Mike Stone (record producer)

Mike Stone
Stone, 1975
Stone, 1975
Background information
Born1951
Died2002 (aged 50–51)
OccupationRecord producer

Michael Richard Seth Stone[1] (1951 – May 2002)[2] was an English recording engineer and record producer. He worked with Queen (multiple albums), Foreigner (multiple albums), Journey (multiple albums),[3] Toby Beau, Asia (multiple albums), Whitesnake, April Wine (multiple albums), and others.[1]

Biography

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Stone began his career as an assistant recording engineer at Abbey Road Studios in England. While still a teenager, Stone worked on some sessions for The Beatles' Beatles For Sale[4] (1964). Later, he became a runner at Trident Studios, then worked his way up to tape operator and assistant engineer. In 1974, Stone began a long relationship with Queen when he worked with Queen's then producer, Roy Thomas Baker, to engineer the unique vocal layering for "Bohemian Rhapsody".[5] Following Baker's departure as Queen's producer, the band hired Stone as their engineer for his expertise in over-dubbing vocals.[6] By the early eighties, Stone had produced popular top-selling albums for both Asia and Journey.[7]

Stone was scheduled to oversee the re-mastering of the Queen catalogue when he died in 2002. Queen's Brian May wrote of Stone in a eulogy: "Mike's production style of big chorus building and hitting hard, the ability to treat vocals uniquely, and find space in a recording have influenced a generation of young producers."

Stone's work productivity was limited in later years by an alcohol problem, and he died of complications from it.[7]

Selected discography

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Notes

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References for record producers with the name 'Mike Stone' often get confused. Others with this name are Mike D. Stone (10/24/1949 – 12/3/2017) of the Record Plant recording studio in Los Angeles, California who engineered for the Bee Gees, Joe Walsh, Frank Zappa, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley, America, and B. B. King, and Mike "Clay" Stone of Clay Records who worked with largely punk and metal acts in the UK.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Mike Stone Discography". Discogs. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Mike Stone". Queenpedia.com. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  3. ^ Mehle, Michael (23 May 1997). "Veteran record producer turns his life down". Rocky Mountain News. p. 21D.
  4. ^ Emerick, Geoff; Massey, Howard (2007). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles. Penguin. ISBN 978-1592402694. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  5. ^ Mancuso, Carl J. (26 April 2011). "Classic Albums – Queen: A Night at the Opera". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  6. ^ Sutcliffe, Phil (2009). Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock. Voyageur Press. p. 96.
  7. ^ a b Sharpe-Young, Garry (20 June 2002). "Bad news continues for rock world". Daily News. p. 23.