Martin Birch

Martin Phillip Birch (27 December 1948 – 6 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock and metal bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden.^[1]

Martin Birch
Born	(1948-12-27)27 December 1948 Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom
Died	6 August 2020(2020-08-06) (aged 71)
Genres	Rock heavy metal hard rock
Occupations	Record producer audio engineer
Years active	1968–1992

Biography

Birch was born on 27 December 1948 in Woking, Surrey.^[1] He began his career in music as an audio engineer with Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac and Deep Purple, producing and engineering eleven albums for the latter. In 1980, coming from the "Deep Purple camp",^[2] he was called upon by Black Sabbath for Heaven and Hell. The band's previous albums had been self-produced and they were happy to let Birch, who had worked with Ronnie James Dio before, produce them.^[3] His "bright midrange" on the album is especially noted.^[4] He began a long tenure working exclusively with Iron Maiden in 1981, producing and engineering Killers and retiring from working with other bands for a while.^[4]

Birch also produced and engineered albums for numerous artists. These included Deep Purple-related projects (Rainbow,^[1] Paice Ashton Lord,^[5] Whitesnake,^[1] Roger Glover,^[5] and Jon Lord),^[5] but also encompassed Wayne County & the Electric Chairs.^[6] On Fleetwood Mac's album Mystery to Me (1973) he is also credited playing acoustic guitar.^[5] The song "Hard Lovin' Man" from the Deep Purple album Deep Purple in Rock is dedicated to him: "For Martin Birch – catalyst".^[7]

Birch retired in 1992, after producing Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark album.^[1] It was the last of the ten records he produced with the group.^[8] He appeared in Iron Maiden's music video "Holy Smoke" two years before his retirement.^[9] Birch died on 9 August 2020, at age 71.^[10] The cause of death was undisclosed.^[1][11] Initial tributes were paid by David Coverdale and Geezer Butler.^[8] Members of Iron Maiden offered a lengthy tribute to Birch on their official website, with Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson and Rod Smallwood reflecting on his personality and his time working with the band.^[12]

Selected discography

Source: AllMusic^[5] unless otherwise stated.

Fleetwood Mac

• 1969 – Then Play On (engineer)
• 1970 – Kiln House (engineer)
• 1972 – Bare Trees (engineer)
• 1973 – Penguin (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1973 – Mystery to Me (producer, engineer, guitar)

Deep Purple

• 1969 – Concerto for Group and Orchestra (engineer)^[13]
• 1970 – Deep Purple in Rock (engineer)
• 1971 – Fireball (engineer)
• 1972 – Machine Head (engineer)^[14]
• 1972 – Made in Japan (engineer)^[15]
• 1973 – Who Do We Think We Are (engineer)
• 1974 – Burn (engineer, mixing)
• 1974 – Stormbringer (co-producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1975 – Come Taste the Band (co-producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1976 – Made In Europe (producer, engineer, mixing) – recorded live in April 1975
• 1977 – Last Concert in Japan (co-producer, engineer) – recorded live in December 1975

Jon Lord

• 1971 – Gemini Suite (engineer)
• 1976 – Sarabande (producer, engineer, remixing)

Bernie Marsden

• 1979– And About Time Too (producer, engineer)

Wishbone Ash

• 1970 – Wishbone Ash (engineer)
• 1971 – Pilgrimage (engineer)
• 1972 – Argus (engineer)

Rainbow

• 1975 – Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (co-producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1976 – Rising (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1977 – On Stage (producer, engineer, mixing) – recorded live in 1976
• 1978 – Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1986 – Finyl Vinyl (producer) – collection

Whitesnake

• 1978 – Snakebite (producer)
• 1978 – Trouble (producer)
• 1979– Lovehunter (producer)
• 1980– Ready an' Willing (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1980 – Live... in the Heart of the City (producer, engineer) – recorded live in 1978 and 1980
• 1981 – Come an' Get It (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1982 – Saints & Sinners (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1984 – Slide It In (producer)

Black Sabbath

• 1980 – Heaven and Hell (producer, engineer)
• 1981 – Mob Rules (producer, engineer)

Blue Öyster Cult

• 1980 – Cultösaurus Erectus (producer, engineer)
• 1981 – Fire of Unknown Origin (producer, engineer)

Iron Maiden

• 1981 – Killers (producer, engineer)
• 1982 – The Number of the Beast (producer, engineer)
• 1983 – Piece of Mind (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1984 – Powerslave (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1985 – Live After Death (producer, engineer, mixing)^[15]
• 1986 – Somewhere in Time (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1988 – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1989 – Maiden England (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1990 – No Prayer for the Dying (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1992 – Fear of the Dark (producer, engineer, mixing)

Other artists

• 1969 – Jeff Beck – Beck-Ola (engineer)
• 1970 – Peter Green – The End of the Game (engineer)
• 1970 – The Groundhogs – Thank Christ for the Bomb (engineer)
• 1971 – Stackridge – Stackridge (engineer)
• 1971 – Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker – Hooker 'N' Heat (Mixdown Engineer) – recorded in 1970
• 1971 – Skid Row – 34 Hours (engineer)
• 1971 – Toad – Toad (engineer)
• 1971 – Faces – Long Player (engineer)
• 1972 – Silverhead – Silverhead (producer)
• 1972 – Toad – Tomorrow Blue (engineer)
• 1972 – Flash – Flash (engineer)
• 1972 – Nick Pickett – Silversleeves (engineer)
• 1973 – Gary Moore – Grinding Stone (producer, engineer)
• 1978 – Wayne County & the Electric Chairs – Storm The Gates Of Heaven (producer)^[16]
• 1978 – Roger Glover – Elements (producer)
• 1979 – Cozy Powell – Over the Top (producer)
• 1982 – Michael Schenker Group – Assault Attack (producer, engineer)

References

1. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (10 August 2020). "Martin Birch, producer for Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and more, dies aged 71". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
2. McIver, Joel (17 November 2009). Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Music Sales. p. 215. ISBN 9780857120281. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
3. Mudrian, Albert (2009). Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9780786749621. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
4. Popoff, Martin (2012). "The Albums: Killers". In Neil Daniels (ed.). Iron Maiden: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of the Beast. Voyageur. pp. 38–. ISBN 9780760342213. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
5. "Martin Birch – Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
6. Smets, Eric (2014). Mouvance Punk 1976–1978: 100 des meilleurs albums. Camion Blanc. p. 146. ISBN 9782357796249.
7. Popoff, Martin (2014). Deep Purple: De la fumée sur l'eau 1968–1976. Camion Blanc. p. 77. ISBN 9782357795457.
8. "Martin Birch: Tributes paid to heavy metal music producer". BBC News. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
9. Kaufman, Spencer (9 August 2020). "R.I.P. Martin Birch, Producer for Iron Maiden, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple and More Dies at 71". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
10. "Legendary IRON MAIDEN And DEEP PURPLE Producer MARTIN BIRCH Dead At 71". Blabbermouth.net. 9 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
11. Chilton, Louis (10 August 2020). "Martin Birch death: Tributes paid to 'brilliant' Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath producer". The Independent. London. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
12. "R.I.P Martin Birch". ironmaiden.com.
13. "Concerto for Group and Orchestra". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
14. Deming, Mark (2007). "Classic Albums: Deep Purple – Machine Head (2002)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 6 November 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
15. Begrand, Adrien (14 June 2005). "Iron Maiden's Live After Death". PopMatters. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
16. Padovani, Henry (2009). Secret Police Man. Pen Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-907172-83-0.

External links

• Martin Birch discography at Discogs
• Martin Birch discography at MusicBrainz
• Martin Birch at IMDb