Editing Eric Radcliffe

{{BLP sources|date=May 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Eric Radcliffe
| image           =
| image_size      = 
| background      = non_performing_personnel
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|1950|12|3}}
| birth_place     =
| death_date      =
| death_place     =
| origin          = 
| instrument      = 
| occupation      = {{hlist|[[Audio engineer|Recording engineer]]|[[record producer]]}}
| years_active    = 1968–present
| label           = 
| website         =
}}
[[File:Blackwing_Studios.jpg|thumb|[[Blackwing Studios]]]]
'''Eric Charles Radcliffe''' (often credited as '''E.C. Radcliffe''', born 3 December 1950) is an English [[Audio engineer|recording engineer]] and producer who worked with [[New wave music|new wave]] and [[synthpop]] bands in the early 1980s in [[Basildon]], England. He later became owner of [[Blackwing Studios]].

==Background==
Eric Radcliffe is believed to have had a huge part in the success of [[Yazoo (band)|Yazoo]] (Yaz in the USA). In March 1984 Radcliffe gave an interview to ''Electronics and Music Maker''<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/mags/emm/84/03/624 |title=Articles in this issue |date=March 1984 |volume=3 |number=13 |magazine=Electronics and Music Maker |accessdate=21 November 2018}}</ref> in which he mentioned how he got into the business:

<blockquote>When I was about fifteen the group I was in was booked into a four-track studio to do some demos, and I got a taste for recording then. I got an [[Akai]] reel-to-reel at home and I built a studio in the front room, with multi-core cable running into my bedroom which acted as the control room... it snowballed... eventually I was able to afford an eight-track [[TEAC Corporation|TEAC]] and it was with that machine that I came up to London and set-up the studio here, which I called Blackwing and it took off in earnest...<ref name="muzines.co.uk">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/downstairs-at-erics/1592 |title=Downstairs at Erics |date=March 1984 |volume=3 |number=13 |magazine=Electronics and Music Maker |accessdate=21 November 2018}}</ref></blockquote>

And a snippet on his contribution to the Yazoo sound:{{clarify|date=January 2011}}

<blockquote>We often combine more than one [device] to create a sound. One particular one that sticks in my memory is the snare-drum sound on Yazoo's "Don't Go", I did that using the [[Lexicon (company)|Lexicon]] 224 and 224x [reverbs] ganged together. We came across that sound entirely by accident, but then again, in the final analysis I think you discover almost everything by accident, just by fiddling around.<ref name="muzines.co.uk"/></blockquote>

After Yazoo, Radcliffe and Yazoo-songwriter [[Vince Clarke]] continued to work together. As [[the Assembly]] they released the single "[[Never Never (The Assembly song)|Never Never]]" with singer [[Feargal Sharkey]] in the autumn of 1983. Clarke and Radcliffe also founded the record company [[Reset Records]], and released singles with [[Robert Marlow]], Peter Hewson, Hardware and Absolute, until 1987 when the label shut down.

Eric Radcliffe now lives in [[Gravesend, Kent|Gravesend]] in Kent, with his three daughters Kai, Fay and Mae. In the documentary video accompanying Yazoo's 25th anniversary release ''In Your Room'', Eric Radcliffe delivers the following message:

<blockquote>I count myself fortunate and privileged to have worked with such a talented team. I remember that we had to build a studio in my house (in about ten days) to complete the recording of ''Upstairs at Eric's'' because Blackwing Studios London was fully booked. My mother provided us all with her famous "[[egg and chips]]" and also appeared on the record. Wonderful days!
:Best regards
:Eric Radcliffe</blockquote>

== Notable work ==
{{see also|Category:Albums produced by Eric Radcliffe}}

* [[Fad Gadget]] – ''[[Fireside Favourites]]'' (1980)
* Fad Gadget – ''[[Incontinent (album)|Incontinent]]'' (1981)
* [[Depeche Mode]] – ''[[Speak & Spell (album)|Speak & Spell]]'' (1981)
* [[Yazoo (band)|Yazoo]] – ''[[Upstairs at Eric's]]'' (1982)
* Depeche Mode – ''[[A Broken Frame]]'' (1982)
* Yazoo – ''[[You and Me Both]]'' (1983)
* [[The Assembly]] – "[[Never Never (The Assembly song)|Never Never]]" (1983)
* Duet Emmo – "Or So It Seems" (1983)
* [[Robert Marlow]] – ''[[The Peter Pan Effect]]'' (1999)

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{cite web |url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Eric+Radcliffe |title=Eric Radcliffe discography |publisher=[[Discogs]]}}
*{{cite book |last=Kirkland |first=Colin J. |title=Engineering the Channel Tunnel - Eric Radcliffe survey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcw5Mo3OFYkC&pg=PA51 |date=27 July 1995 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-419-17920-7 |page=51}}
*{{cite book |last=Crane |first=Larry |title=Tape Op: The Book about Creative Music Recording |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foViXo_JV9YC&pg=PA187 |date=1 January 2010 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-0-9779903-0-6 |page=187}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliffe, Eric}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Gravesend, Kent]]
[[Category:English audio engineers]]
[[Category:English record producers]]
[[Category:English new wave musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Kent]]
[[Category:The Assembly members]]
[[Category:1950 births]]