Mike Shipley


Michael "Mike" Shipley was an Australian mixing engineer, audio engineer, and record producer. Shipley's music career spanned more than 30 years – mostly working in Los Angeles. At the Grammy Awards of 2012 he won the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category for his joint work on Paper Airplane, by Alison Krauss and Union Station. Shipley died in July 2013, aged 56, of an apparent suicide.

Biography

Michael Shipley was born on 6 October 1956, in Sydney, Australia; as a teenager he moved with his family to London. He became interested in a recording career while at school in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. He later recalled "One of my teachers at grammar school there was a musician who asked me to come down and sing on a record he was making. I walked into this thing called the recording studio, and it just blew my mind. It was, 'This is home,' and I knew instantly and from that point on that all I wanted to do was to work there." Shipley returned to Australia and completed secondary education at Camberwell Grammar School in Melbourne. He then returned to London, where he started as an assistant at Wessex Sound Studios, and worked with Sex Pistols and Queen.
His first engineering sessions were during the punk rock explosion of the late 1970s and early 1980s and included recordings with the Damned. He worked alongside Robert John "Mutt" Lange for decades. His contemporaries at Wessex include producers Roy Thomas Baker and Chris Thomas, and engineers Tim Friese-Greene and Bill Price. Shipley also worked with Def Leppard on their albums, High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize.
Asked to work with the Cars, Shipley relocated to Los Angeles in 1984, where he had since been based until his death. Shipley later relocated to Hawaii for a sabbatical, but returned to Los Angeles to work for Def Leppard, Shania Twain, The Corrs, Anberlin, Aerosmith, Maroon 5, Faith Hill, India.Arie, Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, Nickelback and Alison Krauss.

Death

Shipley died on 25 July 2013. Cause of death as stated on 9 August 2013, at the memorial service, was an apparent suicide.

Discography

Recorded work credited to Mike Shipley:

1970s

YearArtistTitleContribution
1978Hawklords25 Years OnEngineer
1979MatchboxMatchboxEngineer
1979The DamnedMachine Gun EtiquetteEngineer

1980s

YearArtistTitleContribution
1980Planet 10NightEngineer
1980NightLong DistanceEngineer
1980City BoyHeads Are RollingEngineer, audio engineer
1980Desmond DekkerBlack and DekkerEngineer
1981City BoyIt's PersonalEngineer
1981Def LeppardHigh 'n' DryEngineer
1982Sniff 'n' the TearsRide Blue DivideProducer, engineer, mixing engineer
1982A Flock of SeagullsA Flock of SeagullsEngineer
1983Q-FeelQ-FeelEngineer
1983Def LeppardPyromaniaEngineer
1983Diamond HeadCanterburyProducer, engineer, audio engineer
1984Thomas DolbyThe Flat EarthMixing engineer
1984DevoShoutMixing engineer
1984BerlinLove LifeMixing engineer
1984The CarsHeartbeat CityMixing engineer
1985Prefab SproutSteve McQueenAudio engineer, mixing engineer
1985Joni MitchellDog Eat DogProducer, audio engineer, mixing engineer
1985Kim CarnesBarking at AirplanesMixing engineer
1986Benjamin OrrThe LaceProducer, audio engineer, mixing engineer
1986Lone JusticeShelterMixing engineer
1986BerlinCount Three & PrayMixing engineer
1987Alison MoyetRaindancingMixing engineer, associate producer
1987Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersLet Me Up Mixing engineer
1987Def LeppardHysteriaMixing engineer
1988ScorpionsSavage AmusementMixing engineer
1988Prefab SproutFrom Langley Park to MemphisMixing engineer
1988Joni MitchellChalk Mark in a Rain StormAudio engineer, mixing engineer

1990s

2000s

2010s