Chris Tsangarides
|
---|
Birth name
| Christopher Andrew Tsangarides
|
---|
Born
| (
1956-08-17
)
17 August 1956
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Died
| 6 January 2018
(2018-01-06)
(aged 61)
|
---|
Genres
| Hard rock
,
heavy metal
,
alternative rock
,
pop
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| Record producer, sound engineer, company owner, musician, songwriter
|
---|
Instrument(s)
| Guitar
|
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Years active
| 1975?2018
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Labels
| Dark Lord Records
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Musical artist
Christopher Andrew Tsangarides
(17 August 1956 – 6 January 2018)
[1]
was a British
record producer
,
sound engineer
, and mixer of
Greek Cypriot
origin.
[2]
He was best known for his work with many
heavy metal
artists, including
Gary Moore
,
Thin Lizzy
,
Judas Priest
,
Helloween
,
Anvil
,
Angra
,
Anthem
,
Yngwie Malmsteen
, and
Tygers of Pan Tang
.
Tsangarides worked with many pop and alternative artists as well, including
Depeche Mode
,
Tom Jones
,
Concrete Blonde
, and
The Tragically Hip
.
Career
[
edit
]
Chris Tsangarides learned to play piano as a child and studied trumpet at the
Royal Academy of Music
,
[3]
before studying economics at college.
[4]
He started his career in the music business in 1974, as an apprentice at
Morgan Studios
in London, one of the major independent recording studios in the UK at the time.
[4]
[5]
Initially, he worked there as a tape operator and his first job as sound engineer was on
Judas Priest
's second album
Sad Wings of Destiny
in 1976.
[4]
[5]
[6]
He engineered the British hit single "Naughty Naughty Naughty" in 1977, a pop song by
Joy Sarney
, whose success gave him much more work as engineer at the studio.
[4]
In that period he engineered and mixed albums of
new wave
acts, such as
Japan
's
Obscure Alternatives
(1978),
[6]
and
jazz fusion
releases of
Colosseum II
and
Brand X
.
[4]
Tsangarides befriended Colosseum II guitarist
Gary Moore
, who asked him to produce his solo album
Back on the Streets
(1978), which was Tsangarides's first job as producer.
[4]
The song "
Parisienne Walkways
", sung on the album by Thin Lizzy's
Phil Lynott
, was a hit in the UK.
[7]
Tsangarides continued working with Moore on live albums and produced
Back to the Blues
in 2001.
[4]
[8]
When Morgan Studios 3 and 4 were acquired by
Zomba Management
in 1980 and rechristened
Battery Studios
,
[9]
Tsangarides was hired by the new owners as part of a team of "in-house producers" which included
Robert John "Mutt" Lange
,
Martin Birch
,
Tony Platt
and Nigel Green.
[6]
During the 1980s and up to the 1990s, Tsangarides became notable on the
hard rock
and
heavy metal
scene for the quality of his job and for having produced signature albums, such as
Anvil
's
Metal on Metal
in 1982,
[3]
[10]
Thin Lizzy
's acclaimed final studio release
Thunder and Lightning
in 1983
[3]
[11]
and the
Grammy nominated
Painkiller
by Judas Priest in 1990.
[3]
[8]
[12]
He worked in those years with
Black Sabbath
,
[8]
Ozzy Osbourne
,
Helloween
,
[8]
Y&T
,
Tygers of Pan Tang
,
Anthem
,
Sinner
,
King Diamond
,
Ian Gillan
, and produced also
Bruce Dickinson
's first solo album
Tattooed Millionaire
(1990).
[5]
[10]
Beside his work with metal bands, Tsangarides recorded songs for artists of other musical genres,
[5]
like singer/songwriter
Joan Armatrading
, pop star
Tom Jones
, goth rockers
the Lords of the New Church
,
Killing Joke
and keyboardist
Jan Hammer
. In 1987, he remixed the song "
Never Let Me Down Again
" by
new wave
band
Depeche Mode
for release as a single.
[10]
The 1990s saw Tsangarides still at work with metal bands like
Exodus
,
Overkill
, Judas Priest again with the album
Painkiller
, Japanese band
Loudness
and guitar virtuoso
Yngwie Malmsteen
,
[10]
but he also produced for British
gothic rock
act
the Sisters of Mercy
and the
alternative rock
groups
the Tragically Hip
and
Concrete Blonde
.
[5]
[8]
For the latter band, he also produced and engineered the hit single "
Joey
" in 1990.
[13]
In 1999, Tsangarides collaborated as a performer and songwriter with
Shin Hae-chul
in the techno/metal act Monocrom. They made one album and did an arena tour in Shin's native Korea.
[4]
At the beginning of the 2000s, Tsangarides had his own music company called Rainmaker Music, which included a recording studio with the same name in South London.
[4]
He later opened another studio called The Dump in Kenley, Surrey, which operated until January 2006.
[14]
Among others,
New Model Army
,
Leanne Harte
,
Winters Bane
and
Glyder
recorded there.
