George Peckham
Template:Short description Template:Other people Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates George "Porky" Peckham (born 1942) 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.<ref name=porkysbook>Template:Cite book</ref>
His master discs, and the records that were produced from them, often bear either the motto "A Porky Prime Cut"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> or a cryptic or humorous comment, etched onto the run-out grooves in his handwriting. Other inscriptions attributed to him include "Pecko" and "Pecko Duck".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Biography
Peckham was born in Blackburn, Lancashire and 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.<ref name=porkysbook />
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's group, Earl Royce & The Olympics. Peckham was poached from Royce to join the Fourmost, where he replaced Mike Millward, who had health issues.<ref name=porkysbook /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Keen on the recording side of the business, he joined Apple Studios when the Beatles acquired the property at 3 Savile Row where they would open their own studio. Peckham started his career in acetate disc cutting at Apple Studios in November 1968 before assuming the chief role there a year later. Whilst working at Apple, he began adding short messages on the run-out grooves of records he mastered. The messages, along with the phrase "A Porky Prime Cut", become his professional signature.<ref name=porkysbook /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After various stints at other studios he established Porky's Mastering Services where he was responsible for cutting some of the most influential English records during the 1980s. This continued into the 1990s as dance music artists and labels such as No U-Turn Records also looked to his acetate cutting skills.<ref name=porkysbook /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
References
Further reading
- Porky's Prime Cuts, Ed Dieckmann with George Peckham, Apcor Books, 2018. Template:ISBN