Dave Bascombe
Dave Bascombe is undisputedly one of the finest mix engineers working in England today.
His work on the seminal acts of English pop back in the eighties and nineties, saw the likes of Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears, Peter Gabriel, Human League, ABC and Erasure, establish themselves as global heavyweights, selling millions and millions of albums and defining a sound that many still regard as the highest point of British pop culture. Though his career has spanned many decades, it’s his latest work that keeps him at the top of his game. His recent mixes have spawned hits for a multitude of modern pop / rock/ electronic acts such as Goldfrapp, Ironik, Royksopp, Lady Antebellum, and Pendullum, and has resulted in Dave being nominated for ‘Mix Engineer of the Year at the Annual Music Producers Guild 2012 Awards, alongside such luminaries as Spike Stent and Tom Elmhirst.
Dave’s illustrious career in the music business had humble roots - a child record buying obsessive, lead to playing keyboards in various bands and dropping out of school to concentrate on what was to become his lifelong obsession. A chance discovery of a job for legendary Maison Rouge in the back pages of the Melody Maker, saw Dave accepting the lowly position of errand boy at the studio but gave him the invaluable opportunity of getting his hands onto the recording equipment and learning the ropes. It wasn’t long before he was recording bands in the studio’s downtime and making a name for himself on the local scene. Within a year he had required a good enough reputation to go freelance as an engineer and was working with Echo & The Bunnymen.
But it was when Tears For Fears requested him as engineer for their multi million selling classic “Songs From The Big Chair” that Dave’s career started it’s exponential rise. The album included the hits “Shout”, “Everyone Wants To Rule The World” and “Head Over Heels”. It was a Number 1 album all over the world and held the top position on the Billboard charts for five consecutive weeks. Dave’s importance to the band was solidified when they asked him to co –produce their follow up platinum selling album “The Seeds of Love”.
His success with Tears for Fears brought many opportunities to the table and his production and mix work during this time reads like a veritable who’s who of pop stars of the 80s/90s. Credit included co producing the Depeche Mode album “Music For The Masses”, engineering the massively successful Peter Gabriel album “So”, mixing the Erasure albums “Chorus”, co producing the Oleta Adams UK Number 1 album “Circle of One” and various single mixes for Basia, ABC and UB40.
As the nineties brought a rawer rock edge to pop music, Dave began to forge his reputation as the most vital mix engineers in the country and began working extensively with the leading luminaries of this genre. He mixed many tracks from the Manic Street Preachers stunning “Gold Against The Soul” mixed the genre defining Suede album “Coming Up”, mixed Catatonia’s successful “International Velvet” mixed both successful Lightning Seeds albums “Dizzy Heights”and “Jollification” and James’s album “Millionaires” as well as the ubiquitous single “Sit Down”. Other radio hits mixed by Dave around this time include the Placebo’s hit “Nancy Boy”, Skunk Anansie’s “I Can Dream” , The Verve’s beautiful “History” and even mixing singles for Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and Wheatus.
The 21st Century brought huge innovation to electronic music and Dave again was at the forefront of this sea change, mixing singles for Soulwax, Moby, Goldfrapp, Kylie Minogue, Royksopp, Bent and Engineers. Like all great engineers, Dave can mix tracks from all genres. In any given week it is not unusual to find him mixing singles for rock heavyweights Korn and then diving straight into the electro pop of Chromeo.
Due to his international successes over two decades, Dave spends a lot of time working with European artists. In France he had particular success mixing the Indochine album “Alice and June”, mixing singles for the legend that is John Michelle Jarre and mixing three albums with the Gallic superstar David Hallyday. Recently he has mixed tracks for German artist Stanfour, The Glam and Frederick Waldner. He has had success in Australia with a recent number 1 album for Australian outfit Eskimo Joe and last year mixed an album for Ozzie pop star Emma Hewitt.
As for his most recent successes, we are happy to say there are too many to mention, but highlights over the last few years were mixing the Lady Antebllum album “Need You Now”, the Pendulum album “In Silico” which included the huge radio hit “Propane Nightmares”, mixing tracks for The Doves best of album “The Places Between” and mixing hit singles for Ironik, Chromeo, and Wiley.
Based out of London’s Sphere studios, Dave is currently mixing Cloud Control for Infectious and Fiction for Moshi Moshi.
Discography
| Title | Artist | Label | Credit |
| Bliss Release | Cloud Control | Infectious Records | Mixed |
| Hot Mess feat. Elly Jackson | Chromeo | Mixed | |
| Need You Now | Lady Antebellum | Capitol | Mixed |
| Shout For England feat. Dizzee Rascal | Shout | Sony | Mixed |
| Never Be Your Woman feat. Emeli Sande | Wiley | Relentless/Virgin | Mixed |
| We Almost Had A Baby / First Love | Emmy The Great | Mixed | |
| Ladyhawke | Ladyhawke | Modular | Mixed |
| Singles Collection | The Coral | Sony | Mixed |
| Granite/In Silico | Pendulum | Warner | Mixed |
| Cex Cells | Blaqk Audio | Interscope | Mixed |
| Winter Hill / Andalucia | Doves | Virgin | Mixed |
| Into Oblivion / Tales Don’t Tell Themselves | Funeral For A Friend | Atlantic | Mixed |
| Nancy Boy / Because I Want You / Meds | Placebo | Atlantic | Mixed |
| Battle For The Sun | Placebo | Mixed | |
| Beautiful Day Without You | Royksopp | Mixed | |
| Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer) | Ironik ft. Elton John | Asylum | Mixed |
| Supernature / Black Cherry/ Strict Machine | Goldfrapp | Mute | Mixed |
| History | Verve | Hut Single | Mixed |
| Much Against Everyone’s Advice / Too Many DJ’s / Conversation Intercom | Soulwax | PIAS | Mixed |
| X | Kylie Minogue | Mixed | |
| Engineers (Echo Album) | Engineers | Mixed | |
| Ariels | Bent | Additional Production/Mixed | |
| The Silent Hours | The Open | Loog | Mixed |
| The Decline of British Sea Power | British Sea Power | Rough Trade | Mixed |
| Sunday | Moby | Mute | Additional Production/Mixed |
| That Day | Natalie Imbruglia | RCA | Mixed |
| A Little Respect | Wheatus | Columbia | Mixed |
| It’s My Life / One Wild Night | Bon Jovi | Mercury | Mixed |
| Without You I'm Noting | Placebo w/ David Bowie | Hut Single | Mixed |
| The Voice | Russell Watson | Decca | Mixed |
| Sit Down / Millionaires | James | Mercury | Mixed |
| International Velvet | Catatonia | Blanco y Negro | Mixed |
| Local Boy | Stereophonics | V2 | Mixed |
| Coming Up | Suede | Mixed | |
| Dizzy Heights/ Jollification / 3 Lions | Lightning Seeds | Epic | Co Production/Mixed |
| I Can Dream | Skunk Anansie | OLI | Mixed |
| Erasure / Chorus | Erasure | Mute | Mixed |
| Gold Against The Soul | Manic Street Preachers | Columbia | Mixed |
| The Beatles and The Stones | The House of Love | Fontana | Mixed |
| Circle of One | Oleta Adams | Fontana | Co Production |
| Songs From The Big Chair | Tears for Fears | Mercury | Engineered |
| Sowing the Seeds of Love | Tears for Fears | Mercury | Engineered |
| Music For The Masses | Depeche Mode | Mute | Co Production |
| Meet Danny Wilson incl Mary’s Prayer | Danny Wilson | Virgin | Produced |
| So | Peter Gabriel | Virgin | Engineered |
▶ Chromeo | Hot Mess