Paul Corkett (aka Corky) on SoundBetter

I have been fortunate enough to Produce, Record and Mix albums for some of the most respected bands and artists over the last 25 years. Credits include The Cure, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Placebo, Bjork, Tori Amos.

I started at Jacobs Studios during the mid 80's working as an in-house engineer. After 3 years I moved to Trident Studios before moving into production and becoming freelance, going on to produce and record multi-platinum selling albums for The Cure, Placebo, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.
Currently I mix out of my own Studio in the South West of England.
My passion is to translate the artists vision into reality.

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Interview with Paul Corkett (aka Corky)

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: The 'Boatman's Call' album with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Flood, recommended me to Nick Cave and Mick Harvey to record the band at Abbey Road Studio 2. Nick is an amazing songwriter and his band incredibly talented musicians and innovators Blixa Bargeld and Warren Ellis.. I feel it is a timeless recording a modern classic. It will be listened to for hundreds of years.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I am preparing FOH for a European tour from October 2022 with The Cure,
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: I have only just joined but Hugo Nicholson is great really talented chap and Chris Sheldon has done some great albums.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: I grew up with analog 2" and can still line up an Studer or Otari Mtr90 , 48trk dolby SR at 15ips sounds amazing, but if your smpte or synchroniser failed or strange offset's then a long night was on the cards. digital is pretty solid these days. plus recallable in a matter of minutes.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I will give your song my 100 %
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: It has never felt like a job. it's a privilege...!
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Are we recording...? Yes I record everything...!
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: I am not aware of one.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What format have you recorded on ? What Sample rate / bit depth ? When are you needing to complete.?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Listen to the albums and work your provider has worked on and make sure he or she is the right person for the song. Be specific on your requirements also adding in influences and reference tracks.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: MacBook Pro, Protools, UAD Apollo, Putney VCS 3 and a Roland Space Echo.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I started as a Tea-boy / Cassette copy engineer at Tape One Mastering rooms in 1983 and then became a Tape Op at Jacobs Studios assisting the amazing Ken Thomas and meeting Mark Stent my oldest friend who then encouraged me to move to Trident studios where I was based until the mid 90's. I then moved into freelance production and engineering to present day. It only feels like yesterday that I started and I still feel the same excitement that I had from day1.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Adaptive to the artist I am working with and drawing from 30 plus years of recording experience and always learning more from every session. a constant evolution.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I would have liked to have worked with David Bowie he was a true innovator and pushed the limits. Scary Monsters Super Creeps being one of my favourite albums. Nile Rogers currently.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Listen to the artist and experiment.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Starting out as a tape op and then becoming an in house engineer for commercial studios you would be put on any type of genre, from Rock to Reggae, Soul, Pop to recording Classical Soundtracks for film. I enjoyed and learnt working with all those genres but I am probably best know for Alternative Rock.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Listening to the artist and translating their vision to a recorded piece of music that they are proud to have written and performed.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: A traditional recording path in a classic sense of recording. and also delivering an alternative way to hear the song. Combining digital and analogue processing when I feel necessary to present a depth and atmosphere to reflect musical energy.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Being sent a Demo or Rough mix and listening to the song and music. Then writing down my initial thoughts and feeling's that come from my first listen. If it is a mix then I will organise the session into my workflow before I even push up the faders. Setup some Fx up that I feel will relevant and start mixing. Send a listen mix to the artist and get their feedback and thoughts. Make a few adjustments if required and tweak any details.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: My Studio is a Protools Ultimate / UAD core with A Midas analogue desk for recording and a bit of live faders occasionally with a few analogue favourites like the VCS 3 Putney.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: My friend, Mark Spike Stent, Flood and Alan Moulder all who were my fellow in house engineers at Trident Studios.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: More and more over the last 18 months I have been remote Mixing.

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