Mack

[QUOTE]

[b]YourValentine wrote: [/b]

Mack did not "leave". AKOM was the last album that was partly produced in the Musicland Studio, Munich (Mack) - other songs were produced in the Mountain Studio, Montreux (David Richards). After AKOM the band did not return to Munich, so they did not work with Mack again.

[/QUOTE]
That seems to be the answer...

When you work with a producer, you're not compelled to keep working with him/her for the rest of projects. Mack was contacted by John and Roger when they were looking for a new direction (which is also why they stopped working with Roy, there were no rows either), and Munich became their home for early-to-mid eighties. Of course, for albums and songs not done in Munich (Flash, Under Pressure, Staying Power), Mack still produced.

When 'Magic' sessions began Mack was still their man, and during the recordings of the album both John and Freddie remained somewhat loyal to him. Brian and Roger, otoh, switched to David Richards for a number of reasons - location (most of their work was in Switzerland), history (Richards had engineered, produced, written, arranged and performed in Rog's solo albums) and the fact his approach was, according to them, more suitable for the kind of sound they wanted in the film.

By the time they began the post-Magic projects (Back to the Light, Barcelona, Shove It), they'd grown fonder of their Montreux studios, so they remained there. Since David was already their in-house producer it made sense working with him, as well as flying him to London for the times they recorded at The Townhouse. And by the time they started 'The Miracle', they just continued with that formula, there's no mystery about that.

Both Mack and Queen had moved on, which doesn't mean they'd made him redundant. And indeed there are many differences between both styles of producing. Btw, if 'The Works' and 'Hot Space' are way below Queen standards it's not Mack's fault, but Queen's.

As for 'Made in Heaven': [i]It's a Beautiful Day[/i] was originally (piano and lead vocal) recorded at Musicland Studios during 'The Game' sessions. [i]Let Me Live[/i] also comes (Freddie's parts) from Mack-produced material. Same for both songs from Mercury's solo album.

Great post, Sebastian.  Thanks!

Yeah, thank-you everyone for the posts. =)

[QUOTE]

[b]Sebastian wrote: [/b]

When you work with a producer, you're not compelled to keep working with him/her for the rest of projects. Mack was contacted by John and Roger when they were looking for a new direction (which is also why they stopped working with Roy, there were no rows either), and Munich became their home for early-to-mid eighties. Of course, for albums and songs not done in Munich (Flash, Under Pressure, Staying Power), Mack still produced.

When 'Magic' sessions began Mack was still their man, and during the recordings of the album both John and Freddie remained somewhat loyal to him. Brian and Roger, otoh, switched to David Richards for a number of reasons - location (most of their work was in Switzerland), history (Richards had engineered, produced, written, arranged and performed in Rog's solo albums) and the fact his approach was, according to them, more suitable for the kind of sound they wanted in the film.

By the time they began the post-Magic projects (Back to the Light, Barcelona, Shove It), they'd grown fonder of their Montreux studios, so they remained there. Since David was already their in-house producer it made sense working with him, as well as flying him to London for the times they recorded at The Townhouse. And by the time they started 'The Miracle', they just continued with that formula, there's no mystery about that.

Both Mack and Queen had moved on, which doesn't mean they'd made him redundant. And indeed there are many differences between both styles of producing. Btw, if 'The Works' and 'Hot Space' are way below Queen standards it's not Mack's fault, but Queen's.

As for 'Made in Heaven': [i]It's a Beautiful Day[/i] was originally (piano and lead vocal) recorded at Musicland Studios during 'The Game' sessions. [i]Let Me Live[/i] also comes (Freddie's parts) from Mack-produced material. Same for both songs from Mercury's solo album.
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Wonderful!!! Thanks. You're a precious asset of Queenzone. Especially now, in this time of crisis. :)

Well, I said that already, I think, but if time allowed and you felt it were a good idea, you could maybe gather some of your posts here, do a quick revision and so on, and make them available as entries or sections on your website. 

You've answered so well too so many questions that are often made that I think you could make a kind of fun, interactive FAQ there on the website. Something informative and well-spirited.

Just a thought, I like your website a lot.  

Thanks!

Good idea, maybe it'll bear fruit sooner or later.

Here is a excerpt from a Mack interview on iZotope.com. It does not directly answer your question, but it has some nice info in it.

[b]Tell us how you came to start working with the band Queen?[/b]

A fluke. I was working in Los Angeles with Gary Moore at the time. One
day I had lunch with Giorgio Moroder. He mentioned rumors that I was
supposed to go to Munich to work with Queen. Which was news to me.
After calling the studios in Munich I was in a dilemma. Nobody knew
anything about the sessions. So I figured [I would] take the trip.
Worst case - a week and a ticket lost - no pain no gain. Luckily it
worked out pretty good.

