16 Facts About Hugh Padgham

Hugh Charles Padgham was born on 15 February 1955 and is an English record producer and audio engineer.

Hugh Padgham has won four Grammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 1993.

Hugh Padgham pioneered the "gated reverb" drum sound used most famously in Collins' song "In the Air Tonight".

Hugh Padgham was born on 15 February 1955 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

Hugh Padgham became interested in record production after listening to Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection.

Hugh Padgham started out as a tape operator at Advision Studios, working on many recording sessions including Mott The Hoople and Gentle Giant.

Hugh Padgham worked on the second album by Killing Joke.

Hugh Padgham worked on Paul McCartney's Press to Play and The Human League's Hysteria.

Hugh Padgham had four UK number one hits in 2005 and 2006 with McFly, as well as a number of other Top Ten Singles.

In 2002, Hugh Padgham produced the Tragically Hip album In Violet Light.

In 2019, Hugh Padgham was honoured in London with The MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution To UK Music.

The surprise presenters for the evening for Hugh Padgham were his friend, Peter Gabriel, and the CEO of PPL, Peter Leathem.

Hugh Padgham is one of the owners of the indie label Gearbox Records.

Hugh Padgham is credited with creating the "gated reverb" drum sound used so prominently on Phil Collins' single "In the Air Tonight", and which became the template for much of the recorded pop drum sound of the 1980s.

The effect is believed to have first been used on the 1980 third self-titled solo album by Peter Gabriel, which Hugh Padgham engineered and on which Collins played.

Hugh Padgham's gated drum effect is created by adding a large amount of heavily compressed room ambience to the original drum sound, and then feeding that reverb signal through an electronic device known as a noise gate.