Tony Platt is the recording studio tutor at the University of Northampton.
Music Producer & Recording Engineer – “Have Ears, Will Travel”
Starting at Trident Studios in London followed by the now legendary Island Record’s Basing Street Studios, Tony worked as an assistant on sessions with the likes of Traffic, The Who, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
He engineered on sessions with John Martin, Free and many more, leading to him mixing the “Catch A Fire” album for a hitherto unknown Jamaican artist, Bob Marley, and then recording and mixing the “Burnin” album – albums which arguably would launch reggae music into the mainstream for good. This association led him to complete ”Funky Kingston” for Toots and the Maytals and work with several other notable Jamaican artists such as ZapPow, Lorna Bennet, Harry J’s All Stars, Aswad and The Cimarons.
His later reputation is principally based on work in the world of rock with the various spin off projects from Free and as engineer for Muff Winwood on the debut Sparks album “Kimono in my House”, along with Sharks, John Martin and many others.
Turning freelance, he recorded demos that prefaced deals for Thin Lizzy and the Stranglers before becoming engineer for Mutt Lange and working on the AC/DC albums “Highway to Hell” and “Back in Black”, Foreigner – “4”, Boomtown Rats – “Fine Art of Surfacing’ and Broken Home.
Joining the Zomba producer roster in 1980, he produced and engineered the work of artists such as Samson (with Bruce Dickenson singing), Iron Maiden, Krokus, Motorhead, Gary Moore, Cheap Trick, Ronnie Dio, The Cult and Marillion.
Being fortunate to have grown up alongside the rapid advances in audio and music technology has left him with a constant desire to try new recording techniques and musical styles which in turn has led to involvement with artists from many musical genres.
He recorded two albums for Buddy Guy – the Grammy winning “Damn Right I Got the Blues” and the follow up “Feels Like Rain”, before developing a close involvement with the well respected “boutique” Jazz label, Dune Records, working with all their artists including Mercury nominated Soweto Kinch, Denys Baptiste, and Abram Wilson. Other productions in the Jazz genre have included Clare Teal’s “Don’t Talk” – her first for Sony Jazz which entered at 19 on the album chart and the most amazing U.S. band, The Bad Plus. He produced and engineered a solo album with Jacquie Dankworth before also producing a collaboration with her late father John Dankworth.
Running from 2015 into 2016, Tony mixed an album by Spanish improvisational jazz trio Naima, and completed an album with a Dutch 5 piece girl “rock” band called Bells of Youth released on V2 Records.
In 2018, he produced, recorded and mixed an album by French Ska/Punk band Two Tone Club recorded in the fabulous new DAFT Studio in Belgium and an album with Chilean virtuoso guitarist, Nano Stern recorded in Chile and mixed in London. Another exciting project released last year was a Direct to Disc recording of U.S. jazz/funk band “Butcher Brown” for Gearbox Records. This was done between Mark Ronson’s Zelig Studio at the Tileyard complex and the Gearbox mastering room next door.
Another two Gearbox projects, one in January 2019 with Abdullah Ibrahim and one in November 2019 with the Charles Tolliver All Stars were both recorded direct to 1/2″ analogue at RAK Studios.
In 2019, he also completed the new album with Soweto Kinch called “Black Peril” which was mixed in the room Tony has built at home to replace the room he used to share at Strongroom Studios in London.
During the somewhat fragmented 2020, he has mixed a project for Stav Shaul, an Australian singer/songwriter and UK singer Francesca Rossetti, whilst also continuing a collaboration with Northern Irish songwriter Stephen Weir that continues into 2021. Most recently he has just finished mixing “Duplexity”, an album by trumpeter Daniel Canos and drummer Doug Sides.
In addition to all this, Tony is the Managing Director of the prestigious Music Producers Guild Awards, as well as a member of the steering group for J.A.M.E.S. (Joint Audio Media Education Support) who provide Industry Accreditation for music related HE courses.
His depth of knowledge and understanding within music production are vital for students to gain a key understanding of the industry and how to succeed in an extremely competitive environment. We are privileged to have Tony’s name associated with the university and are sure he will inspire a new generation of music students in the future. Find out more about Tony’s biography and discography.
