# Mike Shipley

Michael Shipley (7 October 1956 – 25 July 2013) was an Australian mixing engineer, audio engineer, and record producer. Shipley's music career spanned more than 30 years – mostly working in Los Angeles. At the Grammy Awards of 2012 he won the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category for his joint work on Paper Airplane (April 2011), by Alison Krauss and Union Station. Shipley died in July 2013, aged 56, of an apparent suicide.

## Life and career

Michael Shipley was born on 7 October 1956, in Sydney, Australia; as a teenager he moved with his family to London. He became interested in a recording career while at school in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. He later recalled, "One of my teachers at grammar school there was a musician who asked me to come down and sing on a record he was making. I walked into this thing called the recording studio, and it just blew my mind. It was, 'This is home,' and I knew instantly and from that point on that all I wanted to do was to work there." Shipley returned to Australia and completed secondary education at Camberwell Grammar School (class of '74) in Melbourne. He then returned to London, where he started as an assistant at Wessex Sound Studios and worked with Sex Pistols and Queen.
His first engineering sessions were during the punk rock explosion of the late 1970s and early 1980s and included recordings with the Damned. He worked alongside Robert John "Mutt" Lange for decades. His contemporaries at Wessex include producers Roy Thomas Baker and Chris Thomas, and engineers Tim Friese-Greene and Bill Price. Shipley also worked with Def Leppard on their albums, High 'n' Dry (July 1981), Pyromania (January 1983), Hysteria (August 1987) and Adrenalize (March 1992).
Asked to work with the Cars, Shipley relocated to Los Angeles in 1984. Shipley later relocated to Hawaii for a sabbatical, but returned to Los Angeles to work for Def Leppard, Shania Twain, The Corrs, Anberlin, Aerosmith, Maroon 5, Faith Hill, India.Arie, Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, Nickelback and Alison Krauss.

## Death

Shipley died on 25 July 2013. Cause of death, as stated on 9 August 2013 at the memorial service, was an apparent suicide.

## Discography

Recorded work credited to Shipley:

### 1970s

| Year | Artist | Title | Contribution |
| 1978 | Hawklords | 25 Years On | Engineer |
| 1979 | Matchbox | Matchbox | Engineer |
| 1979 | The Damned | Machine Gun Etiquette | Engineer |

### 1980s

| Year | Artist | Title | Contribution |
| 1980 | Planet 10 | Night | Engineer |
| 1980 | Night | Long Distance | Engineer |
| 1980 | City Boy | Heads Are Rolling | Engineer, audio engineer |
| 1980 | Desmond Dekker | Black and Dekker | Engineer |
| 1981 | City Boy | It's Personal | Engineer |
| 1981 | Def Leppard | High 'n' Dry | Engineer |
| 1982 | Sniff 'n' the Tears | Ride Blue Divide | Producer, engineer, mixing engineer |
| 1982 | A Flock of Seagulls | A Flock of Seagulls | Engineer |
| 1983 | Q-Feel | Q-Feel | Engineer |
| 1983 | Def Leppard | Pyromania | Engineer |
| 1983 | Diamond Head | Canterbury | Producer, engineer, audio engineer |
| 1984 | Thomas Dolby | The Flat Earth | Mixing engineer |
| 1984 | Devo | Shout | Mixing engineer |
| 1984 | Berlin | Love Life | Mixing engineer |
| 1984 | The Cars | Heartbeat City | Mixing engineer |
| 1985 | Prefab Sprout | Steve McQueen | Audio engineer, mixing engineer |
| 1985 | Joni Mitchell | Dog Eat Dog | Producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer |
| 1985 | Kim Carnes | Barking at Airplanes | Mixing engineer |
| 1986 | Benjamin Orr | The Lace | Producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer |
| 1986 | Lone Justice | Shelter | Mixing engineer |
| 1986 | Berlin | Count Three & Pray | Mixing engineer |
| 1987 | Alison Moyet | Raindancing | Mixing engineer, associate producer |
| 1987 | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) | Mixing engineer |
| 1987 | Def Leppard | Hysteria | Mixing engineer |
| 1988 | Scorpions | Savage Amusement | Mixing engineer |
| 1988 | Prefab Sprout | From Langley Park to Memphis | Mixing engineer |
| 1988 | Joni Mitchell | Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm | Audio engineer, mixing engineer |
| 1989 | Strangeways | Walk in the Fire | Mixing engineer |

