Michael Wagener
Michael Wagener (born April 25, 1949 in Wuppertal ) is a German music producer , sound engineer , arranger and musician .
Life
1962 Wagener bought 13 years ago, the first guitar and started his career in 1968 with his schoolmates Udo Dirk Schneider , whom he has known since the age of seven, in the band X . When Wagener was called up for military service in 1970 , he could no longer continue working with the band, which had just changed its name to Accept , and left. In 1972, after studying electrical engineering, he found his first job at Stramp in Hamburg, a company that manufactured recording studios and stage equipment. In 1979 he built a 16-track studio in Hamburg for the local country band Tennessee , where he was also responsible for the technical management. Wagener met Don Dokken on his German tour at the end of 1979 and accepted his invitation to Los Angeles , initially only to go on vacation there. He quickly noticed that Los Angeles was musically in flux and would offer interesting jobs for him, so he looked for a job on his second visit to the USA.
He found this in the Larrabee recording studios in Hollywood; However, his livelihood was not secured, so he initially returned to Germany after Udo Dirkschneider had offered him during a visit to Los Angeles to manage Accept's live sound on the upcoming European tour. In 1980 Wagener was the sound engineer for the Accept album Breaker produced by Dirk Steffens . In 1981 he took over the production of an album for the first time when he recorded Dokken's debut album Breaking the Chains with Dieter Dierks in Cologne-Pulheim. Wagener continued to work as a sound engineer and mixer in Germany until 1984, and in 1983, together with Udo Dirkschneider, founded the production company Double Trouble Productions.
Before he finally moved to Los Angeles in 1984, Wagener commuted between Europe and the United States. During this time she worked on Mötley Crüe's debut album, which was released on her own label (Lethür Records) (which was later remixed for Elektra Records by Roy Thomas Baker ), as well as the production of an EP and the first LP by Great White . After moving, he first shared a house with Don Dokken and Alan Niven, at the time managers of Guns N 'Roses and Great White and Bobby Blotzer ( Ratt ). Wagener also moved the headquarters of Double Trouble Productions to Los Angeles after Dirkschneider gave him his share in the company because he wanted to stay in Germany. For Dokken's second album Tooth and Nail he was hired as a mixer, with Tom Werman and Roy Thomas Baker producing it .
In the following years he made a name for himself with sound mixes and productions of hard rock and heavy metal albums and was responsible for recording numerous classics, especially of the glam metal genre. For example, he produced well-known recordings such as Under Lock and Key by Dokken, the second album by the German group Bonfire called Fireworks , Skid Rows debut album of the same name , the first album by White Lion and pornography by Extreme . He also worked for and with Accept , Metallica , Stryper , Poison , Alice Cooper , Janet Jackson , Queen , Saigon Kick, and Ozzy Osbourne .
In 1995 he produced the album Predator for the band in Nashville (where Wolf Hoffmann , the guitarist of Accept, lived) . In 1996 he moved to Nashville and set up the WireWorld Studio , initially on Hoffmanns Farm . The guitarist was one of the first musicians to record in Wagener's new recording studio : it was here that his solo album Classical was written in 1997 , on which he interpreted pieces by classical composers. Wagener converted the WireWorld Studio to digital recording technology in 2000 and is now pursuing a hybrid approach. B. forms individual guitar sounds with combinations of different amplifiers and microphones, but also saves them in digitized form, e.g. for use on tours.
In 2016 Wagener produced the Böhsen Onkelz's comeback album "Memento" .
Discography (selection)
Award notices to gold - and platinum awards are based on the US market.
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Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Emotions, Energy & Entertainment ; Article about Michael Wagener in the producer icon series; Rocks - The magazine for Classic Rock, issue 01/2011
- ^ Production notes for the respective albums; present
- ↑ Interview in: Stefan Goldmann : "Presets - Digital Shortcuts to Sound", The Bookworm, London, 2015, pp. 90-104. ISBN 978-1-874104-02-5
- ↑ The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards database
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wagener, Michael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German music producer, sound engineer and arranger as well as musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 25, 1949 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wuppertal |