A Look At Vic Maile Recording Engineer/Producer & Close Friend

• Place – Pye Studios/Mobile/DeLane Lea /UK
• Time – 1969 – 1989
• Artist/Producer – Vic Maile

Engineer and Producer.

Vic Maile started his career as a sound engineer in 1965 at Pye studios.

By 1968 he was head of the Pye mobile truck, assisted by Neville Crozier.

As an engineer and producer he worked with some of the biggest names in the music business.

Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, The Small Faces, Dr Feelgood, Motorhead and The Who were just a few of the artists that were lucky enough to have been recorded by Vic.

Just a few Pye Mobile gigs, courtesy Neville Crozier:

24th February 1969: Royal Albert Hall; Jimi Hendrix Experience

27th April 1969: Birmingham; Pink Floyd

2nd May 1969: Manchester; Pink Floyd

25th May 1969: Pink Floyd

4th July 1969; Ongar, Essex; Humble Pie

1st December 1969: Royal Albert Hall; Eric Clapton

7th December 1969: Fairfield Hall, Croydon; Ashton Gardner & Dyke

14th December 1969: Royal Albert Hall; Ginger Baker’s Airforce

9th January 1970: Royal Albert Hall; Led Zeppelin

29th March 1970: Lyceum, London; Ginger Baker’s Airforce

25th-31st August 1970: IoW Festival

18th September 1971: The Oval; The Who, The Faces, etc.

11th October 1971: Royal Albert Hall; Canned Heat

22nd October 1971: Tottenham; Jack Bruce

2nd December 1971: Rainbow Theatre, London; Leon Russell

You can search the web for many stories relating to Vic Maile’s recording history, you can also search Pye Mobile here on my Blog for the background to many mobile recordings.

This blog is a more personal reflection of a dear friend for 20 years.

My First Meeting.

Whilst working at Pye Studio, I had been assigned to a session in the remix room.

I was told I was to be working with an engineer that worked for Pye but I had yet to meet him. His name was Vic Maile.

I learnt that Vic was in charge of the Pye mobile and didn’t really do many studio sessions, however he always came in to remix his live recordings.

I was waiting in the remix room when Vic arrived, it felt a little strange to be working with an engineer that I hadn’t met before.

After I introduced myself Vic said, “Hi” in a quietly spoken voice, his manner appeared so gentle and laid back.

He explained that we would be remixing a track from an album he had just recorded called The Who Live at Leeds.

Pete Townsend arrived and I remember being star struck.

Apart from that I have no recollection of anything else about that session.

It wouldn’t be long before Vic asked me to join the crew on the mobile truck.

Getting to know Vic

He was so easy to get along with we soon became great friends.

A few months later we booked a caravan holiday down in Cornwall.

This allowed me to get to know him a lot better including his very unusual sense of humour.

He wrote and recorded several of his own songs in downtime at the studio, which were recorded by various artist.

As he played and recorded all the instruments himself, I offered to help out, knowing this would fun and be a good opportunity for me to learn even more about recording.

Unique techniques

He would start by laying down a bass drum track.

This was achieved using an AKG 224e wrapped in cloth, we then tapped the top of the mic with a finger and recording it onto quarter inch tape.

This would become the basic bass drum track.

Vic would record about one minute.

He would then edit out the best consistent eight bars, Join them together then thread the tape over the machine playback heads and put the tape on a reel and press play.

This became a perfect in time loop bass drum.

Vic would then eq and compress the sound to make an amazing bass drum sound, which could now be transferred to the multitrack.

It was the first time I witnessed tape looping for instruments.

It would be many years later, I read The Bee Gees invented loop recording whilst making the album Saturday Night Fever.

Compressor used to make the sound.

Most engineers would use light compression to control the sound of instruments, but Vic used compressors unconventionally to achieve a sound rather than just the effect.

Example:

On a cymbal, which has a standard splash sound, he would make a loop of a couple of cymbal crashes and spend sometime taking the compressor to its outer limits creating the most unusual percussion sound.

Percussion guitar.

The guitar would be strummed only in downstrokes but right hand was held over the neck not playing a chord but just being held enough to create a vamping sound.

Percussion Piano

Place a small cloth on your fingers, hold down any low — middle string inside the piano whilst hitting the relevant key on the keyboard in time with the bass drum.

This now gave the bass drum harmonic feel.

He adored slide guitar and plenty of echo on the vocals, again everything had to be an effect rather than just a run-of-the-mill sound.

