There are not many people in the world who get to visit Abbey Road Studios in London, let alone have the chance to work there. Engineer Attilio Pascal is one of those fortunate few who not only got to work and experience this world famous studio first hand, but the most famous Beatles member Paul McCartney happened to be recording in the next room over from him much to his amazement. This amazing experience for Attilio, is still one of his greatest moments and achievements of his career. We caught up with him recently to find out how it all went down at Abbey Road Studios and this is what he had to share with the readers:
Why did you come to London?
Before coming here I was living in Amsterdam where I had the opportunity to work at the Bimhuis, which is one of the best jazz and improvised music clubs, worldwide. Even though I was really happy about my job I always preferred to be in a studio environment, actually I have done a few studio projects with a band called Lakritz, Sandro Fazio Quintet.., but I couldn’t work as a studio resident engineer because one of the requirements is to be fluent in Dutch as most of the clients are. That’s one of the reasons why I moved here, as I also wanted to improve my English.
In what sense?
I wanted to sound like a native speaker as much as possible. You know, the English knowledge, today, is fundamental in every field … In my industry, English is essential if you really want to work at a high level on an international context.
How are you living this London experience?
I am very satisfied. London is a city that welcomes everyone. It’s not easy, I know, but if you work hard and do not give up, you’re likely to succeed…
You had your chance and you succeeded:
Yes, I would have never thought at the beginning of my career that I would achieve this. I worked at Abbey Road Studios for the mixing of the single “Justice for Widows” from Bappi Lahiri, which is the hymn for the International Widows Day produced by the Loomba Foundation. It’s a huge complex and I remember going into the lobby, I was shaking and with a stuttering voice I asked the receptionist to take me to the right studio. The studios are exceptionally maintained with the best vintage and new equipment –in addition to their endless mic collections and all the workstations are up-to-date with the latest software.
What amazed you the most?
I have to say, the thing that amazed me the most, is that still to this day, Abbey Road is such a creative hub where you can meet all kinds of artists and professionals from the entertainment industry all over the world.
Was there somebody you got to see, in particular?
Well, during the lunch in the canteen I encountered the musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra that were scoring a movie in Studio One. I had a chat with Chris Bolster and Alan Moulder that has worked on many albums that I love also Paul McCartney was working in the Penthouse Studio while I was there!
That sounds amazing!
Yeah! It was definitely a dream come true.