Bernard Butler at Abbey RoadPhoto: Jill Furmanovsky
In this episode, Bernard Butler joins Kevin Paul to discuss his early steps into music production and how he approaches working with new artists and bands. He shares insights on touring, adding value as a producer and songwriting partner, collaborating with engineers and why staying creative, not formulaic, remains central to his work.
Show Notes
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:30 - Butler, Blake & Grant
02:08 - Self-Organising A Touring Schedule
04:35 - Getting Started In Music Production
06:57 - Approach To Working With New Artists
13:39 - Persuading Bands To Try Fresh Ideas
15:03 - Adding Value As A Producer
17:02 - Working With Engineers Who Capture Performances
21:59 - Songwriting Process, Inspiration And Jamming
28:06 - BB & The King Radio Show
30:20 - Following Your Passion And Being Unique
34:49 - Current Studio Projects And Tours
36:39 - Keeping The Production Process Creative, Not Formulaic
Bernard Butler Biog
Bernard Butler is an acclaimed English musician, songwriter and producer, recognised as one of Britain’s most influential guitarists. A founding member of Suede, he co-wrote and played on the band’s early classics, including The Drowners, Metal Mickey and their Mercury Prize-winning debut, before his ambitious work on Dog Man Star cemented his reputation.
After leaving Suede, he formed the celebrated partnership McAlmont & Butler, releasing Yes, You Do and later the album Bring It Back. His two solo records for Creation were followed by a prolific production career, shaping releases for The Libertines, Duffy, Tricky, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Paloma Faith, The Cribs and many others. His collaboration with Duffy on Rockferry earned a Grammy and multiple Brit Awards.
Butler has appeared as guitarist on projects for Aimee Mann, Neneh Cherry, Bryan Ferry and Bert Jansch, and continues to work across songwriting, scoring, teaching and radio. Recent highlights include his Mercury-shortlisted album with Jessie Buckley (For All Our Days That Tear The Heart) and his 2023 solo release Good Grief on 355 Recordings. He also continues to tour regularly.
https://bernardbutler.com/
https://instagram.com/bernardbutlerofficial
http://www.facebook.com/bernardbutlerofficial
Interviewer: Kevin Paul - Biog
Kevin Paul started his career as a DJ but quickly found his passion was sound engineering. His first audio job was at Soho Studios in 1991, moving to Konk Studios six months later, where he worked alongside successful producers and engineers such as Bob Clearmountain, Adam Mosley, Pascal Gabriel and Gil Norton, as well as bands such as The Kinks, Galliano, Terrorvision, UFO and Elastica.
After working on archiving the Depeche Mode back catalogue in 1994, he was offered an engineering role at Mute Records’ in-house studio, which eventually lead to a position as Head Engineer, which gave him access to the entire Mute Records roster. Highlights include mixing Goldfrapp’s 'Felt Mountain', David Bowie’s 'Hours' and Nick Cave’s 'No More Shall We Part'. He also worked in 5:1, mixing Moby’s 'Hotel', Goldfrapp’s 'Black Cherry' and more for DVD.
In 2004 Kevin went freelance and re-mixed the entire Depeche Mode and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds back catalogues for SACD/DVD. Since 2008, Kevin Paul has been in charge of mixing and remixing performances at the iTunes Festivals in the UK and Germany. He has mixed over 100 artists to date, including Adele, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The XX, Calvin Harris, Foo Fighters, Jack White, Linkin Park, Florence & The Machine, Deadmau5, David Guetta, Jessie J., Norah Jones, Oasis, Mumford & Sons, N.E.R.D., Lykke Li, James Blunt, KT Tunstall, Hot Chip, Paul Weller and many more.
He continues to record, engineer, produce and mix many projects in music and film, runs the mixing and surround mixing modules for the Masters Degree course at UK’s Westminster University, and divides his time between London and Berlin. Recent works include the international-selling new album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and mixing the latest album of Denmark’s 'Dúné' with the first single premiering at the Danish Music Awards, plus the latest iTunes Music Festival.
About the People & Music Industry podcast channel
Listen to experts in the field, company founders, equipment designers, engineers, producers and educators.
Find more shows at SOS Podcasts
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or wherever you get your podcasts.
