Glyn Thomas Johns (born 15 February 1942) is an English recording engineer and record producer. He has worked with many of the most famous rock recording acts from both the UK and abroad, such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Who, Led Zeppelin, the Kinks, Eagles, Bob Dylan, the Band, Eric Clapton, the Clash, Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Joan Armatrading. Throughout his career, he has generally preferred a live, natural approach to recording in the studio, and developed a method of recording drums sometimes referred to as the "Glyn Johns method".
The years 1964–1984 marked Johns's peak era of activity in which he engineered or produced numerous hit records. In 1965 Johns became one of the first independent British recording engineers to operate freelance rather than under the hire of a particular record label or studio. He was involved in making some of the most influential albums of the rock era such as Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones, Who's Next by the Who, and Led Zeppelin's debut album. Johns was the chief engineer during the Beatles' Get Back sessions for what became the Let It Be album, as documented in the films Let It Be (1970) and The Beatles: Get Back (2021). Since 1984 Johns has continued to be active in the industry.
Johns is the father of Ethan Johns, and the older brother of Andy Johns (1950–2013), all three of whom shared the same career. In addition to his work as an engineer and producer, Johns has recorded as a solo musical artist. In 2012, Johns was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, receiving the Award for Musical Excellence.
Early life Glyn Thomas Johns was born in Epsom, Surrey, England, on 15 February 1942, and is the older brother of Andy Johns. He is of partial Welsh ancestry, stating in his autobiography that he "had a Welsh grandfather" and "a Welsh name." His autobiography further recounts that at the age of eight he joined a local church choir as a boy soprano. Felton Rapley, considered one of the leading pipe organists in the UK at the time, became the choirmaster, and as Johns progressed, Johns was given occasional solos and eventually rose to head chorister at the age of eleven. Johns attributes his experience in the choir, particularly hearing and watching Rapley play the organ, as having a profound impact on his musical direction. As he approached adolescence, Johns left the choir after his vocal cords began to change.
Johns recounts that his next-door neighbour lent him a Guild electric guitar, which sparked his interest playing guitar. At this time Johns was attending the church's Wednesday night youth club, where for the first time he saw Jimmy Page play guitar. Johns became a fan of traditional jazz and joined a local ragtag jazz band on tea chest bass. He cites the record "Little Rock Getaway" by Les Paul and Mary Ford as an influence. Les Paul was one of the first musicians to experiment with tape multi-tracking and sound effects. Lonnie Donegan's skiffle hit version of Lead Belly's "Rock Island Line" was also influential—according to Johns, "I had heard nothing like it and rushed out to buy it the next day". He soon bought his own guitar and was introduced to blues and folk recordings by a neighbour, who lent him records by artists such as Snooks Eaglin, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Woody Guthrie, and Burl Ives. Johns began to keep company with a group of friends interested in music, whose ranks included Ian Stewart (later in the Rolling Stones). In 1959 at the age of 17, Johns left school, and with Mayhew and Golding formed the band the Presidents.
Career in music and recording Over a long career as an engineer and/or producer, Johns has worked with numerous successful musical acts in the industry. Johns has also recorded as a solo musical artist.
Early years: 1959–1963 IBC Studios and as performing artist
In 1959, Johns began his career as an assistant recording engineer at IBC Studios on Portland Place in London. IBC was an independent recording studio and had no affiliation with a label. Johns recounts that his early duties included odd tasks and providing basic support for the experienced engineers. His first session as a recording engineer was for the popular skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan.
At the time IBC had a busy schedule. Coats and ties were required to be worn by recording engineers (and white lab coats for technical engineers). Most recordings were done then in mono (except for classical music). During Johns's first year at IBC, the popularity of rock and roll increased and demand for records that sounded more American. Engineers were confronted with the challenge of capturing louder music. Younger engineers were more apt to try new approaches, and Terry Johnson, another young engineer at IBC, convinced Johns to move in this direction. Johns recounts that Jack Good, one of the UK's early successful television rock and roll producers, made regular use of IBC Studios, and did many of his recordings with Johns and Johnson engineering sessions. They engineered pre-recorded tracks for the Oh Boy! television programme, which featured leading British rock and roll performers of the day, such as Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Wee Willie Harris, and others.
Johns recounts that in the early 1960s, he was signed to Decca Records as a solo musical performing artist at the urging of Jack Good. Johns's first single, "Sioux Indian", was produced by Jack Good and the next two produced by Tony Meehan. Johns later went on to record for Pye Records and Immediate Records, but none of his solo records became hits.
