Album
Production information:
The album: "WHITESNAKE - Saints and Sinners" was produced by:
Daint Martin *Doc" Birch for Sunburst Records and YOU!!!
Martin Birch – Producer, Sound Engineer
I first noticed Martin Birch on those early Iron Maiden sleeves—the ones with the typography that felt like a threat. At twelve, I didn’t care about "production value"; I just liked that the guitars didn't sound like mud. He was the man behind the sound mixer, the one who made the snare snap like a dry branch in a cold forest. He was "The Headmaster," and we were all just students of his high-voltage curriculum.
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Birch didn’t just record noise; he organized aggression. By 1972, he was already wrangling the messy brilliance of Deep Purple’s Machine Head, turning Ian Gillan’s banshee wails into something that didn't just clip the tape but lived inside it. In 1980, he pulled off the ultimate renovation, giving Black Sabbath a much-needed shower and a new spine. Heaven and Hell shouldn't have worked, but Martin polished that Birmingham sludge into something operatic and gleaming. It was a pivot that felt like fate, mostly because he refused to let the mid-range get lazy.
Then came the long, obsessive stretch with Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1992. It was a twelve-year marriage to the fader. From the moment Killers (EMC 3357, for those who care) hit the shelves, the sound was physical. He knew how to let Steve Harris’s bass clatter like a machine gun without drowning out the melody—a sonic miracle that still feels fresh. You can almost smell the ozone and the dust on the Marshall stacks when the needle drops on The Number of the Beast. He stayed until Fear of the Dark, then simply walked away. No victory lap, no bloated memoir. He preferred the hum of the desk to the noise of the crowd, leaving us with nothing but the records and a slight sense of abandonment. But then, when you’ve already captured lightning on tape for twenty years, why bother hanging around for the rain?
This album was recorded at:
Rock City, Shepprton - The Truck Mobile at Clearwell Castle, Gloucesterhire - Brittania Row, London by Guy Bidmead
Guy Bidmead – Producer, Recording Engineer
British producer/engineer with 1980s credits that run from Exciter and Motörhead to Whitesnake, plus later metal landmarks like Coroner and Destruction.
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Guy Bidmead is a UK producer and recording engineer whose name shows up where tight, hard-hitting sound mattered more than studio fairy dust. He produced and engineered Exciter’s "Long Live the Loud" (1985) and "Unveiling the Wicked" (1986), and co-produced Motörhead’s "Rock ’n’ Roll" (1987). He’s also tied to the turbulent "Saints & Sinners" era in Whitesnake’s studio history, and his heavier credits include engineering on Coroner’s "Punishment for Decadence" and producing/engineering Destruction’s "Cracked Brain". In other words: if the record needed to punch cleanly instead of turning into a fuzzy wall of nope, his credit kept landing in the liner notes.
The vocal tracks were recorded at Battery Station, by Martin Birch assisted by Bryan New
Mixed at Battery Studios by Martin Birch in September-October 1982
Battery Studios (London) – Recording studioNorthwest London’s quiet hit-factory: born as Morgan Studio 3 & 4, rebranded by Zomba in 1980, and suddenly everybody wanted in. Read more... Battery Studios (London), Battery Studios — a Willesden Green workhorse that learned new tricks fast. Built as Morgan Studio 3 & 4 in the early ’70s, it got re-badged in 1980 when Zomba bought it and started feeding it Jive/Zomba projects, then the rest of London followed. Inside, the vibe was part office, part laboratory: in-house guns like Mutt Lange and Martin Birch drifting through, bookings ringing off the hook. Remember the tech flex: Fairlight CMI, SSL desks, and that 32-track Mitsubishi when most rooms still smelled like spooled oxide. Listen to the timeline: Iron Maiden (Nov 1980–82), Def Leppard (1981–82), The Cars (1984), Billy Ocean (1984–88), The Stone Roses (Jun 1988–Feb 1989), and even Bryan Adams with Lange (1991).
Mastered at Utopia by Steve Angel
Album cover design:
The Concert Publishing Company
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