Mixing: David Bowie (1967)

The penultimate mixing session for David Bowie’s debut album took place on 28 February 1967, with a mono and stereo mixing session at Decca Studios in London.

The way it turned out was very much determined by the songs, and by the arrangements Dek wrote. They were very much complementary to the song. There were some very off-the-wall solos played by instruments you wouldn’t expect to hear. The way it was set up was there was a basic room session, then we would bring in special people to play clarinet or tuba and so on. It’s not that different to how the Beatles made music. They were overdubbed at a later date when we thought it would work rather than waste someone’s time coming in and decide you didn’t like it. We didn’t want to waste time or money.

With Bowie we didn’t start ’til the afternoon and worked ’til late. I think we did everything in Studio 2 at the Decca Studios at 165 Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, which was the one we used for pop records. I don’t think we did any sessions in Studio 3 or Studio 1 – it was right next to the Railway Tavern, which upstairs had the club Klooks Kleek.