Editing OK Computer (section)

==Recording==
In early 1996, Radiohead recorded demos at [[Chipping Norton Recording Studios]], Oxfordshire.<ref name="Radio X">{{cite interview|last=Selway|first=Philip|subject-link=Philip Selway|interviewer=John Kennedy|title=X-Posure with John Kennedy|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itTi8B7P_4| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/7itTi8B7P_4| archive-date=7 November 2021 | url-status=live|work=[[Radio X (United Kingdom)|Radio X]]|date=June 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In July, they began rehearsing and recording in their Canned Applause studio, a converted shed near [[Didcot]], Oxfordshire.<ref name="complete q">{{citation|last=Doyle|first=Tom|title=The Complete Radiohead|url=https://archive.org/details/RHQCompleteRadiohead/page/n1/mode/2up|date=April 2008|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]}}</ref> Even without the deadline that contributed to the stress of ''The Bends'',{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=194}} the band had difficulties, which Selway blamed on their choice to self-produce: "We're jumping from song to song, and when we started to run out of ideas, we'd move on to a new song&nbsp;... The stupid thing was that we were nearly finished when we'd move on, because so much work had gone into them."<ref name="FOLKERTH">{{citation
 | first = Bruce
 | last = Folkerth
 | title = Radiohead: Ignore the Hype
 | date = 13 August 1997
| magazine = [[Flagpole Magazine|Flagpole]]
}}</ref>

The members worked with nearly equal roles in the production and formation of the music, though Yorke was still firmly "the loudest voice", according to O'Brien.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=195}} Selway said, "We give each other an awful lot of space to develop our parts, but at the same time we are all very critical about what the other person is doing."<ref name="FOLKERTH" /> Godrich's role as co-producer was part collaborator and part managerial outsider. He said that Radiohead "need to have another person outside their unit, especially when they're all playing together, to say when the take goes well&nbsp;... I take up slack when people aren't taking responsibility—the term 'producing a record' means taking responsibility for the record&nbsp;... It's my job to ensure that they get the ideas across."<ref>{{citation
 | first = Nick Paton
 | last = Walsh
 | title = Karma Policeman
 | date = November 1997
 | newspaper = [[London Student]]
 | publisher = [[University of London Union]]
}}</ref> Godrich has produced every Radiohead album since, and has been characterised as Radiohead's "sixth member", an allusion to [[George Martin]]'s nickname as the "[[fifth Beatle]]".<ref name="CBC">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/everything-in-its-right-place-1.587693|title=Everything in Its Right Place|last=McKinnon|first=Matthew|date=24 July 2006|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170935/http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/everything-in-its-right-place-1.587693|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WYLIE" /><ref>{{citation
 | first = Jason
 | last = Pettigrew
 | title = How to Reinvent Completely
 | date = September 2001
 | magazine = [[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]]
}}</ref>

Radiohead decided that Canned Applause was an unsatisfactory recording location, which Yorke attributed to its proximity to the band members' homes, and Jonny Greenwood attributed to its lack of dining and bathroom facilities.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=195}} They had nearly completed "Electioneering", "[[No Surprises]]", "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and "The Tourist".{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=25}} They took a break from recording to tour America in 1996, opening for [[Alanis Morissette]], performing early versions of several new songs.<ref name="Rhapsody in Gloom" /> Greenwood said his main memory of the tour was of "playing interminable [[Hammond organ]] solos to an audience full of quietly despairing teenage girls".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=2018-12-13 |title=Flashback: Radiohead open for Alanis Morissette in 1996 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/see-radiohead-play-paranoid-android-1996-768862/ |access-date=2024-09-13 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

During the tour, [[Baz Luhrmann]] commissioned Radiohead to write a song for his upcoming film ''[[Romeo + Juliet]]'' and gave them the final 30 minutes of the film. Yorke said: "When we saw the scene in which [[Claire Danes]] holds the [[M1911 pistol|Colt .45]] against her head, we started working on the song immediately."<ref name="HUMO"/> Soon afterwards, Radiohead wrote and recorded "Exit Music (For a Film)", which plays over the film's end credits but was excluded from the [[Romeo + Juliet (soundtrack)|soundtrack album]] at their request.{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=67}} The song helped shape the direction of ''OK Computer''. Yorke said it "was the first performance we'd ever recorded where every note of it made my head spin—something I was proud of, something I could turn up really, really loud and not wince at any moment".<ref name="IRVIN"/>

[[File:St Catherines Court1.jpg|thumb|left|Most of ''OK Computer'' was recorded between September and October 1996 at [[St Catherine's Court]], a rural mansion near [[Bath, Somerset]].]]

