Translation of the German interview:

An interview with Ursli Weber

Sound engineer of the group YELLO

Swiss sound engineer Ursli Weber experienced the genesis of the band Yello at first hand. In this interview, he provides insights into the Swiss studio scene, the creation of the first hits and Yello's albums. He also shares his views on analog versus digital signal processing in concert and studio operations. All the locations mentioned in the interview are in Switzerland.

The interview took place on May 10, 2024 at the HIGH END in Munich.

Claus: You are a sound engineer with heart and soul.

Ursli: I've done nothing else all my life. I started working at Alpha 77 in Zurich while I was still at school. There we produced audio equipment for hi-fi, discos, bands and recording studios. After completely rewiring the legendary Sunrise Studio in Kirchberg, we recorded the album “Hei Was Sölli Mache” by my band Tabbis NukkerliI as a test run. I'm a self-taught musician and composer - piano, guitar, bass and vocals. Yello also realized their first single I.T. Splash / Glue Head in this studio. As a second mainstay and as a balance to the studio routine, I always worked as a live sound engineer and occasionally also as a lecturer at the FFTON sound engineering school and at the SAE Zurich.

Claus: How did the collaboration with Yello work out?

Ursli: I accompanied Yello from the very beginning. I already knew Dieter Meier before that, as he was a guest singer in my band from time to time and we were active as his backing band. Dieter and we mixed all styles of music back then. Boris Blank and Dieter Meier first met in a record store. Dieter asked me if I would record the first Yello album with them as sound engineer and co-producer at Platinum One Studio. This studio belonged to the Bellaphon company. At the time, we recorded many hit albums there: Metal Rendez-Vous by Krokus, Takes You Higher by Ganymede, Solid Pleasure by Yello, etc. As the owners were given the opportunity to buy Donna Summer's catalog, they had to sell the studio overnight. As a result, this successful studio had to be closed after only two years. We then produced the second Yello album Claro que si in the former Powerplay Studio in Horgen. This studio then became my new workplace two years later, after their move to the newly built studio complex in Maur on Greifensee. I worked there for the first ten years as a maintenance and sound engineer, and then as a freelance sound engineer until today. At the turn of the millennium, I even acted as interim boss and manager there for three years.

Claus: How did the first Yello hit Bostich come about?

Ursli: We only had 24 analog tracks in the Powerplay Studio at the time. There was only one track left for the vocals. But Boris wasn't at all enthusiastic about Dieter's performance approach. As Boris always went out for his lunch break, Dieter and I completed the vocal track the way we had already started. That was it. After that, there was no more room on the tape for alternative versions. So, in the end the material was used in the same way. We then went to all the record companies in Switzerland with the finished LP masters. But they all turned us down. Then we asked the label Ralph Records. They had already expressed interest in Yello earlier. They wanted us. The project then became successful in the USA. One year later, we were able to choose the record companies, because suddenly everyone wanted us. So, we became known in Switzerland and Europe as well.

Claus: Later Boris Blank had his own studio?

Ursli: Exactly. I have built my own studio for Boris in the Rote Fabrik in Zurich. We recorded three or four more records there. Then the whole studio moved to Dieter's house, where all Yello projects had been realized up to that point.

Claus: I would like to mention the Yello album Stella as an example. They tried to mix it digitally, but it didn't work. Yello returned to Zurich.

Ursli: Yes, Boris then mixed the mixes again in his own studio in the usual analog way. We had an analog machine for mixing the vocals and all the acoustic instruments and used all 128 midi channels for the keyboards and other synthesizers. The audio signals from the external devices were controlled by the sequencer and mixed with the analog tape tracks. For this reason, certain older sessions are no longer available as multitrack tapes. Certain tracks could therefore only be reconstructed with the sequencers and synthesizers of the time.

Claus: Is the equipment from back then still available?

Ursli: Only to a limited extent, because Boris has only kept a few of his original trouvailles. I still have the Fairlight synthesizer, and I still get the sounds Boris created out of it.

Claus: After Stella (1985), four more albums were produced analog: One Second (1987), Flag (1988), Baby (1991) and Zebra (1994). Then it went more and more into the digital world?

Ursli: After Pocket Universe (1997) was the transition to a completely digital way of working.  It was the last album that was recorded with multitrack tape machines and mixed with stereo machines. From then on, Boris only worked with a few peripheral devices directly in the box.

Claus: What is your opinion about digital versus analog?

Ursli: You must make a clear distinction between studio and live performances, as every digital material component is subject to a delay in the audio signal. It is therefore no longer possible to create absolute muse with digital concert systems. Digital signal processors are installed everywhere, and they are subject to latency. From wireless microphones to in-ear headphones, there are delays everywhere. That's why modern concerts only manifest themselves as “latency soup shows”. But music always must be on point, it must work directly. In the studio, all these latencies can be readjusted and brought back to the point so that the end consumer is accurately supplied with the media again.

Unfortunately, we are also under the misconception that we only perceive frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, which is not the case at all. Very low frequencies, such as earthquakes or high-frequency overtones, are not perceived by the ear, but by the whole-body membrane. With today's high bit rates and sampling frequencies, it is now once again possible to preserve musical events in their entirety. Even back then, the super audio format (SACD) would have been perfect, but it was too expensive, which is why this technology was unable to establish itself on the wider market. The second major disadvantage of digital technology is the lack of crosstalk between the channels. With digital multi-channel and stereo technology, all tracks are handled completely separately as if they had nothing to do with each other, which again does not correspond to reality. Fortunately, all analog multitrack components are burdened with this music-healing flaw of crosstalk, which means that the left and right signals can sound more unified again in stereo mode.

Claus: Thank you very much for the interview.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)