During this time, Johns was playing in the Presidents, who, according to Johns, began to put the phrase "Featuring Decca Recording Star Glyn Johns" on their posters. Johns realised that he could invite musicians to IBC on Sundays, when the studio was not booking sessions—letting musicians play in the sound room whilst he honed his engineering and producing skills at the console. The makeshift sessions attracted many of the best young musicians in London, such as Jimmy Page, Ian Stewart, Alexis Korner, Brian Jones, and Nicky Hopkins. Johns recounts that his first session as chief engineer was for a recording by Joe Brown, which was produced by Tony Hatch. In 1962, Johns entered into an arrangement with George Clouston, the manager at IBC studios, to let him produce records by certain artists.
The Rolling Stones 1962–1963
Johns's friend, Ian Stewart was playing piano with the Rolling Stones. The two lived for a while in a house nicknamed "the Bungalow" with one of Stewart's friends, Brian Wiles, who played in a group with Jeff Beck. It was through Stewart that Johns became involved in recording the Rolling Stones on their earliest recordings. Johns mentions that in March 1963, he brought them to IBC to record several tracks. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the Rolling Stones' manager, Stewart was asked to leave the group, and Oldham took over the role as producer of the group's recordings. Oldham moved the Rolling Stones' sessions to other studios, such as Regent Sound, using other engineers, and for more than a year Johns was not involved with the Rolling Stones recordings.
As engineer for Shel Talmy In 1963, Johns made arrangements to produce and record a session with Georgie Fame, but was paired, only as engineer, with producer Shel Talmy. Initially he was skeptical, but unexpectedly enjoyed working with Talmy, and the two formed a successful partnership on many recordings for the next couple of years, recording hit songs for acts such as the Kinks and the Who.
Peak years: 1964–1984 The Kinks, the Who, and Eric Clapton and as independent
During the mid 1960s, Johns worked with several of the popular British beat groups of the era. With producer Shel Talmy he engineered many of the early records by the Kinks and the Who, such as "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks, and "My Generation" by the Who.
In 1965, Johns left IBC studios to further pursue his solo career as a singer and performer and promote his latest record "Mary Anne", but the record failed to chart. At the urging of Talmy, Johns began working freelance as an independent producer and engineer—one of the first independent engineers in the UK. Subsequently, he did sessions at various studios such as Decca, Pye, Marble Arch, and Olympic.
In 1971, Johns reunited with the Who for the first time since the mid-1960s, this time as a co-producer, to work on what became the album Who's Next. According to Pete Townshend in his autobiography:
Johns continued to work with the Who throughout the 1970s as an engineer on parts of Quadrophenia in 1973. He produced and engineered The Who by Numbers (1975) and produced early sessions for Who Are You (1978) with engineer John Astley, who later took over as producer. Johns returned to work with the group, producing and engineering 1982's It's Hard.
Pete Townshend recruited Johns to engineer Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert in 1973. Johns produced and engineered Eric Clapton's 1977 album, Slowhand, which featured hits such as "Lay Down Sally", "Wonderful Tonight", and his version of J. J. Cale's "Cocaine", and Clapton's next album, Backless in 1978, which contained another hit "Promises". In his autobiography Eric Clapton wrote about Johns:
The Rolling Stones 1965–1975
Though Johns briefly ceased recording the Rolling Stones in late 1963 and 1964, in 1965 he returned to the role as chief engineer on their British sessions and assisted the group with much of their most famous material. That year, with producer Andrew Loog Oldham, Johns engineered the group's hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and the albums December's Children (And Everybody's) and Out of Our Heads. Johns worked with the Rolling Stones regularly, though not exclusively, as engineer for the remainder of the 1960s and up through the mid-1970s.
Starting with the sessions for Between the Buttons in late 1966, Johns and the Rolling Stones began to record extensively at Olympic Studios. Olympic Studios became Johns's preferred studio for many years, and it became one of the most in-demand recording facilities in England.
In 1968 the Rolling Stones expressed the desire to work with an American producer and Johns recommended Jimmy Miller, who he had seen working with Traffic. Johns stayed on as engineer, and with this team the group recorded Beggars Banquet (1968) and Let It Bleed (1969). Glyn Johns engineered some of the tracks on Sticky Fingers (1971), and Exile on Main St. (1972), both produced by Jimmy Miller. On these two albums his brother, Andy Johns, also worked as an engineer. His brother engineered Goat's Head Soup, the last Rolling Stones album produced by Jimmy Miller. Glyn Johns contributed to certain tracks on It's Only Rock 'n Roll, and returned as chief recording engineer during the earlier sessions for Black and Blue, but became frustrated with delays in progress and left following a bitter disagreement with Keith Richards.
The Small Faces, the Faces, Humble Pie, and Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend In the 1960s, Johns engineered many of the records made by the Small Faces, such as "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" "Tin Soldier", their 1967 hit, "Itchycoo Park", which featured the use of bizarre phasing effects Johns learned from another Olympic engineer, George Chkiantz. Johns engineered the Small Faces' 1968 LP, Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake.