AC/DC – Back In Black 12" Vinyl LP Album

- The thunderous 1980 comeback that redefined hard rock forever

Label & Catalognr:

Atlantic Records – ATL 50735

Media Format:

Record Format: 12" Vinyl LP Stereo
Total Album (Cover + Record) Weight: 230 g

Year & Country:

1980 – Germany

Producers:

• Robert John "Mutt" Lange – Producer
  South African–born producer whose meticulous approach shaped the crisp, powerful sound of “Back in Black.” His studio precision elevated AC/DC’s raw energy into timeless hard rock anthems.

Sound & Recording Engineers:

• Tony Platt – Recording Engineer
  Experienced British engineer who previously worked on AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” His clean and dynamic recording approach helped preserve the band’s raw energy while improving sonic clarity.
• Benji Armbrister – Assistant Engineer
  A Compass Point Studios regular, Armbrister assisted on numerous major rock and pop sessions during the late 1970s and early 1980s, contributing to the studio’s world-class reputation.
• Jack Newber – Assistant Engineer
  Supported the engineering team during the “Back in Black” sessions, ensuring precise tape operations and consistent sound capture throughout the album’s production.
• Brad Samuelsohn – Mixing Engineer
  Known for his sharp mixing on numerous rock projects, Samuelsohn brought balance and punch to the final mixes, giving “Back in Black” its polished yet powerful sound.

Recording Location:

• Compass Point Studios (Bahamas) Compass Point Studios, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the visionary owner of Island Records, stands as a pivotal and iconic institution in the realm of music production, particularly during the vibrant decades of the 1970s and 1980s. Nestled in the picturesque Bahamas, just outside Nassau, this studio emerged as a tropical oasis that not only offered a breathtaking setting but also fostered a distinctive creative atmosphere that left an indelible mark on the global music scene. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed a plethora of influential albums recorded at Compass Point Studios, spanning various genres such as rock, reggae, funk, and pop. Artists like Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Iron Maiden Talking Heads, and The Rolling Stones all left their mark on the studio, contributing to its legacy as a hub of musical innovation.
  Compass Point Studios Wiki

Mastering Location:

• Lacquer cut at Strawberry Mastering, London
  Strawberry Mastering, founded by 10cc members, became one of the UK’s premier cutting studios in the 1970s and 1980s, renowned for high-fidelity rock and pop masterings.

Album Cover Design & Artwork:

• Bob Defrin – Art Direction
• Bob Defrin – Art Director / Album Cover Designer

  The Atlantic Records visual architect who helped hard rock look like it sounded: loud, sharp, and built to last.  Read more...

  Bob Defrin, gets filed in my head as one of those behind-the-curtain operators who quietly shaped what a whole era thought “rock” was supposed to look like. Work at Atlantic Records put him in the blast zone where sleeve art wasn’t decoration, it was stage lighting on paper. Late 1970s into the 1980s, his art-direction fingerprints show up around AC/DC as the logo era locks in (1977’s Let There Be Rock, then the blood-and-thunder run through If You Want Blood You’ve Got It in 1978, Highway to Hell in 1979, Back in Black in 1980, and on into mid-80s titles like Fly on the Wall). Same period energy spills into other big-label moments too, like Foreigner’s 4 in 1981, where the final cover design became the one the world actually remembers. By 1992 he’d gone independent with Bob Defrin Design in Amenia, New York—still doing what the best art directors do: making the music feel inevitable before the needle even drops.

Photography:

• Robert Ellis – Photographer
• Robert Ellis – Photographer

  The guy with the press pass (and the nerve) who lived on rock tours from 1971 to 1993, catching the moments bands never planned to share.  Read more...

  Robert Ellis is the kind of rock photographer I trust because the shots don’t pose, they confess. Seeing his work, the noise comes back in full color: sweat in the stage lights, backstage grins that last ten seconds, and that split-second where a band looks immortal before the van ride ruins everyone’s posture. Credits tell the timeline clean: he starts out in 1968, then lands at New Musical Express (1971–1975), moves through Melody Maker (1975–1976), and keeps rolling as a freelance gun-for-hire for titles like Sounds and Kerrang! (plus the occasional mainstream giant like Time). The real “band periods” here aren’t membership cards, they’re tour years: Ellis is on the road photographing bands across the rock and metal circuit from 1971–1993, then turns the archive into a home base by founding Repfoto in 1982 and later pushing his own book imprint, The Rock Library, in the 2010s. That’s the job done right: stay invisible, keep the shutter honest, and let the music leave fingerprints on the film.

  Robert Ellis Wiki