Remain in Light - Recording and Production

Recording and Production

Recording sessions started at Compass Point Studios in July 1980. The album's creation required the use of additional musicians, particularly extra percussionists. Talking Heads used the working title Melody Attack throughout the studio process after watching a Japanese game show of the same name. Harrison has commented that the ambition was to blend rock and African genres, rather than simply imitate African music. Eno's production techniques and personal approach were key to the record's conception. The process was geared to promote the expression of instinct and spontaneity without overtly focusing on the sound of the final product. Sections and instrumentals were recorded one at a time in a discontinuous process. Samples and loops played a key part at a time when computer programs could not yet adequately perform such functions. The band's performances and jam sessions acted as sampling and looping mechanisms. Eno has compared the creative process to "looking out to the world and saying, 'What a fantastic place we live in. Let's celebrate it.'"

After a few sessions in the Bahamas, engineer Rhett Davies left following an argument with the producer over the fast speed of recording. Steven Stanley, who since the age of 17 had engineered for musicians such as Bob Marley, stepped in to cover the workload. He is credited by Frantz for helping create the future single "Once in a Lifetime". A Lexicon 224 digital reverb effects unit was used on the album. It was obtained by engineer and mixer Dave Jerden; the machine was one of the first of its kind. Like Davies, Jerden was unhappy at the quick pace Eno wanted to record sonically complicated compositions, but did not complain. The basic tracks focused wholly on rhythms and were all performed in a minimalist method using only one chord. Each section was recorded as a long loop to enable the creation of compositions through the positioning or merging loops in different ways.

The tracks made Byrne rethink his vocal style and he tried singing to the instrumental songs, but sounded "stilted". Few vocal sections were recorded in the Bahamas. The writing process for the lyrics occurred when the band returned to the US and was split between New York City and California. Harrison booked Talking Heads into Sigma Sound, which focused primarily on R&B music, after convincing the owners that the band's work could bring them a new type of clientele. In New York City, Byrne struggled with writer's block. Harrison and Eno spent their time tweaking the compositions recorded in the Bahamas, while Frantz and Weymouth often did not show up at the studio. Doubts began to surface about whether the album would be completed. The recording sessions only built up pace after the recruitment of guitarist Adrian Belew at the request of Byrne, Harrison, and Eno. He was advised to add guitar solos to the Compass Point tracks, making use of a Roland guitar synthesiser.

Byrne recorded all the tracks, as they were after Belew had performed, in a cassette and looked to Africa to break his writer's block. He realised that, when African musicians forget words, they often improvise and make new ones up. The lyricist used a portable tape recorder and tried to create onomatopoeic rhymes in the style of Eno, who believed that lyrics were never the centre of a song's meaning. Byrne continuously listened to his recorded scatting until convinced that he was no longer "hearing nonsense". After the frontman was satisfied, Harrison invited Nona Hendryx to Sigma Sound to record backing vocals for the album. She was advised extensively on her vocal delivery by Byrne, Frantz, and Weymouth, and often sang in a trio with Byrne and Eno. The voice sessions were followed by the overdubbing process. Brass player Jon Hassell, who had been working on parts of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, was hired to perform trumpet and horn sections. In August 1980, half of the album was mixed by Eno and engineer John Potoker in New York City with the assistance of Harrison, while the other half was mixed by Byrne and Jerden at Eldorado Studios in Los Angeles.