Michael Richard Seth Stone (1951 – May 2002) was an English recording engineer and record producer. He worked with Queen (multiple albums), Foreigner (multiple albums), Journey (multiple albums), Toby Beau, Asia (multiple albums), Whitesnake, April Wine (multiple albums), and others.

Biography

Stone began his career as an assistant recording engineer at Abbey Road Studios in England. While still a teenager, Stone worked on some sessions for The Beatles' Beatles For Sale (1964). Later, he became a runner at Trident Studios, then worked his way up to tape operator and assistant engineer. In 1974, Stone began a long relationship with Queen when he worked with Queen's then producer, Roy Thomas Baker, to engineer the unique vocal layering for "Bohemian Rhapsody". Following Baker's departure as Queen's producer, the band hired Stone as their engineer for his expertise in over-dubbing vocals. By the early eighties, Stone had produced popular top-selling albums for both Asia and Journey. Stone was scheduled to oversee the re-mastering of the Queen catalogue when he died in 2002. Queen's Brian May wrote of Stone in a eulogy: "Mike's production style of big chorus building and hitting hard, the ability to treat vocals uniquely, and find space in a recording have influenced a generation of young producers." Stone's work productivity was limited in later years by an alcohol problem, and he died of complications from it.

Selected discography