Tricks of Vic’s Trade

Over the years, Vic would use many of his unconventional techniques on the great recordings he engineered and produced.

Once a drum track was complete, Vic would always ask the drummer to overdub the snare with a very slightly opened hi hat and hit on every snare beat. This would ensure the snare sound, was crisp and sharp and unique.

Best way to record handclaps

For handclaps he would take two U67 Neumann mic boxes which were very sturdy and clap them together and overdub them a couple of times.

This became the most rock solid handclap sound you could imagine.

You will hear this on many of Vic’s productions especially Tom Robison’s 2-4-6-8 Motorway.

For an example

Not Fade Away is a good example of Vic’s unusual vocal sound and some of the unique recording techniques I mention above. Thanks to Neville Crozier for the copy of recording.

Meeting a Lord

I was leaving Pye one evening when Vic called in to return some microphones he had been using on the mobile.

He mentioned he was going across to Grottie’s, Pye’s local annexe Italian restaurant, to meet a friend and asked if I would like to join him.

We had only been there for a few minutes, when Vic’s friend Dave arrived.
He was a very polite quiet spoken guy.

We sat talking general chit chat mostly about music.

When we left, and Dave headed of to catch a train and Vic and I headed back toward the studio.

I asked Vic, if Dave was in the music business and Vic smiled and said, “Yeh, he’s Screaming Lord Sutch.”

I was stunned, this was the guy that In the 1960s, changed his name to “Screaming Lord Sutch III Earl of Harrow,” despite having no connection with the peerage.

His act consisted of a horror-themed stage show, he dressed up as Jack the Ripper and would arrive at gigs by hearse, inside a coffin. 

He also included chopping up a child’s baby doll with fake blood exploding everywhere.
This pre-dating the shock rock antics of Arthur Brown and Alice Cooper. 

In fact, when Alice Cooper stole his act, he swapped the doll to an effigy of Alice.

Gotta Keep A-Rocking  was a single that Vic had produced with Sutch and Hands Of Jack The Ripper was a live album recorded by the Pye mobile, which they produced together.

This album had Keith Moon on drums, Noel Redding on bass and Ritchie Blackmore on guitar.

Not to shabby bunch of muso’s for the rhythm section.

The Nomadic Jukebox

Around this time, Vic purchased a wonderful old dial-up selector jukebox from me for £35.00. 

On arriving at his maisonette in Ruislip it soon became apparent it wouldn’t fit through the front door. It was a real Right Said Fred moment.

There was no way this huge old Jukebox was going to move in with Vic.

A few weeks later I was with Vic and Dave Sutch and we were talking about the shenanigans with my jukebox.

Dave jumped at the chance to buy it from me and offered me £60.00, he paid me in full there and then.

I asked when he would like me to get it delivered to him. 

He replied,

“I will let you know.”

About two months had gone by and not a word from Dave.

I rang his home and asked what he wanted to do about the jukebox.

This would be the second time  I’d be stunned in the short time of meeting Dave when he replied, “Sorry Kenny, my mum said I can’t have  it in the house.”

I had no idea at that time he still lived with his mum.

The jukebox was once again on a nomadic trail.

I did finally sell it for £75 to Malcolm Jackson the owner of Jackson studio.

Leaving Pye studios.

Vic and I left Pye around the same time to work at different studios and I thought we would drift apart.

This in fact probably brought us closer together, we spent more time recording and mixing at De Lane Lea studios and more weekends together with Vic’s wife Lesley and my Sue having wonderful dinner parties.

Baby Let’s Play House

The first recording I was involved with that gained a release with was, Baby, Let’s Play House. Recorded on eight track tape in Studio 3 at De Lane Lea studios Wembley on the 25 March 1973, it was included on a compilation album of various artists called, The Best Of British Rockabilly, later that year, under the name of Vic Maile & The Faders.

Introducing One Great Friend to Another

By the mid-seventies, I was being managed as a producer by another dear friend, Stuart Taylor.

Stuart had found me work as a producer with several record companies.

In 1979 he signed my own studio band Nostromo, to Bronze records and I suggested to Vic that he should meet up with Stuie to see if he could present Vic to some record label’s. He agreed to the idea.

Before to long, Stuart had introduced Vic to Gerry Bron and Vic had produced the single Yeah Right with the band GirlsSchool, followed by two other singles Emergency and Nothing To Lose along with the album Demolition.

