Reinhold Mack | |
---|---|
Born | Germany | 25 August 1949
Occupation | Music producer |
Reinhold Mack (also known as Mack, born 25 August 1949) is a German record producer and engineer. He is best known for his collaborations with Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, [1] Sparks, and Chinaski (CZ).
Mack grew up in Munich, West Germany, and was classically trained on piano, clarinet and acoustic guitar. At the age of fourteen, he discovered the electric guitar, playing in cover bands before being drafted into the West German Army. When Mack came home following his military service, he learned that his parents had gotten rid of his music equipment, and he decided to seek work at a recording studio. [2]
In 1970, Mack began working at Union Studios in Munich, recording commercials and oom-pah music before advancing to work with more notable artists such as Ivan Rebroff, Peter Alexander and Amon Düül. [2] While at Union Studios, Mack was approached by Giorgio Moroder to mix a song for Scottish singer Lulu and, pleased with the results, asked Mack to come work for him full-time in his small 16-track recording studio in the basement of the 23-story Arabella Hochhaus hotel/apartment building. With Mack's help, Moroder's studio would expand to become Musicland Studios. [2]
At Musicland's first session in 1973, Mack assisted producer Tony Visconti in recording sessions for Marc Bolan and T. Rex for their album Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow , and later assisted on the Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock 'n Roll and Black and Blue , Deep Purple's Stormbringer and Come Taste the Band , and Led Zeppelin's Presence . [2]
Mack first worked with Electric Light Orchestra in 1975 while engineering during recording sessions for Face the Music , [2] the start of a working relationship that would span six years and the band's next five studio albums. Mack also worked with Queen [1] and Sparks, [3] with the Queen album The Game garnering Mack and the band a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year in 1981. [4] [5]
In 1998, Mack founded Nightjar, a company originally focused on producing and remastering music for surround sound formats. In 1999, he transferred the company, which now produces content for multimedia, video, animation, and sound, to his sons Julian and Felix. [3]
Mack and wife Ingrid's third son, John Frederick Mack, was named by Freddie Mercury and was a godson of both Mercury and Queen bass guitarist John Deacon. [6] [7]
Mack is referenced in the lyrics of the Queen song "Dragon Attack" on their 1980 album The Game , which he produced with the band: "gonna use my stack/it's gotta be Mack". [8]
Albums worked on as sound engineer:
Albums produced or co-produced by Mack:
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track is included on their 1980 album The Game, and also appears on the band's compilation album Greatest Hits in 1981. The song peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1979 and became the group's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in 1980, remaining there for four consecutive weeks. It topped the Australian ARIA Charts for seven weeks. It was the band's final single release of the 1970s.
SBB is a Polish progressive rock band formed in 1971 in Siemianowice, Upper Silesia. It was made up of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Józef Skrzek, guitarist Apostolis Anthimos, drummer Jerzy Piotrowski, and sound engineer Grzegorz Maniecki. SBB was one of the most popular super-groups in Poland and Europe in the 1970s.
Stormbringer is the ninth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in November 1974. It was the band's second studio album to feature the Mk III lineup including vocalist David Coverdale and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes.
Queen II is the second studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 8 March 1974 by EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US. It was recorded at Trident Studios and Langham 1 Studios, London, in August 1973 with co-producers Roy Thomas Baker and Robin Geoffrey Cable, and engineered by Mike Stone. It is significant for being the first album to contain elements of the band's signature sound of multi-layered overdubs, vocal harmonies, and varied musical styles.
Face the Music is the fifth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in September 1975 by United Artists Records and on 14 November 1975 in the United Kingdom by Jet Records. The album moves away from the large-scale classical orchestrated sound of the previous album, Eldorado, in favour of more "radio-friendly" pop/rock songs, though the string sections are still very prominent. The new sound proved successful for the group, for Face the Music was the first ELO album to go platinum.
A New World Record is the sixth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released on 15 October 1976 on United Artists Records in the U.S., and on 19 November 1976 on Jet Records in the United Kingdom. A New World Record marked ELO's shift towards shorter pop songs, a trend which would continue across their career.
