Nigel Godrich, (born 28 February 1971 in England), is a recording engineer and record producer. He is best known for his work with the English alternative rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band.

Godrich has also worked with acts such as Paul McCartney, Travis, Beck, Ultrasound, Jason Falkner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Pavement, Brazzaville, Air, Natalie Imbruglia, The Sundays, U2, and R.E.M. His production technique is notable for its dense "layers" of sound.

Career

Radiohead (1994–present)

Nigel Godrich is sometimes informally credited as the "sixth member" of Radiohead due to his longtime collaboration with the Oxford band. He has gained notice for helping to define Radiohead's distinct sound, which established them as one of the more acclaimed rock bands in the world during the 1990s and 2000s. He is younger than all members of Radiohead, which is a rare situation among producers for popular acts. When working on OK Computer at improvised studios without the close supervision of longtime veterans or record labels, both he and the band learned as they went along, ultimately crediting the open process with the record's success.

Godrich's first collaborations with Radiohead were on certain songs on the 1994 My Iron Lung EP, such as "The Trickster" and "Permanent Daylight". He went on to engineer Radiohead's second record The Bends (1995) and co-produced "Black Star" from the same album. Later in 1995, after the band found they got on well with him, he produced Radiohead's charity single "Lucky" (later to appear on OK Computer) as well as the tracks "Bishop's Robes" and "Talk Show Host" ("Street Spirit" b-side which also appeared in the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet).

Godrich has been co-credited with Radiohead as producer on every one of their albums since OK Computer (1997), on which he made his name. He also produced singer Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album The Eraser. Godrich also performed with Thom Yorke, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco in Yorke's as-yet-unnamed band in two concerts in two shows in Los Angeles in October 2009. Beginning new work in 2005, Radiohead initially tried collaborating with other producers for the first time in a decade, but they returned to the studio with Godrich late in 2006 to record their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007). Colin Greenwood has confirmed that Godrich is working with Radiohead on the follow-up to In Rainbows.

Other projects (1997–present)

Coming off his success with OK Computer, Godrich mixed most of Natalie Imbruglia's hit Left of the Middle (1997) and R.E.M.'s largely electronic Up (1998). He also produced Pavement's final album Terror Twilight (1999).

Godrich has collaborated with American singer-songwriter Beck several times, on Mutations (1998), Sea Change (2002) and The Information (2006). The first two of these albums, particularly the highly acclaimed Sea Change, were noted for their atmospheric folk/pop sound, a major departure from the sample-heavy, spontaneous style Beck was best known for. He has also worked with Travis three times, producing the Scottish band's commercial breakthrough The Man Who (1999), the follow-up The Invisible Band (2001) and The Boy With No Name (2007), although the band also worked with Brian Eno and Mike Hedges on the latter album.

In 2001, Godrich remixed U2's track "Walk On" for its single release. Godrich also mixed and contributed additional production on the French electronic group Air's albums Talkie Walkie (2004) and Pocket Symphony (2007). He produced the 20th anniversary version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?", released in December 2004.

In 2002, Godrich was hired by The Strokes to record their follow-up to Is This It, but was fired when their recording sessions together proved, in the band's word, "soulless".
Godrich received his greatest visibility in 2005 for his work on Paul McCartney's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, a job he got after being recommended by legendary Beatles producer George Martin. According to interviews, the idea of bringing in a younger producer was for McCartney to challenge himself, and accordingly Godrich fired McCartney's touring band on the first day's sessions, and demanded the star abandon songs Godrich felt to be clichéd, over-sentimental or subpar . The resulting album was nominated for several Grammys including Album of the Year, and Godrich was nominated for Producer of the Year. Time claimed it was McCartney's first worthwhile album since the breakup of The Beatles.

From the Basement (2006–2009)

In September 2006, it was announced that Godrich, along with creative director Dilly Gent, producer James Chads and John Woollcombe, were shooting the music series From the Basement, filmed from London’s Maida Vale Studios.

The series was to focus on intimate, live performances by musicians without a host or an audience. Godrich told Pitchfork Media in an interview, "We’ve got a lot of people that I’d like to see on the show [that] we’re talking to. [But] I don’t want to mention their names. Obviously, I’m really interested to capture some really iconic, bigger names– really the whole point is to get people who are having their moment, to try and get a definitive record of what they’re doing."
Godrich first conceived From the Basement as a means of authentically documenting music being made. Drawing further inspiration from British television music series The Old Grey Whistle Test, Godrich came upon the idea of a television programme. Despite early reports, From the Basement did not initially appear on British television, because of not taking on corporate sponsors.
Originally when the pilot was in production, From The Basement was to be an online programme only. However, this was not feasible as it did not generate enough money to produce the episodes to the quality level desired. Instead, the producers went to international TV networks to receive money up front to produce the series.

Instead, it would be available solely as an Internet download, with individual videos available for purchase through iTunes and the . The first episode was available for download in December 2006.

The series did eventually air on television; the first UK broadcast was on Sky Arts on 1 December 2007, featuring four songs performed by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke on 8 December 2007. The United States premiere was on Rave HD on 22 February 2008, followed by a run on Independent Film Channel, as part of the network's "Automat" block of television programmes in the autumn of 2008.
On 3 November 2008, the series of performances was released on DVD.

Awards

In 2000, Godrich won a Grammy Award for producing Best Alternative Album (and Album of the Year nominee) Radiohead's Kid A. In 2003, he was also awarded the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for Radiohead’s album Hail To The Thief.

Personal life

Nigel briefly dated Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia during their collaborative recording of her hit album Left of the Middle in 1997.

Discography

Composition credits