Giles Martin on his father: 'Take a sad song and make it better is what he did'
Even before the legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin died in March, his son Giles found himself the recipient of a staggering family inheritance. For years, the 46-year-old, a producer in his own right, has acted as a custodian of the music of the Beatles.
In recent months, he has been in charge of several major Beatles-related assignments: new high-definition mixes for the DVD compilation Beatles 1+; restoration of audio from early Beatles concerts for an upcoming Ron Howard documentary about the band’s touring years; and preparing the Beatles’ catalogue for streaming beginning last Christmas.
Martin is well aware that Beatles devotees the world over are placing his efforts under an extraordinary amount of scrutiny. “I do a mix, or change something, and I’m analyzed and criticized by everyone,” he says, speaking from northern Spain where, he says only half-jokingly, he is “escaping the Beatlemaniacs”.
Martin has non-Beatles assignments too, in film (he worked on Kingsman: The Secret Service) and as “Sound Experience Leader” for Sonos, the wireless speaker specialists. But he acknowledges that he and the music of the Beatles are by now inextricably linked.
“It’s a mixed feeling,” he says. “Do I really want to have this around my neck? I mean, to be the son of George Martin and then doing all the Beatles stuff? I remember voicing this concern to a producer friend and he said to me, ‘If you don’t do it, someone else would love to do it.’
By: Darryn King
Source: The Guardian
