Charles Richard Plotkin (born September 8, 1942) is a

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, reproductio ...

and producer, best known for his work with

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Recording engineer

Plotkin has recorded, engineered,

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

ed and produced albums by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and many other artists, starting with The Floating House Band in 1972. Just before hooking up with Springsteen for the mixing of "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", Plotkin produced the critically acclaimed "Cocaine Drain" album by The Cowsills. Among Plotkin's major achievements as an engineer, according to Springsteen official biographer

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of '' Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as '' Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone'', and has ...

, was the mastering of Bruce Springsteen's ''

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

'' album. Springsteen recorded the album as a set of demonstration tapes on an inexpensive home cassette recorder. According to Marsh, the task of turning the raw, unprocessed

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ott ...

(which had spent weeks in Springsteen's pants pocket) into a professional-sounding vinyl LP was a daunting one, and a major technical accomplishment. He has been credited as a producer on several Springsteen albums.

Film and record producer

Plotkin was credited as producer for the 1995 movie ''

Mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...

'

and produced the soundtrack albums for several films including '' Dead Man Walking (film), Dead Man Walking'', ''

Vietnam, Long Time Coming ''Vietnam, Long Time Coming'' is a 1998 documentary directed by Jerry Blumenthal, Peter Gilbert, and Gordon Quinn and distributed by Kartemquin Films. The film follows a 16-day, 1100 mile bicycle expedition through once war-torn Northern and Sout ...

'', ''

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

'', and ''

Jerry Maguire ''Jerry Maguire'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama sports film written, produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe; it stars Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Regina King. Produced in part by James L. Brooks, it was ins ...

''.

Other appearances

Plotkin was also featured in the 1996 documentary '' Blood Brothers: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band'', which documented an

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

recording session the preceding year.

External links

* * Allmusic info Living people 1942 births {{music-producer-stub