Anton Kwiatkowski is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

who began his career in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

John Arpin John Francis Oscar Arpin (3 December 1936 – 8 November 2007) was a Canadians, Canadian composer, recording artist and entertainer, best known for his work as a virtuoso ragtime pianist. Born in Port McNicoll, Ontario, Port McNicoll, Ontario A ...

: Keyboard Virtuoso" by Robert Popple, Toronto:

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, 2009, pp. 228-229,
.

Beginnings in England: 1969–1977

From 1969 to 1977, Kwiatkowski worked as producer/engineer for

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, recording with the

London Philharmonic The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, New Philharmonia, English Chamber, Hallé and Scottish National Orchestras. Many of the productions during this time, including several

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

productions, were recorded at EMI's

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

. The 1970s also saw regular collaborations with

Jazz guitarist Jazz guitarists are guitarists who play jazz using an approach to chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist ( rhythm guitar) and soloist in small and large ...

Denny Wright for EMI's Music for Pleasure record label.

Work in Canada: CBC 1977–1999

In 1977, Kwiatkowski was invited to come to Canada to upgrade the recording quality of the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

's in-house

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, where he eventually spent over two decades as a Senior Recording Producer. The CBC's SM5000 label, featuring artists from across Canada, was launched in 1981 to showcase his new recordings, which met with immediate critical success. Since arriving in Canada, Kwiatkowski has worked with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Among

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

experts and critics, he is widely considered to be one of Canada's leading recording engineers and producers,"Holst In Toronto" by

Edward Greenfield Edward Harry Greenfield OBE (3 July 1928 – 1 July 2015) was an English music critic and broadcaster. Early life Edward Greenfield was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. His father, Percy Greenfield, was a manager in a labour exchange, while his ...

, in ''Gramophone'', 1986, Volume 64, p. 248. wit
Wholenote Magazine
calling him "a celebrity

tonmeister Tonmeister is most often found as a job description in the music and recording industries. It describes a person who is a sound master (a literal translation of the German word): a person who creates recordings or broadcasts of music who is both d ...

". In particular, Kwiatkowski receives praise for his sophisticated microphone techniques,Joel Flegler in ''Fanfare'', 1984, Vol. 7, Issues 3-4, p. 255. his attention to details of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

, his ability to capture the intricacies of individual instruments,''Music Magazine''
published by Barrett & Colgrass, 1985, Volumes 8-9, p. 36. and his intuition in identifying superior sounding

acoustic space Room acoustics is a subfield of acoustics dealing with the behaviour of sound in enclosed or partially-enclosed spaces. The architectural details of a room influences the behaviour of sound waves within it, with the effects varying by frequency. ...

s. His role in the final quality of productions is acknowledged regularly in ways similar to Flegler:

For quality of sound and soundness of quality-control this ... is in a class with ... industry-standard-setting productions. I usually don't pay much attention to producers of records in my reviews but since the liner notes of this ... (and others in this "SM5000 Series") credit producer Anton Kwiatkowski's "award-winning" microphone techniques, and the results are so unfailingly excellent as to be thoroughly identifiable with his work, his name deserves mention.

Freelance Work: 1981–present

Kwiatkowski currently works as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

producer/engineer and as such has recorded fo
Analekta
Angel Records (EMI), ASV, BIS, Chandos, EBS,

Fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

Hungaroton Hungaroton is the oldest record and music publisher company in Hungary. Hungaroton was founded in 1951, when its only competitors in the Hungarian music market were record labels like Melodiya, Supraphon and from other socialist countries. Pre ...

Hyperion Hyperion may refer to: Greek mythology * Hyperion (Titan), one of the twelve Titans * ''Hyperion'', a byname of the Sun, Helios * Hyperion of Troy or Yperion, son of King Priam Science * Hyperion (moon), a moon of the planet Saturn * ''Hyp ...

IBS

IMP IMP or imp may refer to: * Imp, a fantasy creature Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Imp (She-Ra), a character in ''She-Ra: Princess of Power'' * Imp a character in '' Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony'' * Imp, a character in the '' Clan ...

MarquisOpening Day Entertainment
Pro Arte, RCA, Sefel Records, Sony Classical,

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

and Unicorn-Kanchana. Popple again:

Kwiatkowski is unquestionably a Canadian recording-engineer star. Kwiatkowski's recordings of John Arpin were released on four labels: Fanfare, Intersound, Sony and Marquis. A later partnership between John and Anton, called Johnathon Productions (their names combined, an Arpin idea), was formed to license material to record labels.

Based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Kwiatkowski provides remote and in-house studio recording as well as

digital editing Digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital ...

and mastering services. He also accommodates audition sessions and re-mastering of older material. Kwiatkowski has received two

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nominations for "Recording Engineer of the Year" in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

Discography

A comprehensive Kwiatkowski discography listing over 900 titles spanning nearly half a century of recording and production work is available o
Allmusic

Awards

* 6

East Coast Music Awards The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mus ...

*
Indie Award
* 21 Juno Awards * 100 Juno Nominations

References

External links

Official Website

Discography on Allmusic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwiatkowski, Anton Living people Canadian record producers Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)