Adrian Barber

English musician, producer and sound engineer. Born in Ilkley, Yorkshire, England, UK, 13 November 1938, died 8 August 2020 in Otley, Yorkshire. At the age of 16 he worked as a sailor for four years. During that time he learned to play the guitar. At twenty Adrian moved to Liverpool, where, initially as a member of 'Cass and the Casanovas' (that subsequently became The Big Three), he stood out in clubs as a technician, alongside such bands as Gerry & The Pacemakers and [a82730], building amplifiers for the Liverpool groups. Thanks to his talent as with equipment he became [a82730]’s sound technician, first in Hamburg and then on [a82730]' first US tour. In 1964 Adrian went to live in the US, where, after working with Joey Dee & The Starliters, joined Atlantic Studios as an engineer and producer as well. Adrian was also involved in management as a partner in ABBT Music Company, which he formed with Bruce Tergesen. Whilst a student in Liverpool in the early 1960s, Barber smashed up a sculpture at an exhibition by the then well known working-class artist Arthur Dooley. It later transpired that the artist himself (Dooley), had coaxed Barber into doing it as a press stunt. Barber identified his stereo cuttings at Atlantic by adding three dots above and one dot below a "W" in the runouts (see images). The 3 dots were sometimes triangular (∴) and other times horizontal (···) The mono cuttings show a single dot (.) under the W (The "W" indicates that the blank lacquer disc was an Audiodisc made by Audio Devices, Inc. and is not related to Barber per se).