My Iron Lung EP	Radiohead	Producer, engineer
1995	The Bends	Radiohead	Engineer, producer ("Black Star")
1995	Feeling Mission	Harvest Ministers	Engineer
1995	Totally	Tee	Engineer
1995	Booth and the Bad Angel	Tim Booth & Angelo Badalamenti	Engineer
1996	English and French	Hopper	Engineer
1996	Sun..!	Sun..!	Engineer
1996	Sound of..McAlmont & Butler	McAlmont & Butler	Engineer, Assistant engineer, Mixing
1997	OK Computer	Radiohead	Balance engineer, recording technician (Producer)
1997	Silver Sun	Silver Sun	Producer, Mixing
1997	Plagiarism	Sparks	Engineer
1997	Left of the Middle	Natalie Imbruglia	Mixing
1998	Mutations	Beck	Producer, Mixing
1998	Sisters in Pain	Jamaica	Engineer
1998	Try Whistling This	Neil Finn	Remixer, mixing
1998	Up	R.E.M.	Mixing
1999	Can You Still Feel?	Jason Falkner	Engineer
1999	The Man Who	Travis	Producer, mixing
1999	Terror Twilight	Pavement	Producer
2000	Kid A	Radiohead	Producer, engineer, mixing
2001	"Walk On"	U2	Remixer
2001	Amnesiac	Radiohead	Producer, engineer
2001	The Invisible Band	Travis	Producer, mixing
2001	Regeneration	The Divine Comedy	Producer
2002	Rouge on Pockmarked Cheeks	Brazzaville	Producer, Mixing, String ensemble, Fender Rhodes
2002	Sea Change	Beck	Producer, engineer, mixing, synthesizer, percussion, keyboards
2003	City Reading	Air & Alessandro Baricco	Mixing
2003	Hail to the Thief	Radiohead	Editing, Mixing, Operation, Recording, producer
2004	Absent Friends	The Divine Comedy	Mixing
2004	Heroes to Zeros	The Beta Band	Mixing
2004	Talkie Walkie	Air	Producer, engineer, Mixing
2004	When It Falls	Zero 7	Guitar, Sounds
2004	"Do They Know It's Christmas?"	Band Aid 20	Producer
2005	Chaos and Creation in the Backyard	Paul McCartney	Producer, Guitar Loops
2005	Guero	Beck	Mixing
2005	The Roads Don't Love You	Gemma Hayes	Mixing
2006	The Eraser	Thom Yorke	Producer, Mixing, musician, arranger
2006	5:55	Charlotte Gainsbourg	Producer, Mixing
2006	The Garden	Zero 7	Acoustic guitar, engineer
2006	The Information	Beck	Producer, engineer, Mixing, keyboards, Programming, Effects, Scratching, Tambourine, percussion, background vocals, Speak & Spell, whistle, Tote A Tune, Kalimba, drums, Game Boy
2006	Dad's Weird Dream	Silver Sun	Remixing
2007	Pocket Symphony	Air	Producer
2007	The Boy With No Name	Travis	Producer
2007	In Rainbows	Radiohead	Producer, engineer, Mixing
2008	Odd Couple	Gnarls Barkley	Engineer, Mixing
2010	Turn Ons	The Hotrats	Producer, engineer, Mixing, Additional instruments and noises
2011	The King of Limbs	Radiohead	Producer, engineer, Mixing
2011	Supercollider / The Butcher	Radiohead	Producer, engineer, Mixing
2011	The Daily Mail / Staircase	Radiohead	Producer, engineer, Mixing
2012	A Different Ship	Here We Go Magic	Producer
2012	Ultraísta	Ultraísta	Composer, engineer, Mixing, producer
2013	AMOK	Atoms For Peace	Producer, Programmer
2014	Warpaint	Warpaint	Mixing
2014	Tomorrow's Modern Boxes	Thom Yorke	Producer
2015	Junun	Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, the Rajasthan Express	Recording, engineer, Mixing
2016	A Moon Shaped Pool	Radiohead	Producer
2016	The Getaway	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Mixing
2017	Is This the Life We Really Want?	Roger Waters	Producer, keyboards, guitar, sound collages, arrangements
2019	Anima	Thom Yorke	Producer
2020	Sister	Ultraísta	Composer, engineer, Mixing, producer

