"Then soon after that was some RED ROSE SPEEDWAY with other engineers."

How does McCartney work in the studio?

"There is no special approach, just go in and see what happens. He kind of uses the studio to rehearse and he is not at all good at describing the effect he wants to get. For example he doesn’t say “Give me +4 at 10k. He’ll say “make it sound better” (laughter) So I look for the “better” knob. (laughter all around) Chris Blair (EMI cutting engineer) has literally got that in one of the cutting rooms at Abbey Road – knobs labeled “funky”, “heavy”. (laughter) “Disco” (laughter) “Laid Back”

Any comments on HI HI HI or C-MOON?

"Oh, HI HI HI took forever. We spent weeks and weeks and weeks, must have mixed it about 8 times."

How did you feel about the final mix?

"I wasn’t too happy with it. I tell you, what upset me most about HI HI HI was I thought the way they used to do it “live” was better. It used to have a different rhythm to it. I remember we spent a long time mixing it on small speakers trying to make it sound good for radio. I think we were going over the top on EQ as a result of that, and we’d play it on little speakers and they’d say “We can’t hear the bass and the bass drum”. So you’d turn it up so you could hear the bass and the bass drum and then you play it on the big speakers and it would blow your head off! (laughs) So Paul wanted something that would be compatible in one mix for small and large speakers. (laughter) Yes. We also went around Europe in the Rolling Stones truck taping concerts and it was better then. Also, out of all that stuff came one song – THE MESS – out of five days. He’s very good at spending money for things like that and then doing nothing with it."

Alan Parsons interview – “The Rise Of Alan Parsons” by Howard Cummings, published on the October 1976 issue of the Recording Engineer/Producer (RE/P) magazine

What was it like working with Paul McCartney?

"He expected a lot of the engineers and he worked us hard – “Let’s get a better drum sound,” things like that. He and I became friends through our professional association, and I was always in awe of his talent from day one ‘til today. There is just this atmosphere that is created when he’s in a room – he lights it up."

Alan Parsons – Interview with John Borack, Goldmine Magazine, March 30, 2018

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