Michael Wagener announced his retirement on his 72nd birthday, on 25 April 2021.
"Michael Wagener (born 25 April 1951) is a German former music producer, mixer, and engineer from Hamburg, Germany best known for his work with many top hard rock and heavy metal bands in the late 1980s. He is particularly renowned for his multi-amping and re-amping techniques. Wagener's works have sold over 90 million albums worldwide."
(Source: Wikipedia)
As iconic German music producer, mixer, and engineer Michael Wagener celebrated his 70th birthday on 25 April 2021, he also announced his retirement with the following statement:
"Hello everybody. I have now been active in the music business for over 50 years and I think it’s time to retire and get out and catch up on some vacations. I have sold the studio and Double Trouble Productions does no longer exist as an official company.
I had an amazing time and met a ton of wonderful people and I am thankful for having been able to work with such great musicians and create such wonderful music.
Now it’s time to see some more of the world.
My website will eventually disappear. No more mixes, productions and workshops. The studio has been sold and except for some guitars, amps and minimal studio gear there is not much left here.
I want to thank you all for allowing me to live a great life and to do what I love. I am looking at a future of lots of traveling; it has been a great trip so far."
"Michael Wagener was the original guitarist for Accept. At the age of 18, he was drafted into the German army, thereby necessitating his departure from the band. After completing his military service, Wagener started work as an audio engineer in Hamburg in 1972. After befriending vocalist Don Dokken, Wagener moved to Los Angeles, and the rest, as they say, is history. Michael Wagener has produced and/or mixed albums by Accept, Alice Cooper, Dokken, Extreme, Great White, Hammerfall, Megadeth, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Overkill, Poison, Skid Row, Stryper, Testament, Warrant, W.A.S.P., and White Lion, amongst others." (Source: BraveWords.com)
"Michael Wagener believes that "psychology is a big part of getting great results out of musicians." He also argues that the work of a real producer is sometimes undermined or ignored by some bands who feel they can produce their albums on their own once they work with a producer. Comments Wagener:
"Some [bands] are very open minded and you can make suggestions about musical changes or ideas and they will pick it up and make it their own. Others don't want a lot of outside influences, because they are scared it would take away from their creativity or credit. In those cases, if you want to achieve a certain result, you have to plant a "creative seed" which, in a few days will turn into the result you are looking for, but it still seems like it was all the idea of the musician him/herself. The downside, of course is, that the musician looks at it as if he did ALL the work and the producer "didn't really do anything". The logical next step for those kind of musicians is to produce their next album themselves, their ego telling them they don't need a producer and, like in the above mentioned case, they might fall flat on their face, and come up with an album that doesn't sell anywhere near what the previous one did."
(Source: Wikipedia)