George Peckham

George "Porky" Peckham (born 1942, Blackburn, Lancashire) is an English record engineer, widely recognised as among the most accomplished in the business. He has been responsible for producing the master discs from which many vinyl records have been pressed over the last 40 years.[1][2]

For the American biologist, see George and Elizabeth Peckham. For the merchant, see George Peckham (merchant).

His master discs, and the records produced from them, are known as "Porky Prime Cuts" and often bears either the motto "A Porky Prime Cut"[3] or a cryptic or humorous comment (signed "Porky"), etched onto the run-out grooves. Other inscriptions attributed to him include "Pecko" and "Pecko Duck".

One of his most technically demanding achievements was the so-called "three-sided" album, The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief (1973), mastered with two concentric grooves on side two, so that different material would be played depending on where the stylus was put down on the record's surface.

Biography

Peckham was brought up in Liverpool. In school, he formed a band with friends called 'The Renegades', where he played guitar. The band later also enrolled his younger brother Derek on the bass guitar. Peckham started dabbling with audio electronics when he had to build a bass amplifier for Derek. According to Peckham, The Renegades played support to The Beatles, then an up-and-coming band. Paul McCartney, whose bass amplifier had failed, borrowed Derek's and afterwards offered to buy it.[4]

Peckham later played and toured with The Pawns, which he knew from the music circuit, and the group recorded sessions for Decca. After a stint playing in Germany, Peckham returned to Britain, and was asked to join Billy Kelly (stage name 'Earl Royce') and his group, the Olympics.[5]

Peckham was poached from Royce to join The Fourmost, where he replaced Mike Millward, who had health issues. Keen on the recording side of the business, he left the Fourmost to join Apple Studios when the Beatles acquired the property at 3 Savile Row where they would open their own studio.[6]

George Peckham started his career in disc cutting as a trainee disc cutter at Apple Studios in November 1968 before assuming the chief disc cutting role there a year later.[7] Whilst at Apple, Peckham began adding messages at the run-out grooves of records he mastered. The messages, along with "A PORKY PRIME CUT", would become his professional signature.[8] After various stints at other studios he went on to establish Porky's Mastering Services where he was responsible for cutting some of the most influential English records during the '80s. He is now retired.

References
  1. "How to master a record: Legendary engineer Noel Summerville talks about mastering for vinyl". The Vinyl Factory.
  2. Vinyl Mastering with George Peckham (interview) on YouTube (2001)
  3. David Hepworth (15 December 2009). "George "Porky" Peckham and the maker's mark".
  4. Peckham, George "Part One: Growing Up in Liverpool". The George Peckham Story
  5. Peckham, George "George Peckham (cont.)". The George Peckham Story
  6. Peckham, George "Part Two: Enter The Fourmost". The George Peckham Story
  7. Peckham, George "Part Three: Apple Days". The George Peckham Story
  8. Peckham, George "George Peckham - Apple (cont.)". The George Peckham Story
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