staff profile
Ben Thackeray
Staff Profile: Ben Thackeray
The next member of staff we're getting all forensic on is Ben Thackeray. A milder mannered more delightful studio buddy it's hard to find and, needless to say, he's a talented so-and-so.
His CV includes the following ace sorts: Bloc Party, Sunshine Underground, Hotchip, Madness, Richard File, Charles Campbell Jones, Happy Mondays, Fink, The Chemical Brothers, Merz, Roll Deep, Winnebago Deal and, needless to say, many more.
As well as engineering and mixing Ben makes his beans remixing as one half of Arkham. MILC settled down for an Ovaltine and bag of communal cookies and tried to get to the heart of the wash the world calls Benjamin Thackeray.
MILC: What do you do here at Miloco?
Ben: Sound Engineer.
MILC: How long have you been at Miloco? (and how did you get started in the music business)?
BT: I've been at Miloco since 2003 when I left Mayfair Studios to explore other avenues. I got into working in the music business by talking to a mate of mine who got onto LIPA's sound engineering course on the first year it opened. I met up with him for a drink after he had been on the course for a while and asked how it was going. He said yeah the course was fine and he didn't know why I wasn't doing something similar and that's when I decided to look into it as a career.
MILC: What do you think Miloco can offer over other studios?
BT: The brilliant thing about Miloco is that all the rooms are very different but all very good at something. YouÕve got the Neve Room to mix in, The Garden to record in, Hoxton as a cheaper all purpose room, etc. etc. Whatever your budget you can find a decent room with good kit at a competitive rate. Plus the assistants know what their doing and the maintenance is very good. It just means that when youÕre working you can concentrate on the stuff that matters (the music) and not be worrying about anything else.
MILC: You've worked with a whole host of artists including Bloc Party, The Chemical Brothers, Sunshine Underground, Hotchip, Madness, Fink & The Spinto Band, to name but a few...of which are you most proud?
BT: Charles Campbell Jones stuff stands out to me because not only am I very proud of the mixes I did but I also love his music. It's the thing I listened to most last year.
MILC: Which artist and/or producer would you most like to work with in the future?
BT: That's a really tricky question. I'll have to think about this one...
Also...
MILC: Staff knob of the month. Of all the switches, buttons, effects and tools at your disposal during recent Miloco sessions, which single one has given you most satisfaction?
BT: Play.
MILC: Do you ever write/record your own material? (...and, if so, how do you see these projects in relation to your continuing producing/engineering work?
BT: I've got a side project that runs under the name of Arkham which is me and my mate Robert Hoile. It's more his thing really in as much that he does most of the writing and programming and he got me in to do more the producing and engineering side of things. We've been lucky to remix some really good stuff in the past including Merz and Lunz, one of whose members is Hans-Joachim Roedelius. If you don't know who he is you should get on the internet and read up about him - he's a seriously cool dude.
MILC: Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
BT: Still engineering and producing records hopefully.
MILC: Over the last year or two there have been a lot of improvements to the various Miloco studios. Which do you think has delivered the best results/made the most difference?
BT: Getting all the Pro Tools rigs up to scratch is an obvious one because rigs are so integral to the way that records are made today and to be honest the quicker they are the better. It brought it all home the other week when I was working on an old old G4 and spent nearly a whole day editing some drums because the computer was so slow. It was very, very painful.
MILC: What new act/album would you recommend we keep our ears peeled for this year?
BT: The Aliens. Definitely. I just bought their Alienoid Starmonica EP and it's by far the best new record I've heard for a while.
Favourite music section:
MILC: What was your favourite album when you were:
a) 5-12 yrs old?
Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. I liked the narration as a kid. b) 13-16?
The Stone Roses first album.
c) 17-25?
Gets tricky around here, too many to pick one out really.
MILC: If you could have been involved in the recording of any one album, which one would it have been?
BT: Without a doubt it would be "Exile On Main Street" just to see what was going on around the Stones at that time and how they came up with all those great songs. And to meet Keith Richards.
MILC: What is your favourite album cover and why?
BT: The front cover of "Raw Power" is pretty special. I can't think of a more iconic photo that's been used for an album cover - apart from the cover of "London Calling" maybe. So those two.
MILC: Which other producer/engineer's work has influenced you most over the last 12 months?
BT: Hard not to say Steve Dub as we've worked together so much in the last couple years that some of it is bound to rub off. But I think we're actually quite different as engineers even though we share a lot of the same ideals. Also still Nigel Godrich for "Terror Twilight" and "Kid A". Silly questions:
MILC: What's the last film you saw at the cinema (was it any good)?
BT: X-Men 3. Yes it was good.
MILC: What's your favourite kitchen utensil and why?
BT: Got to be the corkscrew - I don't think I need to explain.
MILC: What's the last book you read/what are reading now?
BT: The last book I read was "The Book of Illusions" by Paul Auster. It's an awesome book. I'm not
actually reading anything at the moment and haven't for a while (been too busy I guess) but everybody
should read "Bad Wisdom" by Bill Drummond and Mark Manning and anything by Jim Dodge.
MILC: What was your most recent holiday destination and what did you do there?
BT: Went to France for my mothers 60th birthday. It was very nice.
MILC: What are you doing next weekend?
BT: Working.
All-comers title fight:
MILC: Who would win a fight between... Noel Edmonds and Scooby Doo? And why?
BT: Scooby Doo. Noel Edmonds doesn't have Scooby snacks. [Scooby Doo advances to the next round. Ed.]
Final music section:
MILC: Which is the best gig you've ever been to?
BT: Flowered Up at the Zap Club in the summer of 1990. Those were the daysÉPrimal Scream touring Screamadelica was pretty special too.
MILC: What's the worst behaviour you've ever witnessed in a studio?
BT: Don't think I can really say...
MILC: What's the longest studio time you've ever spent on an, ultimately pointless, task?
BT: There aren't really any pointless tasks in the studio. I say that because I'm a great believer in the fact that you can't really know how good or bad something's going to be until you've heard it. If somebody has an idea you've got to try it out even if you think it's the worst idea ever because you never know - it may just turn out to be brilliant... or not... ...
...By the way it's Brian Eno [This, for those of you not paying full attention, is Ben's answer to Which artist and/or producer would you most like to work with in the future?]
The end bit:
Thank you very much for submitting yourself to the Miloco Magazine inquisition; your time, effort and patience is much appreciated.
Ben Thackeray was talking to MILC in June 2006 Ben's CV can be viewed here: Interface Your Music Ben is available for Christmas, birthdays and bar mitzvah at Miloco and beyond. Just call us to arrange a booking.
© MILC@Miloco 2006