British record producer
Edward Offord[a] is a retired English record producer and audio engineer who gained prominence in the 1970s for his work on albums by the progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes.[1]
Life and career
Offord studied physics at university, and landed a job as a trainee engineer at Advision Studios in London to fill in spare time. Not long into his time at the studio, he started work as an engineer.[2] Offord would spend much of his career working at Advision Studios.[1] Offord's early projects at Advision included two 1969 albums by Brian Auger and the Trinity, Definitely What![3] and Streetnoise.[4]
Offord worked with Emerson, Lake & Palmer on their first four albums, released 1970 through 1972. ELP wrote a tribute to Offord with the song "Are You Ready, Eddy?", featured on their 1971 album Tarkus.[5]
In 1970, Offord began his partnership with Yes. The partnership was fruitful but tumultuous; Offord remarked that producing Yes was like "trying to produce five producers."[6] He suggested that the band record Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) in the countryside to try and ease tensions that had grown within the group, but the compromise was to record at Morgan Studios with trees, plants, and model cows.[7] Following Relayer (1974), Yes and Offord parted ways, with Yes guitarist Steve Howe stating that Offord had become unreliable on tours.[6]
In the late 1970s, Offord relocated to the United States where he worked in Woodstock, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.[1] In 1994, after working on Grassroots by 311, Offord announced his retirement from the music business. In 2011, he changed his mind when his son introduced him to The Midnight Moan, and went on to produce their debut album.[1]