The next band’s album Vic produced for Bronze was Motorhead’s Ace of Spades, which was recorded  between 4 August – 15 September 1980.

The average royalty percentage for a producer in those days was 2% but I remember Vic holding out for 3%.

I asked Vic, if it was worth the fight for that extra 1%. He replied, “Well, that 1% is actually an extra 50%.”

After that, I always held out for that little extra.

Jackson recording studios

The studios were once owned by the Jackson family who donated the building to the Museum after it was threatened with demolition.

The studios, originally in Maple Cross, were used as a recording studio by Jack Jackson.
Jack was a popular bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s and later became a highly influential radio disc jockey, broadcasting on BBC Radio and TV where he coined the term Auntie referring to the BBC and became known as the ‘father of DJs’.

On his retirement, Jack handed over the studios to his sons, who, in the 1970s, set up a commercial recording studio that became renowned for its ‘dead’ sound. 

Many world famous artists recorded at the studios, including: Elton John, Ian Dury, Eddie and the Hotrods, Dr Feelgood, Tom Robinson and the New Seekers, Girlschool and Motorhead who recording their definitive track Ace of Spades there.

It was one of the first recording studios to provide overnight accommodation for artists. With the advent of digital technology, the studios went into decline and were eventually rescued by the Museum from developers.

Jackson Studio & Vic

In the 70s there was an urge amongst artists to record at a certain studio because another artist had just had major success recording there, this of course was a myth.

I would have bands bring me an album into the studio and say, “I want the same drum sound as on this record.”

I would say, “Well if we use the same drummer, the same mics at the same studio we might get close”

When I first visited Vic at Jackson’s my first impression was it was very underwhelming.
It felt really shabby and the old Neve desk looked like it had seen a lot better days.

I remembered, when I first saw Studio 2 at Pye in 1969, it too looked old and run down but had recorded almost every major artists of the 60s. So this is where the myth of the “hip” studio burst.

Sun Studios in Memphis was at the back of a shop.

Joe Meek recorded his hits in his flat above a shop in the Holloway Road.

Buddy Holly’s early classic were recorded at Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, New Mexico and this was prehistoric compared to Sun Studios and Holloway Road.

The studio sound is created by the engineer and the recording the artist, whatever the studio facilities are like.

Vic was the secret to Jackson’s success, he made it his and created hits with his passion and knowledge that he used in each and every recording.

The Hostess with the Leastest

Over the years we spent more time together outside of work, meeting up regularly

We would get together for dinner almost every Saturday night, work permitting, with my girlfriend Sue and my wife to this day and Vic’s partner Lesley, who he would later marry.

Lesley knew only to well Vic’s odd sense of humour and was never offended when Vic affectionately called her “the hostess with the leastest.”

Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair

When we would arrive at his house, he would always have his Revox tape machine rocking through his massive Tanoy speakers.

Whether it was morning or afternoon the music would be 50s Rock ‘n’ Roll.

If it was in the evening the music mood would change to movie soundtracks like South Pacific or Seven Brides and Seven Brothers.

I alway made some remark like, “What would Motorhead or Dr Feelgood think if they arrived and heard you blasting out Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair ?” He would just turn and give you that little Vic smile.

Vic and I spent almost every minute talking music, playing each other tracks we were working on or recordings by artist we wanted to introduce to each other.

Not All These Evenings Went Perfectly.

I remember one night shortly after he had moved into his Bungalow in the village of Ivor, Bucks.

Although it was classed as a bungalow it had an added room upstairs, which Vic and Lesley used as the dinning area.

Vic had prepared a meat fondue dish and halfway through the meal he decided to pour some more oil into the fondue, this didn’t go well and it promptly burst into flames.

In a panic Vic picked up the whole thing and started running down the stairs trying to get out into the garden.

Unfortunately the flaming oil was pouring from the tray, all over his hands and leaving a trail of burning fire falling like rain as he was running through the house.

My wife Sue, I and Lesley were chasing after Vic dousing the flames as they hit the floor.

A major fire was averted but Vic’s hands were scared for life. Fondue, was never on either of our menus again.

Modesty Reigns

In late 1977 Vic and Lesley were over at our house having dinner when I started raving about a track I had heard on the radio early that week.

“Vic you will love it, it’s everything you love about a pop record, it’s called 2-4-6-8 Motorway.“

In his totally loveable shy way, he said quietly, “Oh erm, I produced that”.

It has been an all time favourite of mine to this day.

