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Business Daily

Business Daily meets: Sir Robin Millar

Business Daily

BBC

Business

4.4796 Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We meet one of the UKs most successful record producers, who was behind hits such as Smooth Operator.

He talks to Dougal Shaw about his career so far, his record label, and the future of music.

Sir Robin Millar is blind - his sight had totally gone by his mid-thirties - and he talks about the impact that has had on him.

And he talks about AI in music.

Producer/presenter: Dougal Shaw

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hi, I'm Hannah, and I'm very excited to be hosting What in the World a new daily podcast from the BBC World Service, where we try to help you make sense of the world around you, of the big things that are happening, the small things that are happening, and everything in between.

0:16.4

Search for What in the World, wherever you get your BBC podcasts, and hit subscribe.

0:22.7

For Business Daily today, I've come to South London to visit one of the UK's most successful record producers.

0:36.9

Coast to coast and laid from the show. of London to visit one of the UK's most successful record producers.

0:51.0

Shadeh smooth operator from the 80s best-selling album Diamond Life is just one of the many hits he's worked on. In fact, he has more than 40 number one records to his credit,

0:55.8

working with the likes of Randy Crawford, Courtney Pine and everything but the girl.

1:00.3

And he's also an astute businessman,

1:02.5

running his own successful record label, Blue Raincoat Music,

1:06.0

which owns Chrysless Records.

1:07.4

I work very hard to make the best record I can in the studio with the artist.

1:15.0

That's often very personal, very emotional, very rewarding. But I've got two paymasters.

1:20.2

I've got the artist and I've got the record company who refer to it as product, you know,

1:25.1

not as a record.

1:33.4

I've come to meet Sir Robin Miller at his home recording studio.

1:36.2

He's now in his 70s and as busy as ever.

1:39.2

I found him sitting at his computer editing a track.

1:41.2

Stop and return to the beginning.

1:42.0

Seven.

1:43.2

Flight bar once a minute. The computer voice you hear is designed to assist him as he edits. Sir Robin Miller is

1:49.7

blind. He knew from the age of 16 that an inherited genetic disorder would eventually make him

1:55.4

lose his sight. It finally went in his mid-30s. It's great the technology lets you do that because I know editing is very complex

2:03.2

and you have to be watching the timeline, but you're able to do it.

...

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