How a chance phone call landed Adrian Breakspear at Sony (and winning an ARIA)

Engineers and mixers rarely get the recognition in this industry that they deserve, nevermind the interview opportunities. Yet that’s exactly the situation Englishman Adrian Breakspear finds himself in following the success of this year’s Gang of Youthsalbum Go Farther In Lightness.

Of course, it’s not just for his engineering abilities that he was recognised at this year’s ARIA Awards – he also happened to co-produce the #1 album, which in turn won him the ARIA Producer of the Year Award for his work.

Yet it was just six years ago that Breakspear was on the phone, getting in contact with local bands and offering his services for free, and calling upon every ex-pat contact he could find in Australia.

“I wouldn’t say I really had a plan, and I wouldn’t say I was particularly comfortable that I would be able to make my way, but I wasn’t going completely in the dark. Funnily enough, it was actually a chance phone call,” he told TMN.

“I called a friend who was in a band in the UK; it’s not someone I even know very well. I mentioned I was moving out here and he went, ‘My friend used to work out there…’”

Through a series of connections, Breakspear was introduced to Lee Groves, who in turn opened the door to Sony.

“Lee had put me in touch with Paul Harris when they needed an engineer to cover something… Drapht, actually. N’fa Jones [and] 1200 Techniques, with Drapht producing.

“Paul, being another Brit, we spent five minutes ascertaining I could do the job and then half an hour chatting about mutual friends in the UK industry.”

Now the in-house engineer at the label, Breakspear works across a variety of acts and genres – from up-and-coming local artists waiting for their big break to Grammy award-winners like Alicia Keys and Pharrell Williams.

“I decided that I don’t ever want to necessarily be the sort of person that has a specific thing that they do. That’s great, if you’re one of those guys. That’s not really what I want to do. I guess my philosophy is that I want to make that person sound like the best possible version of what they do.”

Which is likely the reason why Gang of Youths continue to call upon Breakspear to work with.

Not only was he the co-engineer on the group’s 2016 Let Me Be Clear EP, but he also lent a hand on various tracks on the band’s debut album The Positions in 2015 – work that earned him his first ARIA nomination (Engineer of the Year for the track ‘Radioface’).

“The intention for the latest recordings was to do demos, and it just worked so well,” Breakspear explained.

“It evolved over several different sessions before we even knew that we were going to be doing the album.”

Breakspear added that some visa issues for Gang of Youths keyboardist Jung Kim, coupled with the fact that the sessions was going so well, led the team to ask themselves “why are we going to redo this at all? It’s great, let’s just finish it.”

“The fact the sessions went so well gave everyone a lot of confidence. Max [Dunn, bassist for Gang of Youths] did turn to Paul [Harris, Sony A&R] at one point and said, ‘I’m a bit worried.’ And Paul was like, ‘Why?’. Max replied ’It’s too easy!’”

Dunn’s concern for how free-flowing the process was this time around is a reflection of the challenges the band had in recording their first album in the United States – and is a true reflection of Breakspear’s ability to read an artist and make them feel comfortable enough to play openly.

And it’s this kind of recording environment that also gave Breakspear the opportunity to encourage the band to try some new things.

“I think giving people the time to try their ideas. There are some people who just shut down ideas. That doesn’t really work for a creative environment.

“Dave [Le’aupepe, lead vocals for Gang of Youths] is very open to being pushed a little bit.If I say, ‘Let’s try something else – do another take. Do this, do that,’ he’ll generally want to try. At the end of the day, it’s trust and communication.

“He knows – or hopefully anyone I work with knows – if I’m asking for another take it’s not just because I can’t be bothered to do anything for the next five minutes. It’s becauseI can see another approach or believe there’s a better performance possible – it’s all in pursuit of the end result.”

The testing of ideas and compromising on concepts comes with the territory of being an engineer and producer, but it’s a philosophy that sees Breakspear continue to be one of the best in the business.

“At the end of a project, a producer moves onto the next project. At the end of a project, an artist is with that record, producing it, promoting it, and touring it. They’ve got to be happy with it.

“Whilst I’ve always got strong opinions on things, that’s the most important thing – that the artist is happy.”