Made in Heaven is the fifteenth and final studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 6 November 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Hollywood Records in the United States. It was the band's first and only album released solely under the name "Queen" after the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury in 1991. Following Mercury's death, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor, and bass guitarist John Deacon worked with vocal and piano parts that Mercury recorded before his death, adding new instrumentation to the recordings. Both stages of recording, before and after Mercury's death, were completed at the band's studio in Montreux, Switzerland. The album debuted at number 1 in the UK, where it went quadruple platinum selling 1.2 million copies. 500,000 copies were shipped in the United States.
Mr. Bad Guy is the only solo studio album by British musician Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. Released in 1985, during a period in which Queen were on hiatus from recording, it contains eleven songs, all written by Mercury himself.
Hot Space is the tenth studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 4 May 1982 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Marking a notable shift in direction from their earlier work, they employed many elements of disco, funk, R&B, dance, pop and new wave music on the album. This made the album less popular with fans who preferred the traditional rock style they had come to associate with the band. Queen's decision to record a dance-oriented album germinated with the massive success of their 1980 hit "Another One Bites the Dust" in the US.
"I Was Born to Love You" is a 1985 song by Freddie Mercury that was released as a single from his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy. After Mercury's death, Queen re-worked this song for their album Made in Heaven in 1995, by having the other members play their instrumental parts over the original track, transforming the song from disco to rock. The Queen version from the Made in Heaven album also includes snippets of Mercury's ad-lib vocals taken from "A Kind of Magic" and from "Living on My Own".
"One Vision" is a song written and recorded by the British rock band Queen, first released as a single in November 1985 and then included on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic. It was conceived by the group's drummer Roger Taylor.
"No-One But You " is the final single recorded by the British rock band Queen. Recorded and released in 1997, six years after the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury, it is the only Queen recording to feature a three-piece lineup: guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor, and bassist John Deacon. May and Taylor share lead vocals. The song was released on the album Queen Rocks and it was also released as a double a-side single with "Tie Your Mother Down". It was later included on the compilation album Greatest Hits III.
"Save Me" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1980 album The Game. Written by guitarist Brian May, it was recorded in 1979, and released in the UK on 25 January 1980, nearly six months prior to the release of the album. "Save Me" spent six weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 11. It was the band's first single release of the 1980s.
"Need Your Loving Tonight" is a song by the rock band Queen and written by bass guitarist John Deacon. It is the fourth track on the first side of their 1980 album The Game and the second song on the album by Deacon. It was released as a single in some countries in November 1980.
Whomp That Sucker is the tenth album by the American rock band Sparks, released in 1981.
"It's a Hard Life" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was featured on their 1984 album The Works, and it was the third single from that album. In 1991 it was included in the band’s second compilation album Greatest Hits II.
The Works is the eleventh studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 27 February 1984 by EMI Records just shortly after recording for the album had been completed in the United Kingdom and it is the band's first studio album to be released by Capitol Records in the United States. After the synth-heavy Hot Space (1982), the album saw the re-emergence of Brian May and Roger Taylor's rock sound, while still incorporating the early 80s retro futuristic electronic music and New York funk scenes. Recorded at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California, and Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, from August 1983 to January 1984, the album's title comes from a comment Taylor made as recording began – "Let's give them the works!".
"Don't Bring Me Down" is the ninth and final track on the English rock band the Electric Light Orchestra's 1979 album Discovery. It is their highest-charting hit in the United States.
Musicland Studios was a recording studio located in Munich, Germany established by Italian record producer, songwriter and musician Giorgio Moroder in the early 1970s. The studios were known for their work with artists such as Donna Summer, Electric Light Orchestra, and Queen, among others.
The Game is the eighth studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 30 June 1980 by EMI Records in the UK and by Elektra Records in the US. The Game features a different sound from its predecessor, Jazz (1978). The Game was the first Queen album to use a synthesizer.