I once asked him about a loud guitar bleep at 2:07 on the record and why he left it in. He had never noticed it until I pointed it out. From then on he would find things in my recordings and jokingly point them out.

I hear that bleep every time to this day.

It was sad that Vic never lived to see the Only Fools and Horses episode The Jolly Boys Outing the 1989 BBC Christmas special, which featured the 2-4-6-8-Motorway. He would have been blown away, as Only Fools was one of his favourite programs.

Vic Was One of the Most Patient People I Ever Knew

This was borne out when in the early 80s he contracted Guillain–Barré syndrome, a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system.

I used to visit him in hospital a couple of time every week. Vic was basically paralysed from the neck down. I used to feed him biscuits and read him chapters from rock ‘n’ roll books.

I looked up the disease and discovered there was no cure.

I asked Vic, “How long did they say this would last for?”

He calmly replied, “As long as it takes.”

It was six weeks before Vic was discharged from hospital and slowly made a full recovery.

Health Problems

Over the next few years Vic had several health problems and handled them in the same calm, composed way.

During these years, Vic stopped smoking his very strong non-tipped Senior Service cigarettes and also stopped drinking.

He did find some pleasure in smoking the odd Jamaican Woodbine.

One Christmas at our small cottage in North Marston, Buckinghamshire, Vic and Lesley came over for a visit.

My loverly elderly mother was sitting close to Vic in the living room as he lit a huge Joint.

As the smoke filled the air, my mother screamed, “Vic, your cigarette is on fire!”

New Year’s Eve

One New Year’s Eve in the mid 70s we phoned to wish them both a happy New Year but there was no answer. The next day I asked Vic were you out celebrating. He said, “No, we were both in bed by 10.”

I bullishly told him, that’s the last time that’s going to happen.

Our parties were always great fun, everyone knew everyone else, as did Vic and Lesley.

So every year after that they both spent New Year’s Eve with us, with the exception of 1988 when Vic arrived alone he said Lesley was feeling unwell. I had no idea this would the last New Year’s Eve we would ever spend together.

The last Time I saw Vic

On the 9 June 1989, I went to visit Vic at his home in Marlowe, he had just returned from a visit to the USA.

I had asked a good friend of mine in Nashville, Nutty Walt if he would look after Vic and show him around. Apparently Walt did a great job and lived up to his nickname.

Whilst having a coffee and a full catch up about his trip, he asked if I would be a witness to his will.

I asked, if all was OK and Vic explained it was just something on his “to do” list.

We arranged to meet up for lunch in a few weeks time.

Over the next few weeks we spoke on the phone a few times and set the date Thursday 13th July to meet up for lunch in a pub we used to frequent in Denham village.

On Monday the 10th Vic phoned me to confirm the time for Thursday and we spoke about VAT returns and the movie The Three Amigos, basically just general chit-chat, ending with “see you in Denham”.

One of the Worst Phone Calls Ever

The next evening on Tuesday 11th Lesley called me to say Vic had passed away that day.

Stunned and upset, I don’t remember to much about that call except I asked if he had had a heart attack.

Lesley explained that Vic was told six weeks before that he only had a short time left.

I was furious with him that he never told me.

A Very Sad Afternoon

In Amersham Bucks on July 18th Vic Maile was cremated. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon with so many of Vic’s friends, family and artist attending.

I asked Lesley, why didn’t the bleep didn’t he tell me.

She explained, that Vic knew how much stress Sue and I were under at that time with my brother passing away amongst many other things he didn’t want to add extra pressure to our lives.

An Amazing Tribute

Neville Crozier, Vic’s life-long friend and fellow work engineer from the Pye mobile days penned the song If a Tear Should Fall.

This is the most wonderful lyrical tribute to Vic about their friendship and their last meeting together.

With the help of another old friend, the singer and actor Mike Berry, the music was added along with Mike’s great vocal.

For 20 years, from those early days at Pye until he died at the age of 45, Vic was one of my and Sue’s closest friends and we miss him to this day.

RIP

More about PYE Mobile Stories + Dr Feelgood

Jimi Hendrix – Arrogance and a Death Threat

Jimi Hendrix – The prophecy fulfils?

Chicago – The First And Only Time

The Who – Hells Angels and a Broken Drum Mic

The Doors – In the Dark About the Bass Player

Isle of Wight – a Beautiful Dream That Became a Monster

The Who Live At The Oval Cricket Ground 1971

Dr Feelgood and the Secret to Stupidity

https://www.discogs.com/search?q=kenny+denton&type=all