Rafał Paczkowski – Polish sound engineer, musician, composer and producer – was the one who made many iconic Polish albums sound so fantastic. He died on September 8, he was 61 years old. I learned his name in the mid-1990s, when I was in elementary school. When Artur Orzech talked about the success of “Touch” by Edyta Górniak on TV, or when I read “BRAVO”. The album Górniak from 1995, which was the singer’s debut, achieved quadruple platinum status in the first two years, at a time when you had to sell 100,000 copies to receive “only” a Gold award!
One million copies of “Touch”. “The time pressure was high”
– This is the most important album in my life, because it was the first big album that I produced – recalls Wojtek Olszak in an interview for Muzykuj. – The co-producer was the legendary sound engineer Rafał Paczkowski. We were thrown into the deep end, we recorded an excellent vocalist, with the entire great Woobie Doobie lineup, in the then completely new, wonderful Studio Buffo. It was the time when Edyta returned in great style and with great success from the Eurovision Festival, so the time pressure was great that the album was to be ready “now”. It worked, although this album was a bit of a compositional jumble, because there were several new songs that I also wrote, but there were also songs from the musical “Metro” and Edyta’s previous achievements – he says and:
Of course, when the album was released, it was also a huge commercial success. Few people realize that this album has sold over a million copies! This is my most important album because I learned the most from it. I’m sure of that. To this day I have a saying that an album has to be good, otherwise – “a bad Touch hurts your whole life” (laughter). We recorded it in Studio Buffo, where there were two 24-track Studer A820 tape recorders, a huge SSL 4000 console and no computers.
This success was earned by a singer with a phenomenal voice, helped by her great performance at Eurovision in 1994 with the song “To nie ja!” written by Stanisław Syrewicz and Jacek Cygan, a duet with Krzysztof Antkowiak, reminiscent of his hit previously performed with Ryszard Rynkowski, a hit composition and the already cult music video for “I am a woman!”, great musicians such as Wojtek Pilochowski or Mariusz “Fazi” Mielczarek… The list could go on for a long time. And Paczkowski certainly cannot be omitted.
In pop, it is the producer who basically decides about the success or failure of the entire production
He was a graduate of the Academy of Music. Fryderyk Chopin in Warsaw, where he graduated from the Faculty of Sound Engineering. He composed music for such films as: “Three Colors” by Krzysztof Kieślowski, “The Secret Garden” by Agnieszka Holland, “Przedwiośnie” by Filip Bajon and “The Bandit” by Maciej Dejczer. He started his adventure with musicians in the 1980s. He worked on such important albums for the Polish music market as “Tak! Tak!” and “Obywatel GC” by Obywatel GC, “Biała armia” by Bajmu, “Love” by Edyta Bartosiewicz, “Same”, “Always where you are” and “Na na” by Lady Pank, “Ping pong” by Kora, he worked on Ryszard’s albums Rynkowski, Urszula, Myslovitz and many others. The fact that he has only one Fryderyk to his name may be shocking in this context. He received it in the Music Production of the Year category in 2003 for “Hard to not believe in anything” by the band Raz, Dwa, Trzy.
– In the case of pop music, the producer basically decides about the success or failure of the entire production, the entire album. He can fix a lot and at the same time break a lot if, for example, he chooses the proportions between instruments in an inappropriate way – my husband, Rafał Korycki, who taught sound studio techniques at the Warsaw University of Technology for several years, tells me. – Some vocals are so powerful that they need to be “hidden”, others are weaker and need to be “pulled out”, sometimes compressed and “colored” more to make them sound good – he explains.
I immediately remember the story of Jacek Cygan, who in an interview with Gazeta.pl recalled working on “Dumka na dwa hearts” sung by Edyta Górniak and Mietek Szcześniak. And what does it turn out to be? Paczkowski was also in charge of the recording here!
Edyta Górniak and Mietek Szcześniak in 1999 in Katowice Photo Marta Błażejowska / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Something happened that when they sang together in the studio, the emotions were so great that – we’re joking – they simply burst the microphone. That’s why the sound engineer, Rafał Paczkowski, decided to record some parts separately. And it’s often the case that duets are created this way.
Imagination is important
“Dotyk” also showed how to use vocals in very quiet parts – this is a method currently common in all women’s albums recorded and published in the West. In the 1990s, this was not so obvious.
I read in Wikipedia that in the case of electronic music and contemporary pop music, the concept of a producer most often covers the overall production of a song, from the first note, through composition, arrangement, mixing to the final mastering. – Even though the producer does not add any melody line, does not sing or play in a given song, he actually decides how the audience will perceive a given song – says Korycki. – He must have a lot of imagination. He must know what can be done and what can be done technically with a given sound or instrument, and then arrange it all in his head and give it proportions and a place in space – he adds, pointing out that the influence of the producer and recording engineer is very good You can see it sometimes at concerts, when a studio album is played live, it sounds completely different.
Paczkowski took on more than one task: producer. He also played keyboard instruments in many of “his” recordings. He was also the composer of several popular songs. The most famous is probably “Dłonie” from Majka Jeżowska’s repertoire, which can still be clapped and sung by many Poles growing up in the 1990s (and probably later as well).
There are producers, such as David Guetta, whose productions can be noticed even by an untrained ear. The French DJ and music producer released solo albums and collaborated with, among others, with Black Eyed Peas, Kelis, Rihanna, Flo Rida, Nicki Minaj, Usher and Bebe Rexha.
Each manufacturer has the appropriate patents for setting and operating effects, but some do not emphasize their style so much. Paczkowski once admitted that if someone listened carefully, he would leave his calling card in many of the recordings he worked on.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
