Christopher Andrew Tsangarides (17 August 1956 – 6 January 2018) was a British

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

, and mixer of Greek Cypriot origin. He was best known for his work with many heavy metal artists, including

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. The band has at times been called one of the most influential European heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Its first ...

Anvil An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually Forging, forged or Steel casting, cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are massive because the hi ...

, Angra,

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Tygers of Pan Tang. Tsangarides worked with many pop and alternative artists as well, including

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

, UK Decay , Tom Jones, Concrete Blonde, and

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, was a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...

Early life

Tsangarides was born in

Famagusta Famagusta, also known by several other names, is a city located on the eastern coast of Cyprus. It is located east of the capital, Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime ...

, Cyprus. He learned to play piano as a child and studied trumpet at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, before studying economics at college.

Career

Tsangarides 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. Initially, he worked there as a tape operator and his first job as sound engineer was on

's second album '' Sad Wings of Destiny'' in 1976. 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. In that period he engineered and mixed albums of new wave acts, such as

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

's '' Obscure Alternatives'' (1978), and

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

releases of Colosseum II and

Brand X Brand X were a British jazz rock band formed in London in 1974. They were initially active until 1980, followed by reformations between 1992–1999 and 2016–2021. Despite sometimes being considered to be a Phil Collins side project (due t ...

. Tsangarides befriended Colosseum II guitarist

, who asked him to produce his solo album '' Back on the Streets'' (1978), which was Tsangarides's first job as producer. The song " Parisienne Walkways", sung on the album by Thin Lizzy's

Phil Lynott Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the co-founder, lead vocalist, bassist, and primary songwriter for the hard rock band Thin Lizzy. He was known for his distinctive ...

, was a hit in the UK. Tsangarides continued working with Moore on live albums and produced '' Back to the Blues'' in 2001. When Morgan Studios 3 and 4 were acquired by Zomba Management in 1980 and rechristened Battery Studios, 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. During the 1980s and up to the 1990s, Tsangarides became notable on the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

and heavy metal scene for the quality of his job and for having produced signature albums, such as

's '' Metal on Metal'' in 1982,

's acclaimed final studio release '' Thunder and Lightning'' in 1983 and the Grammy nominated ''

Painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, antalgic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used for pain management. Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in s ...

'' by Judas Priest in 1990. He worked in those years with

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

, Y&T, Tygers of Pan Tang,

, Sinner, King Diamond,

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

, and produced also Bruce Dickinson's first solo album '' Tattooed Millionaire'' (1990). Beside his work with metal bands, Tsangarides recorded songs for artists of other musical genres, like singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading, pop star Tom Jones, goth rockers

the Lords of the New Church The Lords of the New Church were a British-American rock music, rock band. A Supergroup (music), supergroup, the line-up originally consisted of four musicians from 1970s punk rock, punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators (ex-th ...

Killing Joke Killing Joke were an English rock music, rock band formed in Notting Hill, London, in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Killing Joke ...

and keyboardist

Jan Hammer Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television an ...

. In 1987, he remixed the song " Never Let Me Down Again" by new wave band

for release as a single. The 1990s saw Tsangarides still at work with metal bands like Exodus, Overkill, Judas Priest again with the album ''Painkiller'', Japanese band

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as the "attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The relat ...

and guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen, but he also produced for British

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

act

the Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980. After achieving early underground fame, the band experienced a commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s, sustaining their success until the early 1990s, when they halted th ...

and the

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

groups

the Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, was a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...

and Concrete Blonde. For the latter band, he also produced and engineered the hit single "

Joey Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horace ...

" in 1990. 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. 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. He later opened another studio called The Dump in Kenley, Surrey, which operated until January 2006. Among others,

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

, Leanne Harte, Winters Bane and Glyder recorded there. 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. The Strawbs,

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, ...

, 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 Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...

) and Alex Hill (son of Judas Priest's Ian Hill), recorded there in June 2007. Tsangarides is featured in

Sacha Gervasi Alexander Simon "Sacha" Gervasi''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (; born 1966) is a British director, screenwriter and former journalist. Early life Gervasi was born in London. His mother ...

'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. Between 2010 and 2013, Tsangarides collaborated with th
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. The first release on the new label was ''Normalityville Horror'' by Spit Like This on 21 May. Tsangarides played guitar, performed live, wrote songs and produced his last ever album with the metal band More.

Death

He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

on 6 January 2018, aged 61.

Legacy

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. 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.

Bands worked with

Source: * The Amorettes * Angra *

* Aqualung * Joan Armatrading * Barón Rojo * Biomechanical * Bitches Sin * Black Acid Souls *

Blanco Diablo

Blind Tiger
* Kevin Borich *

Briar Rose Briar Rose may refer to: Folklore * "Little Briar Rose", also called "Sleeping Beauty", a folk tale originally recorded by the Brothers Grimm Characters * Briar Rose, a pseudonym used by Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Princess Aurora in Walt Disney's ...

* Broon * Ethan Brosh * Capital Sun * Chemicals of Democracy * Colosseum II * The Comsat Angels * Concrete Blonde * Sara Craig * Crowning Glory * Dave Cousins * Sara Craig * Delfins *

* Desolation Angels * Bruce Dickinson * More * Exodus * Fear of God * Fortnox ( Epic) *

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from Crouch End in North London. She has appeared on reality television shows and has occasionally worked as a television presenter and actress. Fox beg ...

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...

* Girlschool * Glyder * Hardwicke Circus *

* Hex A D *

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic music, electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their t ...

* Incinery * Jailcat *

* Tom Jones *

* King Diamond * King Lizard *

The Lords of the New Church The Lords of the New Church were a British-American rock music, rock band. A Supergroup (music), supergroup, the line-up originally consisted of four musicians from 1970s punk rock, punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators (ex-th ...

* Magnum * Yngwie Malmsteen *

Mama's Boys Mama's Boys were a 1980s hard rock/heavy metal music, heavy metal group from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The band includes the three McManus brothers Pat, a.k.a. "The Professor", (guitar, fiddle), John (bass, vocals), and Tommy (dru ...

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

* Matt Mays and El Torpedo * Nick Miller * Mimas * Money *

* N.EX.T * Nightlord *

* Gilbert O'Sullivan * Overkill *

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

*Prowler (band) * The Prime Movers *

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

* The Quireboys * Rock Goddess * Revival * Savage Messiah * Shin Hae-chul/Monocrom * Sinner *

The Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980. After achieving early underground fame, the band experienced a commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s, sustaining their success until the early 1990s, when they halted th ...

* Slave Raider *

Spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

* Spit Like This *

* Stella Maris * Stonebringer *

Strawbs The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hi ...

* John Sykes * Therapy? *

* ThisGirl * Barbara Thompson *

Tigertailz Tigertailz are a Welsh glam metal band from Cardiff. Their 1990 album '' Bezerk'' made the Top 40 on the UK Albums Chart and contained the hit singles "Love Bomb Baby" and "Heaven". The band reformed in 2005. History Formation and early year ...

* TNT * Tokyo Blade *

* Tygers of Pan Tang * Tytan (band) * UFO * UK Decay * Virgil & the Accelerators * Winters Bane * Wretched Soul * Y&T

References

External links

Chris Tsangarides on Encyclopedia Metallum

Chris Tsangarides on Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsangarides, Chris 1956 births 2018 deaths British audio engineers British record producers English people of Greek Cypriot descent Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Deaths from pneumonia in the United Kingdom Musicians from Oxfordshire People from Banbury 20th-century British businesspeople