„Man with the Golden Ear” is an award with which Soundedit Festival recognises sound and audio artists and directors of our musical experiences. Joining the pantheon of figures who have so far received the statuette are: Tadeusz Mieczkowski, Czesław Niemen (posthumously), Chris Thomas and Steve Lyon. The gala of the 16th edition of the International Festival of Music Producers and Sound Designers will take place on Saturday, 26 October at Wytwórnia Club in Łódź.
Tadeusz Mieczkowski
Sound engineer and music producer. He graduated from the Faculty of Sound Engineering at the University of Music in Warsaw with a specialisation in phonography. He loves recording and mixing film music. He has been active in the phonographic world since 1989, with thousands of recordings to its credit. These are always top-tier productions carried out with a huge performance line-up. He creates a unique and recognisable sound and always adapts his style and working method to the artists. Musicians and composers appreciate him for the high expectations he sets for them, his attention to detail and his unconventional sense of humour. He has collaborated with artists such as: Wojciech Kilar, Wojciech Karolak, Andrzej Jagodziński, Adam Sztaba, Tomasz Stańko, Zbigniew Preisner, Edyta Górniak, Kayah and many other stars of the Polish music scene. He has also recorded such international performers as: Branford Marsalis, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Sting, Natalie Cole, Tori Amos, Pat Metheny, Mino Cinelu. He has also worked on hundreds of folk, jazz, symphonic and chamber music productions. His favourite productions are created using the best symphony orchestras. He specialises in immersive recording. He is the founder and owner of Mastersound Studio, specialising in Dolby Atmos Music Studios. He will receive the „Man with the Golden Ear” award in recognition of lifetime achievements in music production.
Czesław Niemen
One of the most important artists of Polish popular music. Niemen was not only a musician, but also a multi-instrumentalist, singer, rock vocalist, composer, songwriter, arranger, graphic designer and innovator. He was one of the first to import numerous synthesisers and other electronic instruments to Poland.
He was born on 16 February 1939 in Staryya Vasilishki, now in Belarus. He died on 17 January 2004 in Warsaw. As a child, he performed in a church choir, then attended the piano class of the pedagogical high school in Grodno, and studied for a short time at the music academy there. In 1962, he met Franciszek Walicki, who began to promote him and organise his performances. He was quickly recognised at the Young Talent Festival in Szczecin and toured the country with the band Czerwono-Czarni as a reward. It was Walicki who finally managed to convince Niemen to start playing rock instead of Latino and Russian songs. After his first successes in amateur competitions, he began to perform with the band Niebiesko-Czarni and to compose, all thanks to Walicki.
He made his debut as a big beat singer, performing rock and roll and rock songs in the style of The Beatles, as well as ballads. Among the biggest hits of the first period are the dynamic song „Czy wiesz?” and the sentimental ballad „Pod Papugami”. However, he soon began to move towards more ambitious music, aimed at a more discerning young academic audience. He later re-recorded songs from his time with Niebiesko-Czarni on the album „Czy mnie jeszcze pamiętasz?”.
In the autumn of 1966, together with the musicians from the group Chochoły, he formed the band Akwarele. The next stage of his career was performing with his band as „Niemen Enigmatic”. In autumn 1971, he came into contact with the avant-garde double bassist Helmut Nadolski. With him and the musicians of the Silesian Blues Band (SBB), he formed the Niemen Group, which was active from December 1971 to August 1973. At the same time, Niemen started recording film music, which he continued for almost ten years. Niemen’s career was disrupted by the imposition of martial law. It was not until 1989 that Niemen’s first album of new material in many years was released, „Terra Deflorata”, which had been years in the making. In 1999, he was voted the best performer of all time in the „Polityka” poll. His last studio album, „Spodchmurykapelusza”, came out in 2001. Czesław Niemen will also be posthumously honoured with the Soundedit Festival’s „Man with the Golden Ear” award in recognition of his visionary and pioneering solutions in music production.
