Producer Steve Lyon is a highly respected British Recording Engineer and Mix Engineer working mostly across pop rock, alternative and electronic rock musical genres with highly creative artists. From the start of his career, he has contributed to the sonic identities of renowned musical acts including Depeche Mode, The Cure, Recoil, Nitzer Ebb, The Wedding Present, Laura Pausini, Amplifier, MrNorth, Subsonica and collaborated with major producers such as Glyn Johns, Sir George Martin and Flood, working in iconic studios across the world. Since 2010, he is based at his own studio, Panic Button Studios, in south London.
An eclectic music-lover from an early age, Lyon found his vocation to music production by flipping over the album covers he loved, particularly The Who, Elton John, Genesis, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin and Peter Gabriel to name just a few, quickly realizing what he wanted to do was to explore all styles of music without being a musician himself. Producers such as, Glyn Johns,Gus Dudgeon, Gary Katz and David Henstchel became his idols. Lyon attended Mechanical / Electrical Engineering course at College and started out on film sets at Beaconsfield !s National Film School taking on a number roles, especially in sound recording, editing and sound effects creation before interviewing with Glyn Johns (The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles) at his home studio, who was to become his “mentor! and in 1984 starting on the production of Scottish band Big Dish!s album, Swimmer. Johns guided Steve through the mind set of studio life. This particular approach to musicians, the recording world along with the experience gained was invaluable, unique and fundamental to the approach taken by Steve in his further in his development as a sound recording engineer. Through these experiences with Johns, he worked on recording sessions with some renowned and respected session musicians such as drummer Henry Spinetti, guitarist Andy Fairweather Low and Jody Linscott. When Johns went back to LA, Steve went to work at the Townhouse Studios in Shepherd!s Bush then at The Manor Studio where he worked as in house engineer on a number of projects including Berlin’s hit Take my Breath away, UFO and Rush.
Lyon the experimented touring and spent 6 months touring the US with the support band to Mike and the Mechanics, then teaming up in LA at various studios to gain experience. He met Paul McCartney’s collaborator Jon Jacobs, who recommended him for Sir George Martin’s Air Studio where he worked as assistant engineer then engineer on projects including Tears for Fears, The Wedding Present (From Langley Park To Memphis, 1988), The Outfield and Prefab Sprout. He was asked by Sir George Martin to work as his assistant on songwriter Andy Leek’s album Say Something (1988), John Illsley’s (Dire Straits bass player) 2nd solo album, Glass (1988), on the collaborative adaptation of Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1989) and a re-mixing of The Beatles’ Rubber soul.
He was asked to work at Sir Paul McCartney’s own Studio for sessions with various musicians, initially with producer Phil Ramone on songs which were included on Flowers in the Dirt and Flaming Pie Collections. This led to another collaboration with Sir George Martin on Mc Cartney’s single Once upon a Long Ago. While at Air Studios, Steve mixed The Wedding Present’s first album George Best and subsequently recording and mixing the band’s second album Bizarro at Jacobs Studios.
Early 90’s, Lyon started to work as a freelance for Church Studios, collaborating with Dave Steward (Lilly was here soundtrack) and Suzanne Vega (two tracks for the album Dedicated – A tribute to The Greateful Dead, 1991) before landing with producer Flood and Alan Wilder on Depeche Mode’s iconic album Violator (1990), producing to include mixing instrument tracks and B sides on the Album then contributed to the Soundtrack of Until the end of the World by Wim Wenders, recording and mixing Depeche Mode’s track Death’s Door and continuing his close working relationship with the band alongside Alan Wilder programming the World Violation Tour and recording a number of the live shows for Mute Records.Steve became a long term collaborator with Alan Wilder working on Re-mixes of Nitzer Ebb’s Come Alive and Family Man for the As Is EP, leading onto their next full album release, Ebbhead (1991) and on Wilder’s solo Recoil projects: Bloodline (1992) then Unsound Methods in 1997 as Associate Producer/Engineer/Mix Engineer, mostly recorded at Wilder!s Home Studio. Depeche Mode called him again for their following album Song of Faith and Devotion (1993), setting up a studio in a private villa near Madrid and recording in studios in Hamburg the London, including re-mixes and B-sides among which the track My Joy. An extensive period followed of programming and sequencing over two months with Alan Wilder in London’s Olympic Studios and his home Studio. Further work with Depeche Mode included co-production of recordings of the Devotional Tour Live and a remix of Condemnation with extra recording was completed between shows in Paris. After meeting members of Depeche Mode in New York, Robert Smith from The Cure called Steve to work on a different type of album he had in mind, recorded outside a conventional studio in a house he had found. Two years later, in 1996, came album Wild Mood Swings, which Lyon co-produced with Smith, including including the hit singles The 13th, Gone and Mint Car. Also completed in this period with #The Cure” was a version of the David Bowie anthem Young Americans for an 104.9 (An XFM Compilation Album).
From late 90’s, Steve Lyon has worked around the world (both in studios and live tours). His varied works have led to chart success in many territories and included albums for Maggie Estep (USA, 1997), Finish superstars 4R, The Creatures (first album since Siouxsie & The Banshees split), two albums with Amplifier (UK), French bands Daisy Box (Diagnostic, 2005) and Tafta (Un jour, une vie, 2007), three albums with MrNorth (USA), British bands Soho Dolls (No regrets, 2006) and The Wedding Present (Kennedy, 2007), German pop rock band Reamonn’s album, Tuesday, which included the hit single Super Girl, biggest airplay in Germany in 2001. Lyon also worked on productions in Italy: a N°1 album for electronic pop outfit Subsonica in 2004 followed the mixing of two albums with left-field act 99 Posse for BMG Italy all to wide critical acclaim. In 2008, he recorded and mixed Italian pop star Laura Pausini’s album Primavera in Anticipio which won two Latin Grammy Award including the Best Female Pop Album category in 2009. More recently, he has co-produced and mixed the dark new wave alternative “The Elephant Man” project, collaborated with super star Eros Ramazzotti (Battito Infinito in 2022) and directed artistically the creation and album of supergroup Bloom for pop star Giusi Ferreri in 2024.
Since 2010, Steve Lyon has settled his own creative sanctuary in South West London, Panic Button Studios, keeping on developing new talents and working on a great diversity of projects: rock band Suzerain (UK) The King’s Parade (UK), Our propaganda (UK), Fugue (Australia) and sessions with Eric Clapton. He has lately recorded live and mixed the Rolling Stone Magazine France Live sessions with major artists like The Rival Sons or Cedric Burnside (July 2024). For the last few years, Steve Lyon has been committed to mentoring emerging talents and passing on his expertise and passion through masterclasses in France (Midem 2024), UK ad Italy.
Official Website : www.steve-lyon.com
During the Soundedit Festival, he will be honoured with the “Man with the Golden Ear” statuette in recognition of visionary and pioneering solutions in music production.