Composition credits

Year	Song	Artist	Album
1997	"She"	The Sundays	Static & Silence
2004	"Speed Dial No 2"	Zero 7	When It Falls
2006	"Movie Theme"	Beck	The Information
2006	"Soldier Jane"	Beck	The Information
2006	"The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton"	Beck	The Information
2006	"Motorcade"	Beck	The Information
2010	List of composed songs "Universal Theme" "Hillcrest Park" "Fight!" "Love Me Some Walking" "Talk To The Fist" "Rumble" "Feel The Wrath" "The Grind" "Hello Envy" "Mystery Attacker" "Second Cup" "The Vegan" "Bass Battle" "Sorry I Guess" "Roxy" "The Ninth Circle" "The Fight Is Over" "Gideon Calling" "Level 7" "Welcome To Chaos Theatre" "Fast Entrance Into Hell" "Chau Down" "Game Over" "So Alone" "Round 2" "A Different Guy" "Boss Battle" "Blowing Up Right Now" "Aftermath" "Bye And Stuff"	Nigel Godrich	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Original Motion Picture Score)

References

1. McKinnon, Matthew (24 July 2006). "Everything In Its Right Place". www.cbc.ca. Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
2. THE ARTS: The holistic approach to music: POP: Ludovic Hunter-Tilney meets Nigel Godrich just in time for the producer's 'mid-life crisis' Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine – article by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in The Financial Times, 27 August 2001 (reproduced on Nigel Godrich unofficial website
3. "From The Basement On A Television: DiS talks to Nigel Godrich". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
4. Gibsone, Harriet. "Nigel Godrich: what he really thinks about Spotify". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
5. "Past Winners Search". Grammy.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
6. NME.COM. "Radiohead producer talks 'intense experience' of making 'A Moon Shaped Pool' | NME.COM". NME.COM. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
7. "Nigel Godrich interview: Radiohead and I have a profound relationship". 6 July 2016. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
8. Tomorrow's Modern Boxes vinyl packaging
9. Frost, Thomas (May 2019). "Thom Yorke: Daydream nation". Crack Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
10. "Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich on Atoms for Peace, the State of Dance Music and What's Next for Radiohead | Music News". Rolling Stone. 23 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
11. "A New Career in a New Town: Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich open Pandora's Box and run AMOK as Atoms for Peace". Archived from the original on 17 February 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
12. Petridis, Alexis (21 February 2013). "Atoms for Peace: Amok – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
13. "Calendar". Xlrecordings.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
14. "Atoms for Peace Announce U.S. and Japanese Dates". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 12 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
15. "The Quietus | Features | Rock's Backpages | A Pavement Interview: Terror Twilight, Radiohead, & Going Overground". Retrieved 25 June 2016.
16. "Stephen Malkmus Opens Up About Recording "Overproduced" Terror Twilight With Nigel Godrich | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
17. McKinnon, Matthew (24 July 2006). "Everything in Its Right Place". CBC News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
18. Godrich, Nigel (29 November 2009). "Flashback: making Band Aid 20". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
19. McCartney, Paul. "Paul McCartney Tries to Recapture a Fresh Sound: NPR Music". Npr.org. Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
20. "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World". 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016 – via IMDb.
21. "Roger Waters Talks New Album, Moving Past 'Spectacle' for Tour". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
22. Renshaw, David (17 December 2015). "Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich plays a Stormtrooper in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'". Nme.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
23. "Red Hot Chili Peppers finishing eleventh album with Radiohead producer". Kerrangradio.co.uk. 22 March 2016. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
24. NME.COM. "Roger Waters confirms he is working on a new album with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich | NME.COM". NME.COM. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
25. "How Pink Floyd's Roger Waters refound his fire at 72 - The Nation". The Nation. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
26. "New music show will preview Radiohead songs". qthemusic.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
27. Matthew Solarski (14 December 2006). "Nigel Godrich Talks "From the Basement", Radiohead". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 6 May 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
28. Godrich, Nigel. "From The Basement – Welcome". fromthebasement.tv. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
29. Mike Mulvihill (1 December 2007). "Saturday Digital Choice". The Times. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
30. "Thom Yorke's 'From The Basement' on SkyArts". ateaseweb.com. 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 26 April 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
31. "Radiohead Add Dates, Listen to Good Music". Pitchfork Media Inc. 1 December 2008. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
32. "Various Artists – From the Basement [2008][DVD]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2009.

External links

• Nigel Godrich on Twitter
• Allmusic Credits
• Nigel Godrich on IMDb