Recording The Wall
The Recording
Why waters had a clear concept for the record. He decided to bring in an outside producer and collaborator. One who was musically and intellectually in a similar place to where he was. He decided on producer and arranger Bob Ezrin, who had made his name working with the likes of Alice Cooper and Lou Reed.
Ezrin and Gilmour reviewed Water’s concept, discarding what they thought was not good enough. Waters and Ezrin worked mostly on the story, improving the concept. Ezrin presented a 40-page script to the rest of the band, with positive results. He recalled: "The next day at the studio, we had a table read, like you would with a play, but with the whole of the band, and their eyes all twinkled, because then they could see the album."Ezrin broadened the storyline, distancing it from the autobiographical work Waters had written and basing it on a composite character named Pink.
The album "The Wall" was recorded at different places. Super Bear Studios in France from January to July 1979, vocals at Studio Miraval, orchestra arranged by Michael Kamen at CBS Studios NY in September. The band also used Cherokee Studios, Producers Workshop, and Village Recorder in LA for the following two months.
During the album production, James Guthrie, recommended by Alan Parsons, replaced engineer Brian Humphries who was tired from working with the band for five years. When Guthrie joined, he didn't realize he was a co-producer alongside Ezrin. Initially, there was tension within the band as they all had different ideas for the album. Ezrin helped mediate between Roger Waters and the band during a difficult time.
Despite Ezrin acting as a mediate between Waters and the band, the relationship between all four members was at a breaking point. The stress of financial difficulties and unhappiness within the Floyd camp, created an often tense and hostile and volatile environment to work in. As recording sessions started to gain momentum, Ezrin's poor punctuality caused problems with the tight schedule dictated by Waters. It is clear that there was tension between waters and Ezrin, whose share of the royalties was less than the rest of the band. Whether Ezrin had a problem with this or not, it is clear in his comments that he viewed Waters as a bully.
Despite Ezrin acting as a mediator between Waters and the band, the relationship between all four members was at a breaking point. The stress of financial difficulties and unhappiness within the Floyd camp, created an often tense and hostile and volatile environment to work in. As recording sessions started to gain momentum, Ezrin's poor punctuality caused problems with the tight schedule dictated by Waters. The engineer Nick Griffiths later said: "Ezrin was very good on The Wall, because he did manage to pull the whole thing together. He's a very forceful guy. There was a lot of argument about how it should sound between Roger and Dave, and he bridged the gap between them. Why Ezrin was able to be a mediator between Dave and Roger More problems became apparent when Water's relationship with Wright broke down.
The band were rarely in the studio together. Wright, worried about the effect that the introduction of Ezrin would have on band relationships, was keen to have a producer's credit on the album. the bands albums since More (1969) had credited production to "Pink Floyd".
A trail period was agreed for Rick Wright to act as a producer by Waters, but after a few weeks, Ezrin and Water became unhappy with Wright's methods. A confrontation with Ezrin led to Wright working only at night. Gilmour also expressed his annoyance, complaining that Wright's lack of input was "driving us all mad'' Ezrin later reflected: "it sometimes felt that Roger was setting him up to fail. Rick gets performance anxiety. You have to leave him alone to freeform, to create ..." but the problems for Wright where much deeper than performance anxiety. He was preoccupied by a failing marriage and the onset of depression, exacerbated by his non-residency.
The band's holidays were booked for August, after which they were to reconvene at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, but Columbia offered the band a better deal in exchange for Christmas release of the album. Waters increased the band's workload accordingly, booking time at the nearby Studio Miraval. Waters also suggested recording in Los Angeles ten days earlier than agreed. It was also agreed that the band should hire another keyboardist to work alongside Wright, whose keyboard parts had not yet been recorded. Wright refused to cut his family's holiday in Rhodes.
Accounts of Wright's subsequent departure from the band differ. In his autobiography, band member Nick Mason says Waters called the bands' manger Steve O'Rourke, and demanded that by the time Waters arrived in LA to mix the album, Wright would be fired from the band. In another version recorded by a later historian of the band, Waters called O'Rourke and asked him to tell Wright about the new recording arrangements, to which Wright responded: "Tell Roger to fuck off". Wright denied this, stating that the band had agreed to record only through the spring and early summer, and that he had no idea they were so far behind schedule. Mason later wrote that Waters was "stunned and furious", and felt that Wright was not doing enough.
Despite attempts by Gilmour to calm the situation and support of Wright, Waters still demanded Wright quuitt the band or he would refuse to release the wall. Eventual Wright quiet though it would seem, this was more to do with the failing interpersonal relationship with the band than Waters' ultermatum. By August 1979, the running order was largely complete. Wright completed his duties at Cherokee Studios aided by session musicians Peter Wood and Fred Mandel; and Jeff Porcaro played drums in Mason's stead on "Mother". Mason left the final mix to Waters, Gilmour, Ezrin and Guthrie, and traveled to New York to record his debut solo album. In advance of its release, technical constraints led to some changes to the running order and content of The Wall, with "What Shall We Do Now?" replaced by the similar but shorter "Empty Spaces", and "Hey You" being moved from the end of side three to the beginning. With the November 1979 deadline approaching, the band left the inner sleeves of the album unchanged
