Tony Visconti
Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward "Tony" Viscontiis an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His lengthiest involvement with any artist is with David Bowie: intermittently from Bowie's second album in 1969 to the 2016 release Blackstar, Visconti produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusic Producer
Date of Birth24 April 1944
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
You could make some great sounds with technology. That's what recording is all about. What happens in the studio is very magical, and should be, in my opinion.
But some great records are are being made with today's technology and there are still great artists among us. Likewise there are artists today who are so reliant on modern technology, they wouldn't have emerged when recording was more organic.
Some people do rely too much on technology. Look, technology is wonderful and I love it. When I was in the UK and I had hit records I would also have a high tax bill at the end of the year, and that would be the time to buy up all the technology - it was write offs.
I like to work with people who have a sense of putting a song over, and can sing in tune, and with passion. With technology you can polish a turd, but there's still no button you can press for passion.
I could never have a better teacher in those days than my father.
I also mixed David Bowie's Young Americans album in 5.1 earlier this year and it will be available very soon. Even the original stereo mixes have been re-mastered and sound amazingly good, better than ever, in fact!
Pop was initially ignored as a moneymaker by the recording industry. In the seventies they were still relying on Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett for their big hits. You know, most of the budget for the record companies in those days went to the classical department - and those were big budget albums.
I think the whole obsession with old gear is completely overblown. You don't need old-fashioned gear to make a great-sounding record. You don't even need [analog] tape.
Towards the end of the seventies pop was gaining the momentum and respectability was very high with groups like Yes and Queen who were making "classical" rock records. They were also bringing in big bucks. So the eighties became the "bottom line" decade.
Oh, it was so hard to leave Paris, just about my favorite city in the world.
The object is to make a great record and you have to do whatever it takes.
I am flying back to New York as I write this. I will never forget these wonderful 35 days and I would go back to Copenhagen in a heartbeat to work there again.
I kind of liked the method of the seventies where they would throw a little bit of money at a hundred different groups - not millions of dollars per group, but, you know, a few thousand. Throw them in the studio, and if five of those groups came out with a hit record it would be money well spent.
Since my teen years I was interested in martial arts.