Roger Bechirian

Roger Bechirian (born 1954, Calcutta, India) is an English engineer and record producer. Bechirian was a key player in the British new wave scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, best known for his work with Nick Lowe, Paul Carrack, Elvis Costello, The Undertones, Dave Edmunds, The Monkees, the Flamin' Groovies, and Squeeze. He was also a member of the pseudonymous new wave group Blanket of Secrecy, which issued one album in 1982. More recently, Bechirian has worked with the Trashcan Sinatras and Bell X1.

Bechirian was born and spent his early years in Calcutta, moving to England with his family at the age of 10. His engineering career started at Eden Studios, in London in the mid-1970s. The studio was based around an Ampex 4 track and a custom built desk based in part on EMI/BBC designs. Bechirian progressed to become assistant mastering engineer, using an early Scully lathe during the day, and spending the evenings in the studio with bands improving his engineering skills. Eden then moved to a much larger premises and built a brand new studio complex from the ground up. Being involved in the building of the facility, from wiring the studio to helping to build their custom desk, gained Béchirian a great insight into acoustic design and audio electronics. He even designed the studio's logo. Eden opened as a 16 track with Ampex MM1100, but made the rapid leap to 24 track recording, moving up to an Ampex MM1200 and Dolby A. It was one of the first few 24 track studios in London at that time.

Stiff Records founder Dave Robinson sought out Béchirian and he began recording and mixing projects for the label's then fledgling artist roster.

He continued to develop his engineering talents at Eden as house engineer on an endless mixture of sessions ranging from solo artists to rock bands, big bands and orchestra. He worked as an assistant on sessions with some of the most successful producers and bands at the time, including Jethro Tull, Marc Bolan, Manfred Mann, Moody Blues, David Essex, Georgie Fame, The Damned, Clover and many others.

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