Terrible news: Geoff Emerick, the beloved recording engineer who worked on most of the Beatles recordings with George Martin, has reportedly died of a heart attack at age 72.
Emerick was the engineer on the later, more complicated Beatles records from “Revolver” through “Abbey Road” and “Let it Be.” He also engineered a lot of Paul McCartney’s solo records including “McCartney” and “Band on the Run.”
Emerick’s work was not unnoticed by subsequent generations. His ear helped make Elvis Costello’s great albums like “Get Happy” and “Imperial Bedroom” get that cushiony sound that’s made them classics, as well.
He continued to work alternately with McCartney and Costello on most of their solo work, plus then lent his talents to the Beatles re-issue projects including the 2009 “black box” remaster of their albums and the mono box set.
Among Emerick’s other jobs with Martin was the rescuing of the group America in the mid 70s with hits like “Tin Man” and “Sister Golden Hair.”
Emerick, working out of Capitol Studios in Hollywood, most recently produced the “This is Us” soundtrack album for the popular TV show. Everyone in the music business wanted him, and he was hard to get as a result. I met Emerick about 20 years ago and he was a great story teller. His name was just invoked at the listening session for the 50th anniversary edition of “The White Album.” Think of it– he went to work at Abbey Road when he was just 19!
Condolences to his family and friends.