Radiohead resumed recording in September 1996 at [[St Catherine's Court]], a historic mansion near [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] owned by the actress [[Jane Seymour (actress)|Jane Seymour]].{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=196}} It was unoccupied but sometimes used for corporate functions.<ref name="Request"/> The change of setting marked an important transition in the recording process. Greenwood said it "was less like a laboratory experiment, which is what being in a studio is usually like, and more about a group of people making their first record together".<ref name="Request"/> 

The band made extensive use of the different rooms and acoustics in the house. The vocals on "Exit Music (For a Film)" feature natural [[reverberation]] achieved by recording on a stone staircase, and "[[Let Down (Radiohead song)|Let Down]]" was recorded in a ballroom at 3 am.{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=35}} Isolation allowed the band to work at a different pace, with more flexible and spontaneous working hours. O'Brien said that "the biggest pressure was actually completing [the recording]. We weren't given any deadlines and we had complete freedom to do what we wanted. We were delaying it because we were a bit frightened of actually finishing stuff."<ref name="SELECT">
{{citation
 | last = Harris
 | first = John
 | author-link = John Harris (critic)
 | title = Renaissance Men
 | date = January 1998
 | magazine = [[Select (magazine)|Select]]
}}</ref> 

Yorke was satisfied with the recordings made at the house, and enjoyed working without [[Stem mixing and mastering|audio separation]], meaning that instruments were not [[overdubbing|overdubbed]] separately.<ref name="VAZIRI" /> O'Brien estimated that 80 per cent<!-- DO NOT CHANGE TO "PERCENT"—"per cent" is preferred in British English, see Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Spelling#Preferred_variants --> of the album was recorded live,<ref name="Request" /><ref name="VAZIRI" /> and said: "I hate doing overdubs, because it just doesn't feel natural.&nbsp;... Something special happens when you're playing live; a lot of it is just looking at one another and knowing there are four other people making it happen."<ref name="VAZIRI">{{citation
 | first = Aidin
 | last = Vaziri
 | title = British Pop Aesthetes
 | date = October 1997
 | magazine = [[Guitar Player]]
}}</ref><ref name="DIEHL">{{citation
 | first = Matt
 | last = Diehl
 | title = The 50th Anniversary of Rock: The Moments – 1996/1997: Radio Radiohead Get Paranoid
 | date = June 2004
 | magazine = [[Rolling Stone]]
}}</ref> Many of Yorke's vocals were first takes; he felt that if he made other attempts he would "start to think about it and it would sound really lame".<ref name="Sutcliffe1999" />

Radiohead returned to Canned Applause in October for rehearsals,{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=198}} and completed most of ''OK Computer'' in further sessions at St. Catherine's Court. By Christmas, they had narrowed the track listing to 14 songs.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=199}} Additional recording took place at [[The Church Studios|the Church]] in [[Crouch End]], London.<ref name="NMEColin2024">{{cite web |author=Trendall |first=Andrew |date=17 October 2024 |title=Colin Greenwood on capturing 'the middle era' of Radiohead – and what's next for the band |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/radiohead-interview-colin-greenwood-how-to-disappear-photo-book-band-future-tour-3803426 |access-date=17 October 2024 |website=[[NME]] |publisher=}}</ref> The [[string section|strings]] were recorded at [[Abbey Road Studios]] in London in January 1997. Godrich [[audio mixing (recorded music)|mixed]] ''OK Computer'' at various London studios.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=200}} He preferred a quick and "hands-off" approach to mixing, and said: "I feel like I get too into it. I start fiddling with things and I fuck it up&nbsp;... I generally take about half a day to do a mix. If it's any longer than that, you lose it. The hardest thing is trying to stay fresh, to stay objective."<ref name="The Mix" /> ''OK Computer'' was [[audio mastering|mastered]] by Chris Blair at Abbey Road{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=200}} and completed on 6 March 1997.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=5 June 2017 |title=OK Computer turns 20 |url=https://timeoutabudhabi.com/music/77402-ok-computer-turns-20 |access-date=28 June 2024 |magazine=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out Abu Dhabi]] |publisher=[[Time Out Group]]}}</ref>