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Warts and all
Phil Aston of the Now Spinning Magazine podcast talks to Richard Digby Smith, who in the 70s worked at the London’s famed Island Studios, and more recently, was involved with the Made in Japan remix that came out in 2025.
From Island Studios to Super-Deluxe Box Sets: The Engineer Richard Digby Smith
On this episode, I’m delighted to welcome one of the true unsung heroes of classic rock (or rock music in general any era, really), and that is engineer and producer Richard Digby Smith. His career spans decades from the golden age of the early 70s on Island Studios with bands like Free, Traffic, Led Zeppelin, Sparks, Detective right through to his incredible recent work with Black Sabbath and even more recently Deep Purple’s 50th anniversary of Made in Japan.
We’re going to look back at some of those classic sessions — the young bands, big ambitions, fast-paced studio life — and also dig into the modern world of archiving, remixing and preserving those recordings for new generations. Richard will share stories of the tech, the people, the accidents (yes, including the one where a guitar sleeve switch caused a famous moment), and the philosophy behind bringing timeless rock to life.
So pour yourself a drink, fire up your headphones, and join us behind the console with a man who’s been doing this for four decades.
For the more impatient of us, Purple bits start at around 46 minutes into the lengthy interview.
Thanks to Uwe for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It’s all part of my Rock n Roll fantasy ! 👏🏻
January 8th, 2026 at 13:06I like this guy!
Do you know he used to be a yoga warrior (well almost!)
Well, he is interesting and has a heart for good music 😊
January 8th, 2026 at 15:33@ 2, Karin he is also very good guitarist, and has great taste in music, very knowledgeable.
January 9th, 2026 at 12:57@3
Yes, indeed he is 😊
I like to listen to him at his yt channel.
January 9th, 2026 at 13:44@ 4, Me too 🤣
January 9th, 2026 at 20:02The Venerable Vicar St. Phil of Aston and his pious parish of hard rock faithful! 😎😈
January 9th, 2026 at 21:46Amazing how two men can discuss Free’s work for half an hour or more without ever mentioning Andy Fraser’s song writing and bass playing once. That’s a bit like talking about The Beatles without mentioning Macca or Cream without mentioning Jack Bruce. Bassists are still an endangered species.
Je suis shattered.
Moving on …
Re the 40th & 50th Anniversary MiJ Remixes, with a few months distance I would today say that the Steven Wilson remix is the best version if audiophile quality and wealth of detail is your thing, but if you are after the original gut punch of those concerts, the Purple Wall of Sound let loose if you will, then you are better off with the Martin Pullman/Kevin Shirley/Richard Digby Smith remixes, all of them more of a sonic onslaught. Wilson did great work, but tidied things up a bit too much for the frantic grandeur of MiJ.
January 10th, 2026 at 23:39As a little sound engineer like me, I find the interview with one of the world’s biggest sound engineers fantastic, I could listen to it for hours and hours!
I’d like to point out an interesting video of Phil where he talks about his first album that he bought when he was young: InRock!
https://youtu.be/eE1AEiHxacs?si=-mbllNnEBfqDRKek
of how he listened to it every day, knew it by heart, “played” it in his head while he was at school note for note, and of how therapeutic listening to that masterpiece was, and how it still is, generalizing the discussion on the beauty of music vs. the ugliness of the world.
January 11th, 2026 at 00:31very interesting video, with which we fans will totally agree!
@ 7 – A good interview here that I read yesterday Uwe with Digby Smith and Andy Fraser gets a little mention regarding Free. Cheers.
https://martingordon.de/kimono-my-house/digby-talks/
January 11th, 2026 at 11:18@ 6…How easily gullible Uwe can be 🤣
January 12th, 2026 at 13:09Holy men just attract me, Buttocks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWrhvAME9L4
It’s impossible not to like Phil, but also impossible (for me!) not to be amused by his yoga teacher, empathetic-effusive demeanor (which I’m sure is sincere and heartfelt).
January 13th, 2026 at 09:34Funny you fall for that Uwe, and Phil sure is the most attracted, all in good fun of course 🤣
January 14th, 2026 at 13:18