Martin Birch facts for kids

Martin Birch (born December 27, 1948 – died August 9, 2020) was a famous British music producer and sound engineer. He was known for helping create albums for many British rock bands. These included Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, and Iron Maiden.

Life and Work

Martin Birch was born in Woking, Surrey, in the United Kingdom. He started his career in music in 1968. He worked as a sound engineer for bands like Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac, and Deep Purple. He helped make eleven albums for Deep Purple.

In 1980, he started working with Black Sabbath. He produced their album Heaven and Hell. The band liked his work, especially his clear sound.

Martin Birch then began a long time working with Iron Maiden. Starting in 1981, he produced and engineered their album Killers. After this, he mostly worked only with Iron Maiden for a while.

He also produced and engineered albums for other artists. Many of these were connected to Deep Purple, like Rainbow, Whitesnake, and solo projects by band members like Roger Glover and Jon Lord. He even played acoustic guitar on Fleetwood Mac's album Mystery to Me in 1973. The Deep Purple song "Hard Lovin' Man" from their album Deep Purple in Rock was dedicated to him.

Martin Birch stopped working in music in 1992. His last album was Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark. This was the tenth album he produced for them. He appeared in Iron Maiden's music video for "Holy Smoke" before he retired.

Martin Birch passed away on August 9, 2020, when he was 71 years old. Many musicians, including David Coverdale and members of Iron Maiden, shared their sadness and respect for him.

Albums He Worked On

Martin Birch helped create many important rock and heavy metal albums. Here are some of the bands and albums he worked on:

Fleetwood Mac

• 1969 – Then Play On (engineer)
• 1970 – Kiln House (engineer)
• 1973 – Mystery to Me (producer, engineer, guitar)

Deep Purple

• 1970 – Deep Purple in Rock (engineer)
• 1972 – Machine Head (engineer)
• 1974 – Burn (engineer, mixing)
• 1975 – Come Taste the Band (co-producer, engineer, mixing)

Rainbow

• 1975 – Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (co-producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1976 – Rising (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1978 – Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (producer, engineer, mixing)

Whitesnake

• 1978 – Trouble (producer)
• 1980 – Ready an' Willing (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1981 – Come an' Get It (producer, engineer, mixing)

Black Sabbath

• 1980 – Heaven and Hell (producer, engineer)
• 1981 – Mob Rules (producer, engineer)

Blue Öyster Cult

• 1980 – Cultösaurus Erectus (producer, engineer)
• 1981 – Fire of Unknown Origin (producer, engineer)

Iron Maiden

• 1981 – Killers (producer, engineer)
• 1982 – The Number of the Beast (producer, engineer)
• 1984 – Powerslave (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1988 – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (producer, engineer, mixing)
• 1992 – Fear of the Dark (producer, engineer, mixing)

See also

In Spanish: Martin Birch para niños