KNAC.com recently caught up with British producer/recording engineer Max Norman, who has been in the business for 30 years and has worked with artists such as Y&T;, MEGADETH, ARMORED SAINT, LOUDNESS, SAVATAGE, GRIM REAPER and Ozzy Osbourne to name a few. The following is a brief excerpt from the interview:

KNAC.com: So when did you first meet Ozzy?

Norman: "The story is...the first time I met Ozzy I thought he was a roadie! (Laughs) I was the resident engineer at Ridge Farm Studio and Ozzy was coming in to record Blizzard of Ozz. I knew of BLACK SABBATH, but that day I didn't know who Ozzy was actually. I didn't recognize him. That day I first met Ozzy, he came in to the studio and I said to him, 'Go sit in the control room, I'm going to make some tea.' Ozzy said, 'All right, put some music on.' So I put some music on, and I brought him some tea thinking, 'He's a roadie and where the hell is the truck with all the gear?' And then this guy comes hopping up the stairs and says, 'Hey Ozzy, what's happening?' And THEN I realized it was Ozzy! It's a good job I didn't say anything to him...know what I mean?!"

KNAC.com: Where you a big fan of Black Sabbath?

Norman: "Yes, I just didn't recognize him. Maybe because he didn't have a lot of make up on. That was a lot of fun. We did a lot of records down there with Ozzy. We did Blizzard of Ozz in four weeks."

KNAC.com: So who was originally hired to produce Blizzard of Ozz? Chris Tsangarides? (EXODUS, HELLOWEEN, JUDAS PRIEST)

Norman: "Yes. I was just the resident studio engineer. We had just built that room and put in a new Solid State Logic Board. It was the secnd one in England. At that time, it was a big deal. I didn't want Blizzard to sound like crap. But it didn't sound to good with Chris to start. He was doing some things that we're fundamentally that we're really bad like: hee put the drums in a very low ceiling room that was all concrete. So if Lee hit the cymbal it was like the whole room turned white! It was very ambient and difficult to control. The band were looking a little glum... When Chris would leave the control room, I would replay the tape in the headphones and rebalance the mix to make it sound decent. After one week of that I said, 'Fuck this guy' I was tired of fixing his mistakes, he was just not getting it. Then Ozzy fired him and then called me and asked me if I wanted to do the record. And I said 'Sure!' That's how I ended up producing and engineering that record and the next four."

Go to this location for the complete interview.