Chris Thomas
Born in 1947 in the UK, he is an English music producer who has worked with: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Roxy Music, Badfinger, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Pulp and the Pretenders. He has also produced landmark albums for the Sex Pistols, Climax Blues Band and INXS.
Thomas studied violin and piano as a child, only to later start playing bass in London pop bands, at one point turning down the opportunity to play with Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell. After a few years, he decided that he was not interested in a career as a concert musician. In a 1998 interview, he stated: „I realised that being in a band, I was dependent on all these other people. It got to me that if I ever had success with a band, I would want to stay in the studio and just make records. I wasn’t that interested in playing live.”
Wanting to break into production, Thomas wrote to The Beatles producer George Martin and was hired as an assistant at AIR, an independent production company set up by Martin and three other EMI producers. Thomas has produced (without credit) The Beatles’ „Birthday” and „Happiness Is a Warm Gun”. He has worked with Procol Harum (four albums) and with Pink Floyd on their famous album „Dark Side of the Moon”. He got hired after David Gilmour, Rick Wright, Roger Waters and Nick Mason could not agree on how the album should ultimately be mixed. The producer then became involved with the group Badfinger. In 1976, Malcolm McLaren asked him to produce an album for the Sex Pistols. Thomas’ colleagues in the music industry were horrified by this fact. In 1985, he played a key role in the worldwide success of the Australian band INXS. Chris Thomas has won the Rolling Stone Critics’ „Producer of the Year” award, the „Billboard” magazine’ „Producer of the Year”, as well as Grammy and Brit Awards. During the Soundedit Festival, he will be honoured with the „Man with the Golden Ear” statuette in recognition of his visionary and pioneering solutions in music production.
Steve Lyon
British sound and mixing engineer, working mainly with pop rock, alternative and „electronic” artists. Since the beginning of his career, he has contributed to the recognisable sound of many well-known musical groups, such as Depeche Mode, The Cure, Recoil, Nitzer Ebb, The Wedding Present, Laura Pausini, Amplifier, MrNorth, Subsonica. He has worked with some of the biggest names in music production: Glyn Johns, Sir George Martin and Flood. Since 2010, he has been working in his own studio, Panic Button Studios.
Steve is a truly eclectic music lover, and discovered his vocation for music production by paging through the covers of albums he loved by The Who, Elton John, Genesis, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin and Peter Gabriel. It was then that he realised he wanted to explore all styles of music without being a musician himself. Lyon attended a mechanical/electrical engineering course at college and began working on film sets at Beaconsfield’s National Film School. He took on many roles, particularly in sound recording, editing and creating sound effects. In 1984, he began producing an album by Scottish band Big Dish.
He was employed at Sir George Martin’s AIR studios as an assistant sound engineer and then engineer for Tears for Fears, The Wedding Present, The Outfield, Andy Leek, John Illsley, Dylan Thomas and Prefab Sprout. He and Martin also worked together on songs by Paul McCartney.
Since the 1990s, Lyon has been working on his own. He has collaborated with Dave Stewart, Suzanne Vega, Depeche Mode and director Wim Wenders on the soundtrack for the film „Until the End of the World”. Steve became a long-term collaborator with Alan Wilder, with whom he worked on remixes of Nitzer Ebb songs and Recoil albums. Steve doesn’t just lock himself away in the studio, he has travelled the world on tour. In 2010, he set up his own creative, sound and music sanctuary in South West London – Panic Button Studios. There, he focuses on working with young talent, but doesn’t refuse sessions with stars such as Eric Clapton.
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.
16th International Festival of Music Producers and Sound Designers Soundedit will take place on 25-29 October. The main events, including the gala of the „Man with the Golden Ear” awards, will take place at Klub Wytwórnia (Łąkowa Street 29). Performances will include: Natalia Niemen, The Wolfgang Press, Clan of Xymox, Juno Reactor, Christian Friedel, Jules Maxwell, Smolik//Kev Fox duo.
Photos: organiser’s press materials.