Bob Clearmountain

Bob Clearmountain mixed so many top albums during the 1980s from the top performers of the time such as Bryan Adams, Huey Lewis and the News, INXS, Crowded House, Bruce Springsteen and many many more. He also is credited for production duties by artists such as Jonatha Brooke, The Church, Paul McCartney, The Silencers, Hall & Oates, The Pretenders, Simple Minds and The Who.

The stand out albums for me from back then were Bryan Adams ‘Reckless‘ and towards the end of the 1980s, a little band from Scotland called Deacon Blue released their album  ‘When the world knows your name‘ which spawned a world wide hit with ‘Real Gone Kid‘. Both of those  killer albums for me are brilliant mixes and  define Bob’s mixing style, certainly through that period.

Other great examples include his work with Huey Lewis & The News’ Sports album, The Divinyls’ Desperate album and The Church’s Of Skins and Heart album. There are simply so many top albums of the period that Bob Clearmountain had a hand in the success of, the list is simply too long to mention here. Through it all, he remains a very humble person given his huge legacy.

Bob Clearmountain has been nominated for four Grammy awards and won a Latin Grammy award in 2007 for Best Male Vocal album for his work on Ricky Martin’s MTV Unplugged album. He has also won seven TEC Awards for “Best Recording Engineer”, two for “Best Broadcast Engineer”, one special “Les Paul Award” and a “Monitor Award” for the Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge pay-per-view show. And he has won one Emmy Award!

More than that though, he has earned the respect of his peers and continues to work for the biggest names in the music business. Many followed in his foot steps, including Chris Lord Alge who openly admits his admiration for Bob Clearmountain. Here are the effects that help him produce those spectacular mixes.