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Similar Dennis Davis, Carlos Alomar, George Murray, Earl Slick, Roy Bittan | ||
Harry Maslin is an American Record producer, Recording/Mixing Engineer, and Studio Owner/Designer.
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In the mid-1970s he engineered No. 1 hits for Barry Manilow ("Mandy"), and Dionne Warwick & The Spinners ("Then Came You"). As a producer his chart hits include David Bowie's "Fame" (US #1) in 1975 & "Golden Years" (US #10) in 1976, and seven singles in the Top 5 for Air Supply from 1980–82, including "The One That You Love" (US #1).
Career
Harry Maslin was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. He began his career in music by mixing live sound at the famous Electric Factory in Philly. It was there that he found himself mixing some of the most important acts of the day, including Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Moby Grape, Ten Years After, BB King, Moody Blues, Buddy Guy, Grateful Dead, Procol Harum, The Chambers Brothers, Frank Zappa, Janis Joplin and many more. He began his recording career at Regent Sound Studios in Phila, and later joined Regent's New York facility. There he was able to learn and practice every aspect of the recording business, including studio and console design, disc cutting, recording and mixing of all types of music, and studio management.
After two years at Regent he moved to the famous Hit Factory Recording Studios as chief recording engineer, and recorded albums with many well-known artists, including James Taylor, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick, and Bonnie Raitt.
Harry's career as a producer began at The Hit Factory, with the co-production of Bonnie Raitt's "Streetlights" album. Following a move to the Record Plant Studios in New York, he was asked by David Bowie to assume production and engineering responsibilities for the "Young Americans" album. This included producing David's landmark Number One chart single, "Fame". Rejoining the new Hit Factory management as chief engineer, Harry produced David Bowie's "Station to Station" album (considered Bowie's best by many publications) which included the hit tracks "Golden Years" and "TVC15". Both of the albums were immensely successful.
Harry was next contacted by the renowned Clive Davis to produce two chart topper albums for the Bay City Rollers (including the hit single "You Made Me Believe in Magic" ), "Don't Cry Out Loud" a signature hit for Melissa Manchester, and an album for Eric Carmen all big money makers for the company. Clive then asked Harry to take over production of the first Air Supply album for Arista Records, which achieved success in the form of a multi-platinum album. He was called back to produce the following two multi-platinum albums for Air Supply. Highlighted by five Top Five singles in a row "Even The Nights Are Better", "Every Woman In The World", "Here I Am", "Sweet Dreams", and "The One That You Love", making Air Supply THE most successful Pop group of all time. Air Supply's greatest hits compilation album is at present well beyond the four times platinum mark. Along with production, all of these hits are testament to a great ability to choose hit material according to Harry, that's where it all starts.
Harry proceeded to open Image Recording Studios in Hollywood, creating a world class, state-of-the-art recording facility. Over the years, Image has played host to mixer Chris Lord-Alge, Madonna, Faith Hill, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, Guns 'n Roses, Leonard Cohen, Tina Turner (including her hit single, "I Don't Want to Fight"), Carlene Carter, Fleetwood Mac, Ray Charles, Melissa Etheridge, No Doubt, Janet Jackson, Lisa Loeb, Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Branch, Black Crowes, Cher, Sheryl Crow, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Jewel, Butthole Surfers, Green Day (including their Grammy Record of the Year Award for "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"), among many, many other recording stars. Additionally, Image Recording mixed the music for many hit Hollywood movies including "Lethal Weapon" and "The Hunt for Red October".
Among other engineering projects at Image Recording, Harry worked on tracks for Jennifer Warren and Leonard Cohen, as well as Michael Jackson's album "History"... A very interesting and fun project...says he.
Bringing out the best in an artist and a song are just a couple of Harry's primary talents. He also has the ears. In a recent interview (Music Connection, 4/10/06), producer/singer/songwriter Lindsay Tomasic in describing her influences is quoted as saying, "I sat next to Harry and he hipped me to EQing, and making things sound fantastic."
On a personal note, Harry says some of his favorite moments in the biz were when he had the good fortune to record Paul McCartney and John Lennon..."Before the first take, Paul looked at me and said in his Liverpudlian accent 'Just make me sound good'"...I assured him that would be easy...no further direction from Paul followed. His favorite quote from John was "The Beatles never did it that way"...Ouch!
Because of his broad range of knowledge and experience, Harry has also served as a consultant for studio builders, equipment manufacturers, engineers, producers, A&R personnel and music supervisors.
In 2005, Image Recording was forced to give up its lease and close. Harry has since built a digital ProTools studio for use by both he and his well-known Producer/Songwriter wife, Michele Vice-Maslin, and her company Sweetersongs.
In 2008 Harry was again working with David Bowie mixing and re-mixing.
Bowie
From August to December 1974 David Bowie recorded his new Philly soul-inspired album at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound and New York's Record Plant. Bowie took an opportunity to collaborate with John Lennon. Bowie called Maslin and asked the young engineer to produce. In January 1975 at Electric Lady studios Maslin oversaw the recording of "Fame" with Lennon on guest vocals, as well as a cover of Lennon's own song "Across the Universe". These sessions completed the hit album Young Americans. This album reached UK #2, US #9, and the single "Fame" was US #1.
Bowie asked Maslin to produce his next album, Station to Station, in Los Angeles. The album was a critical and commercial success, charting at US #3 and UK #5.
Other Engineering Projects
Harry engineered successful recordings by James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Barry Manilow, and Dionne Warwick & The Spinners, among others. Hits he worked on included the album Barry Manilow II (US #9), and its US #1 single "Mandy"; Warwick & The Spinners' 1974 single "Then Came You" (US #1) (produced by Thom Bell), plus Carly Simon's Hotcakes album (US #3), and her single "Mockingbird" (US #5)...as well as many others.
Personal life
Maslin is married to Emmy award winning songwriter and producer Michèle Vice-Maslin.