Meet Mistery Man Dilip Harris (Jamiroquai, Sia, Jessie Ware)
He loves his custom Neve 5088 console, Shelford EQs and Parallel Processing. His list of credits is as impressive as his taste in music, having worked with Sia, Jamiroquai, Jessie Ware and more. We give you Mercury Prize nominee Dilip Harris.
Recording and Mix Engineer Dilip Harris has made quite a name for himself – he’s worked with the likes of Sia, Jamiroquai, Micachu, Django Django, Jessie Ware and many more. His credits also include 2015 Mercury Prize nominated albums ‘Hairless Toys’ by Roisin Murphy and Eska’s self-titled debut record.
Dilip, how did you first start engineering music?
'I was desperate to find what device made the sweeping sound on King Tubby and Scientist dubs so I began making coffee in a studio.' Born and raised in London’s trendy Camden Town, Dilip travelled to New York in the mid ‘80s, while working in a variety recording studios including Arthur Baker’s Shakedown Studio, Tony Arfi’s Powerplay Studios and Brooklyn’s prime reggae production facility – Living Room Studios. He returned to London in the ‘90s to pursue his musical career by co-producing many acts including the UK Soul’s lost classic, Young Disciples.
You seem to draw inspiration from an eclectic mix of various art forms. Let's talk influencers. Which 3 albums are you inspired by and why?
As of right now:
Starship Africa by Creation Rebel
Adrain Sherwood brought a Progressive-Punk-rock & uniquely irreverent outlook to a conservative, Jamaican form propelling it into an unknown future.
Carrie and Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
Stevens’ immensely personal record has the depth of a poetic work with some of the most beautiful, understated production that is almost invisible unless you concentrate and if you do concentrate it’s like a labyrinth of texture.
Dots and Loops by Stereolab
For a true arts school approach to record production you just can’t top the lab. Whether it’s tracking an album without the note D or recording two different versions of every song and using those as each channel of the stereo recording they always delivered records free from audible device or enthralled by it. This is my favourite of their records combining the beauty of Brazilian harmony with the joy of sampling.
Can you talk about a favourite project you've worked on?
Matthew Herbert's “One Pig” project for its entirely holistic, all-encompassing concept coupled with one of the most progressive and talented collection of cross curricular improvisers. The project also took in Matthews devotion to high quality food in high quality environs.
And can you also share with us what you're working on at the moment?
I’m currently tracking the new King Krule album, mixing a great Hello Skinny & Peter Zummo project, mixing the new All We Are album with Kwes on production duties, mixing projects for Wendy Rae Fowler, Belle Ehresmann and Babeheaven.
I can see you enjoy keeping your roles varied from tracking to mixing and everything in between. Do you have a favourite stage in the production process?
Yes, I do have one favourite actually - listening back to mixes from a valve tape machine a week after they’re put to bed! Ha!
Lastly, let’s try some short-burst questions:
What’s a favourite hardware unit and technique you’ve recently used in the studio?
The bug brand cross over filter for gear; and for technique - parallel processing.
Name your bucket-list piece of recording equipment
A 32 channel Neve 5088 console loaded with Shelford EQs.
Finish this sentence: if I wasn’t engineering music, I'd be...
Waxing lyrical.