David Tickle

David Tickle (born 5 September 1959) is a British record producer and engineer. As a producer, he is most noted for his work with Split Enz, and in Canada, for his mid-1980s work with Red Rider, Platinum Blonde and Gowan. As an engineer, he has worked on best selling albums by artists such as Blondie and U2; as a mixing engineer, he worked on several hit 1980s releases by Prince.

Tickle was born on 5 September 1959 in Guildford, Surrey, the only son of a university professor father and an artistic mother. By his own account he was mixing Red Buddha concerts at the age of 16, and mixed three singles for pop-rock quartet Liverpool Express which achieved modest success on British charts in 1976 and 1977.

Through a friend he was introduced to New Zealand band Split Enz and laid down some tracks with them in a Manchester studio in early 1978.

He was hired soon after by Terry Melcher for a job at Ringo Starr's Ringo Records, and appointed the in-house engineer for the label's newly acquired recording facility, Startling Studios, at Tittenhurst Park, John Lennon's former house and studio near Ascot, Berkshire. Tickle helped them convert the studio from 16- to 24-track and lived on-site, later telling one interviewer:

"It was a great mansion, an 82-acre house, I was the only one to live there full time. I lived like a lord. Cooks, maids, the whole thing."

At Startling Studios he produced a further session with Split Enz, recording "I See Red", a punk-influenced single that would become a hit in Australia and New Zealand. Although the band was keen to have Tickle produce their third album, Frenzy, they were overruled by their Australian management, who wanted a more experienced producer. American Mallory Earl was drafted in for the album. The band would always regret the decision, sensing Earl's work had failed to reach the levels of intensity and creativity their earlier sessions with Tickle had achieved.

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