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A key figure in the production of Songs From The Big Chair was a man without whom, it might be speculated, the band would never have had hits in the first place. Keyboard player Ian Stanley met the group on the Bath music scene, and offered to produce Orzabal and Smith's first steps into synth-pop after they'd left mod outfit Graduate. He had his own eight-track studio and the resulting demos helped get the band signed to a label.

As Orzabal recalled to Radio One's Richard Skinner, by the time they were ready to make Songs From The Big Chair, 'This eight-track had grown, with the money we'd made from The Hurting, and Ian and I set up a 24-track studio. We sort of built it ourselves, hammering in all the soundproofing, but it was great because you didn't have to worry about the time and you didn't have to worry about the cost'. The location was The Wool Hall near Bath. Says producer Chris Hughes: 'It wasn't like a professional recording studio. It was essentially Roland, Ian and I working together as a three-piece. Then Curt would come in and be involved with vocals and other ideas, but essentially, the day-to-day operations on that record were Roland, Ian and I with Dave Bascombe who was the engineer.'

The making of Songs From The Big Chair was an easier process than the band's debut release. 'The Hurting had been a very painful process', Orzabal told Las Vegas Weekly. 'All of a sudden we were going home every night and had familiar surroundings. It was just so much easier.'