### 1990s

| Year | Artist | Title |
| 1990 | Vixen | Rev It Up |
| 1990 | Ratt | Detonator |
| 1990 | Cheap Trick | Busted |
| 1991 | Yes | Union |
| 1991 | Joni Mitchell | Night Ride Home |
| 1992 | Shawn Colvin | Fat City |
| 1992 | Def Leppard | Adrenalize |
| 1993 | Winger | Pull |
| 1993 | Heart | Desire Walks On |
| 1994 | Richard Marx | Paid Vacation |
| 1995 | John Waite | Temple Bar |
| 1995 | Meat Loaf | Welcome to the Neighbourhood |
| 1995 | Rodney Crowell | Jewel of the South |
| 1996 | X Japan | Dahlia |
| 1997 | Down by Law | Last of the Sharpshooters |
| 1997 | Guster | Goldfly |
| 1997 | Shania Twain | Come On Over |
| 1997 | Whitesnake | Restless Heart |
| 1998 | Kevin Sharp | Love Is |
| 1999 | David Mead | The Luxury of Time |
| 1999 | Chris Botti | Slowing Down the World |
| 1999 | Ratt | Ratt |
| 1999 | Blondie | No Exit |
| 1999 | Splender | Halfway Down the Sky |
| 1999 | Enrique Iglesias | Enrique |
| 1999 | Kip Winger | Down Incognito |
| 1999 | Faith Hill | Breathe |
| 1999 | Jimmy Barnes | Love and Fear |

### 2000s

| Year | Artist | Title |
| 2000 | Catherine Wheel | Wishville |
| 2000 | Green Day | Warning |
| 2000 | Ronan Keating | Ronan |
| 2000 | The Corrs | In Blue |
| 2000 | Alecia Elliott | I'm Diggin' It |
| 2000 | Hoku | Hoku |
| 2000 | Poe | Haunted |
| 2000 | Evan and Jaron | Evan and Jaron |
| 2001 | Jessica Andrews | Who I Am |
| 2001 | Tim McGraw | Set This Circus Down |
| 2001 | Aerosmith | Just Push Play |
| 2001 | Andrew W.K. | I Get Wet |
| 2001 | The Go-Go's | God Bless The Go-Go's |
| 2001 | Trace Adkins | Chrome |
| 2001 | India Arie | Acoustic Soul |
| 2002 | Shania Twain | Up! |
| 2002 | Splender | To Whom It May Concern |
| 2002 | Tim McGraw | Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors |
| 2002 | Dana Glover | Testimony |
| 2002 | Maroon 5 | Songs About Jane |
| 2002 | Shannon McNally | Jukebox Sparrows |
| 2002 | Taxiride | Garage Mahal |
| 2002 | Laura Pausini | From the Inside |
| 2002 | Lisa Loeb | Cake and Pie |
| 2002 | Phil Vassar | American Child |
| 2003 | Marcel | You, Me and the Windshield |
| 2003 | Boyd Tinsley | True Reflections |
| 2003 | Kelly Clarkson | Thankful |
| 2003 | Terri Clark | Pain to Kill |
| 2003 | Jessica Andrews | Now |
| 2003 | Guster | Keep It Together |
| 2003 | The Format | Interventions + Lullabies |
| 2003 | Rodney Atkins | Honesty |
| 2003 | Barenaked Ladies | Everything to Everyone |
| 2003 | Josh Groban | Closer |
| 2004 | Pat McGee Band | Save Me |
| 2005 | Jack's Mannequin | Everything in Transit |
| 2005 | Baumer | Come On, Feel It |
| 2005 | Nickelback | All the Right Reasons |
| 2006 | Rock Star Supernova | Rock Star Supernova |
| 2006 | Damone | Out Here All Night |
| 2006 | Rock Kills Kid | Are You Nervous? |
| 2006 | Clay Aiken | A Thousand Different Ways |
| 2007 | The Click Five | Modern Minds and Pastimes |
| 2007 | Lillix | Inside the Hollow |
| 2007 | Anberlin | Cities |
| 2007 | Fuel | Angels & Devils |
| 2007 | Motel | 17 |
| 2008 | Blessed by a Broken Heart | Pedal to the Metal |
| 2008 | Candlebox | Into the Sun |
| 2008 | Nickelback | Dark Horse |
| 2009 | Thirty Seconds to Mars | This Is War |
| 2009 | Papa Roach | Metamorphosis |

### 2010s

| Year | Artist | Title |
| 2010 | Maroon 5 | Hands All Over |
| 2010 | Planet of the Stereos | How To Make A Telescope |
| 2010 | Sing It Loud | Everything Collide |
| 2011 | Runner Runner | Runner Runner |
| 2011 | Alison Krauss and Union Station | Paper Airplane |
| 2011 | Thomas Dolby | A Map of the Floating City |
| 2012 | 12 Stones | Beneath the Scars |
| 2013 | Keith Urban | Fuse |