Georges Chatelain - CBE

CBE

Thanks to his experiences and the people he met, Georges decided in June 1966 to build his own recording and photo studio in an old clothing shop at the foot of a public housing building in Paris' 18th Arrondissement. The studio, named CBE, was designed by Georges after having visited all the major recording centers of London. Georges used wood lathes to give the CBE studio its outstanding acoustics.

In August of the same year Georges and his Swiss friend, Gunther Loof, recorded Nino Ferrer in a Dijon nightclub using a Revox tape recorder, a home-made mixing box with four faders and a few resistors . The hit single, "Je Voudrais Etre Noir" was recorded there. Georges also made the cover photo of the record jacket.

Thanks to Jack Robinson and his friend Lee Hallyday, Georges Chatelain recorded and mixed Johnny Hallyday 's "Amour d'éte", the French adaptation of "Love Me Tender," which became a summer hit in 1967.

At the end of 1967 a series of Georges photos were published by Louis Pauwels in his magazine, Plexus. By late 1967 CBE was becoming well known in music circles, especially since Georges had contracted Gunther Loof to build Europe's first eight-track tape recorder which was a veritable technical revolution for the recording industry. Most of the French singing stars came to record at CBE as well as Paul Simon and (thanks to Jack Robinson) Lee Hazlewood, one of America's leading composers/producers (Nancy Sinatra/Frank Sinatra etc.)

Georges imported the Mellotron and the Chamberlin, precursors of today's sound sample players, further revolutionizing recording techniques in France.

Went to London to produce his French language version of a song recorded by the Beatles' Apple artist Mary Hopkins.

With American publisher/record producer, Jack Robinson, Georges produced a young French singer, Gilles Marchal. Together they recorded seven hit singles in a row on AZ records, the company which belonged to Europe 1 radio directed by Lucien Morisse. Gilles went on to appear at the Olympia Music Hall, once as the opening act for Liza Minnelli.

While on his frequent visits to London Georges befriended singers such as Ralph McTell, Bert Jansch, the group Pentangle and bassist Danny Thompson. They often came to visit and to record in Georges ' studio. They worked on a demo album for French singer Martine Habib which lead to her signing by Clive Davis on CBS Records. Martine's album was produced in Nashville by Norbert Putnam with some of the top players including Elvis Presley's background singers, the Jordanaires. Jack Robinson and Georges worked with Putnam on the production.

Back in London Georges was introduced to the famous guitar-maker Tony Zamaitis by Ralph McTell. Georges ordered a 12 string and a 6 string.

Georges attended a concert in London of the Rev. Gary Davis and photographed the show. His pictures were used to illustrate the Stefan Grossman guitar method: « Rev. Gary Davis Blues Guitar».