Tony Platt is an English sound engineer and record producer, best known for his work with a diverse mix of artists, including,

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

, Shy,

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

, Foreigner,

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...

, Sparks, Jazz Jamaica All Stars, Lillian Axe, The Boomtown Rats,

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...

and

Testament A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament. Testament or The Testament can also refer to: Books * ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book * ''Testament'', a thriller no ...

Career

Platt's career started at Trident Studios in London and eventually became an engineer at Island Studios. Working his way from assistant engineer on sessions with the likes of

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

the Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

he started to engineer on sessions with Free,

Sutherland Brothers The Sutherland Brothers (Gavin and Iain Sutherland) were a Scottish folk and soft rock duo. From 1973 to 1978, they performed with rock band Quiver, and recorded and toured as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. Under this combined moniker, the gr ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, Jess Roden and Mott the Hoople. He went on to engineer the '' Catch a Fire'' and '' Burnin''' albums for Jamaican artist

which, it is claimed, would launch reggae music into the mainstream. This association led him to complete "Funky Kingston" for

Toots & the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

and work with several other notable reggae artists such as ZapPow, Lorna Bennet, Harry J's All Stars, Aswad and the Cimarons. Island provided Platt with experience working on the numerous orchestral, commercial and pop sessions that came through the studio. After working with the various spin off projects from the recently disbanded Free – Sharks, Toby, Peace and Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit and for Muff Winwood on the debut Sparks album '' Kimono My House'' he left Island and turned freelance. Having recorded demos for

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

and the Stranglers, he became an engineer for Mutt Lange. With Lange he worked on the

albums '' Highway to Hell'' and '' Back in Black'', and the Foreigner album '' 4''. On his own he engineered and produced the work of artists such as Krokus,

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...

the Cult The Cult are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band had performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury ...

and

Marillion Marillion are a British neo-prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the mo ...

. He also recorded two albums for

– the Grammy winning '' Damn Right I've Got the Blues'' and the follow-up ''Feels Like Rain''. Platt also produced Rough Trade's very first label release, the 7" single ''Paris Maquis'' by French band Metal Urbain. Platt worked on an album with Soweto Kinch, and the recording of Abram Wilson's Jerwood commissioned piece ''Ride - The Ferris Wheel to the Modern Delta''. He has had close involvement with Kinch and Wilson's label, Dune Records, working with Jazz Jamaica All Stars, Juliet Roberts, and Denys Baptiste's '' Let Freedom Ring'' which was voted Jazz Critics Record of the Year. Other productions have included Clare Teal's ''Road Less Traveled'' album for Candid Records, ''Don't Talk'' – her first for Sony Jazz which entered at 19 on the album chart and the debut album ''Jazz Warrior'' for New Orleans trumpeter Abram Wilson which was also nominated for the Mercury and MOBO prizes. Projects completed were another Dune Records album with Jazz Jamaica All Stars featuring Motown Hits, the mixing of an album for jazz pianist Andrew McCormack and an installation piece for the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

with Jason Yarde. Platt completed an album with jazz trio The Bad Plus in 2007, and jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim in 2019. He has also collaborated with UK band Second Person on their second studio release and he continues further development work with a number of artists, including Roland Perrin, Ana Silvera and Daniel Ward Murphy and 28 Costumes.

References

External links

Platinum Tones websiteTony Platt on Allmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, Tony Year of birth missing (living people) English record producers Living people English audio engineers