[14]
In 2006, Tsangarides opened a new recording facility, Ecology Room Studios in Kent, England, where he went on producing new and established acts on lower budgets than in corporate studios.
[6]
The Strawbs
,
Mountain
,
Steeleye Span
,
the Quireboys
,
Biomechanical
, Spit Like This,
Savage Messiah
and many other bands recorded at his new facility. LunarMile, whose members include Toni-Marie Iommi (daughter of Black Sabbath's
Tony Iommi
) and Alex Hill (son of Judas Priest's
Ian Hill
), recorded there in June 2007.
[15]
Tsangarides is featured in
Sacha Gervasi
's documentary film
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
, released in 2009, while at work on the album
This Is Thirteen
, which Anvil recorded at Ecology Room Studios.
[6]
Between 2010 and 2013, Tsangarides collaborated with the
Band Complete
team at SAE Athens. Tsangarides acted as the recording-sessions mentor, supervisor, recording engineer, and producer. Band Complete engaged students in several areas of creative media production/publishing and the professional life of a music band. Overall, Tsangarides mentored three intakes and engineered/produced EPs for Puta Volcano, Stonebringer, and Skinny Whales.
In February 2012, Tsangarides announced details of a new record label Dark Lord Records formed with the Strawbs frontman
Dave Cousins
.
[16]
The first release on the new label was
Normalityville Horror
by Spit Like This on 21 May.
[16]
Tsangarides occasionally played guitar and performed live with the metal band
Exmore / More 2012
.
[10]
He died of
pneumonia
and
heart failure
on 6 January 2018, aged 61.
[17]
Technical accomplishments
[
edit
]
Tsangarides is known for a guitar recording technique called "the vortex", which he first used when recording the guitar of
John Goodsall
for the Brand X album
Moroccan Roll
in 1977.
[4]
He later refined the technique, which gives to the recordings a random panning effect similar to a reverb, but obtained through a particular placement of microphones.
[6]
[10]
Bands worked with
[
edit
]
Source:
[18]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Legendary Rock Producer CHRIS TSANGARIDES Dead At 61"
.
Blabbermouth.net
. 7 January 2018
. Retrieved
24 January
2018
.
- ^
"Chris Tsangarides Celebrates 40th Anniversary Of Making Records"
.
Metalshockfinland.com
. 11 February 2015
. Retrieved
17 August
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Interviews: Chris Tsangarides"
.
Rockpages.gr
. Archived from
the original
on 21 December 2014
. Retrieved
1 February
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
"Heavy Rain"
.
Sound on Sound
. July 2001. Archived from
the original
on 21 December 2014
. Retrieved
21 January
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Kurutz, Steve.
"Chris Tsangarides biography"
.
AllMusic
.
All Media Network
. Retrieved
1 February
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Saxon, Jonathan (March 2009).
"Ecology Now!"
(PDF)
.
Tape Op
(70): 30?36. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 3 February 2015
. Retrieved
25 January
2015
.
- ^
"Search for Parisienne Walkaways"
.
Official Charts Company
. Retrieved
27 January
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Krannila, Ville; Asell, Jari; Tattari, Kimmo (August 2009).
"Chris Tsangarides"
. K. K. Downing Steel Mill. Archived from
the original
on 29 November 2014
. Retrieved
3 February
2015
.
- ^
Harris, Tony (2011).
"Morgan Studios"
. Philsbook.com. Archived from
the original
on 1 June 2013
. Retrieved
19 June
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Matera, Joe (20 July 2011).
"Chris Tsangarides: 'I Love Crazy Ideas That Sometimes Work'
"
.
Ultimate Guitar Archive
. Archived from
the original
on 3 February 2015
. Retrieved
2 February
2015
.
- ^
Popoff, Martin
(1 November 2005).
The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties
.
Burlington, Ontario
,
Canada
:
Collector's Guide Publishing
.
ISBN
978-1-894959-31-5
.
- ^
"33rd Grammy Awards - 1991"
. Rock on the Net.com
. Retrieved
3 February
2015
.
- ^
"Bloodletting Billboard Singles"
.
AllMusic
.
Rovi Corporation
. Retrieved
27 January
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Chris Tsangarides record producer video interview"
. Record Production.com
. Retrieved
1 February
2015
.
- ^
"Tony Iommi's Daughter's Band Lunarmile 'On A Break'
"
.
Blabbermouth.net
. 8 April 2008
. Retrieved
3 February
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Spit Like This Signs with Dark Lord Records"
.
Blabbermouth.net
. 2 March 2012
. Retrieved
1 February
2015
.
- ^
"Chris Tsangarides, Famed Metal Producer, Dies"
.
Ultimate Classic Rock
. 7 January 2018
. Retrieved
24 January
2018
.
- ^
"Chris Tsangarides credits"
.
AllMusic
.
All Media Network
. Retrieved
1 February
2015
.
- ^
"Ocean of the Brave | Band Complete"
. 14 May 2014.
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Artists
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