[b]By the time you started working with Queen, they were a band with a very
well-defined sound and approach. How did you fit into Queen as the
"newcomer" to the band in the recording studio?[/b]

Not at all. They were set in their ways like pensioners. Their credo was,
"this is how we are used to doing things." For instance editing songs
together on 2-inch tape is always a little "iffy". Moving edits ends
quickly in a tape looking like a zebra crossing which can cause
problems passing the heads, losing top-end. And nobody had two or three
24 track machines around for assembly and offset editing, ending up two
or three generations down. Anyway, it took a long time convincing the
gentlemen to entertain the idea of punching in the whole band during
tracking. You punch in doing vocals right? Yeah, but...hmmmm I don't
know...how do we know where we are? You are wearing headphones right
now while you are tracking, right? After that proposition went down
well and was approved as "not too bad", the work flow became much
easier. I had the advantage of being a fast decision maker compared to
the band. I could always try things while people were pondering
delicate details.

[b]What was your working relationship with the band like?[/b]

Quite relaxed. The band came off a tour of Japan and had some time to spend
before going back to England. So it just fell into the "right time,
right place" category. The project did not start out as an album. It
was a bunch of one- and two-week sessions. The first track we attempted
was Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Freddie picked up an
acoustic guitar and said, "quick, let's do this before Brian comes."
About six hours later the track was done. The guitar solo was an
overdub later on. Brian still hates me for making him use a Telecaster
for the part. It was released as a pre-album single and went to number
one. That obviously helped a great deal to inspire confidence and the
working relationship tremendously.

[b]What do you feel you brought to their music that was new or distinctively yours?[/b]

Bigger, wider, better I guess. Trying to experiment more, using technology
creatively. "Another One Bites the Dust", for instance, is built on a
drum loop. There was the main riff and a bunch of backwards piano
notes, cymbal crashes and claps, some guitar fragments. Stuff everybody
has in their sample library these days. It would be comparatively easy
to build this thing today, if you had the right muse in the first
place. The idea was less is more, and it worked pretty well. The band
would have never contemplated going about recording in this manner,
ever.

[b]One of the defining characteristics of Queen was its eclecticism - Queen songs could be
practically anything from a kitschy novelty number to a pounding arena
anthem. What challenges did that present you as a producer?
[/b]
Diplomacy. There were two camps of song writing: Freddie and Brian. Fred was easy.
We thought along similar lines and it took him fifteen to twenty
minutes to come up with something absolutely brilliant. Brian on the
other hand would come up with a great idea, but get completely lost in
insignificant details after the first rush of creativity. Keeping the
focus and direction was difficult at the best of times with this
mixture of personalities. Getting a track finished was the prime goal,
not the flavor
.
[b]Is there a Queen track or album of which you are particularly proud?
[/b]
The album Hotspace. It was about nine months ahead of its time. Very underrated, really hi
tech. Hardly anybody played on it in real time. [It was] still all
analogue. A commendable effort. Quite a few things were modeled after
some of the stylistics of Hotspace tracks.

[b]Your sound as a producer carried over to other projects as well – for
instance Billy Squire's single "The Stroke" seemed to live in a similar
sonic world as Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." Can you tell us
some of the nuts and bolts of what gives a track the distinctive "Mack"
sound?[/b]

There might be some nuts. No bolts though. There is not really conceptual modeling or a
mold of any kind going on. Sometimes I worry that stuff may sound weak
and insipid. Consequently I am always torn between a lot of space on
one side and complete overkill on the other.Not necessarily left and
right. Making everything louder than everything else was always one of
my fancies. Of course all in the best possible taste so you don't
really notice it. Only when you are trying to analyze what makes it
tick, you realize that it can't be done without breaking the law.

I'm not sure on Mack as a Producer - The Game is fantastic. Hot Space sounds great and is technically brilliant but not all my cup of tea musically, and The Works sounds awful!!!

I don't know why they didn't/haven't continued working with Dave Richards - The Miracle and Innuendo are great sounding albums, and Roger has worked with Richards on all his solo stuff too.  Brian also got Richard to mix the 46664 stuff so there's no loss of contact between them professionally.  Dave Richards is, in my opinion, far better than Justin Shirley-Smith, who is now a full time QP employee (appointed by Brian), and his mixes and production are, to be kind, limp and unexciting sonically.

Interesting interview. Thanks alot!

I love The Works.  And the Mack interview was really good, thanks!