Nick Launay

Nick Launay’s first official job in a recording studio at age 18 was at Tape One studios in London as an analogue tape editor, where out of his own volition created the first ever commercially released 12 inch remix.

The song was: “Pop Musik”, which bears his name even on Spotify!.

Almost immediately after, in 1979, he moved to Virgin’s Townhouse studios working as an assistant engineer to Record Producers: Steve Lillywhite, Hugh Padgham, Tony Visconti, John Leckie, Mick Glossop, Mike Howlett, and Martin Hannett to name a few (with artists: XTC, The Jam, OMD, Simple Minds, Queen, Adam and the Ants, Peter Gabriel) when one day Johnny Rotten noticed Nick’s talents and hired him to co-produce PIL’s album: “The Flowers of Romance”. He was 20 years old.

The popularity of sound production on this very imaginative record set Launay on an exciting path, attracting: The Gang of Four, Killing Joke,The Slits, The Birthday Party, and Virgin Prines,making him one of the most notable Record Producers of the Post Punk Era. During this time he also engineered for Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, John Martyn, and fell into the fantastic world of Kate Bush, making her album: “The Dreaming”

Moving to now, Launay has enjoyed recent success with albums by: IDLES (Ultramono, Joy), Anna Calvi (Hunter), Yeah Yeah Yeahs’s (It’s Blitz, Is Is, Mosquito), Arcade Fire (Neon Bible, Suburbs), and a staggering 7 albums for Nick Cave, with the Bad Seeds (Push the Sky Away, Skeleton Tree, Abattoir Blues, Lyre of Orpheus, Nocturama ), and Grinderman (1 and 2)

He has become known for his passionate approach to Producing, Recording and Mixing, with emphasis on raw sounds and capturing mood.

Other artists he has made records for included:

Talking Heads, Lou Reed, INXS, Silverchair (3) David Byrne, Midnight Oil (3), BRMC, Supergrass, The Veils, Semisonic, The Living End (2), The Band of Skulls, Snoop Dogg, and rumors of imminent Iggy Pop.

He currently lives on a Hill in Los Angeles and travels to London frequently.