Mark Opitz


Mark Opitz is an Australian record producer and audio engineer. He started his career with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1971. He has produced AC/DC, the Angels, Australian Crawl, Cold Chisel, Divinyls and INXS. He has won the ARIA Award for Producer of the Year in 1987 and 1988. He had previously won Best Australian Producer at the Countdown Awards for his work in 1980, 1982, 1985 and 1986. On 8 June 2020 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the performing arts, particularly to music production." In August of that year he was listed as one of The 7 Most Influential Music Producers of All Time by Mixdown Magazines David Tomisch and Will Brewster.

Early years and personal life

Mark Opitz was born in Melbourne in 1952. His mother Shirley, his father and an older sibling had moved from Darwin in the early 1950s to suburban Upwey and then Croydon. During childhood his parents separated, he remained with his mother, living in Burwood. She worked as a nurse. His neighbour and best friend was Kym Gyngell. The family relocated to Brisbane when his parents were briefly reconciled. After the couple separated again Opitz and his sibling were cared for by various people before being placed in the Margaret Marr Memorial Home for Boys in Wynnum – run by the Methodists. While there he was subjected to emotional and physical abuse by the staff and bullying by fellow boarders. After leaving the boys home he relocated to Sydney in the early 1970s. He has four children from his two marriages. As from 2012 Opitz was married to Natalie : they met in November 1998 at the Mushroom 25 Concert.

Career

Opitz started his career at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC TV in Sydney in 1971 as a studio trainee working on children's TV show Mr. Squiggle and rock music series GTK. Initially he aspired to be a programme director, "I started as a cameraman. I worked on music shows." He became an audio engineer. In order to become a record producer he transferred to EMI in 1974 working in the mastering department. By 1976 he was label manager for EMI's Australian division of Capitol Records. He worked as assistant producer for EMI's in-house productions.
Opitz took a position as Vanda & Young's apprentice producer at EMI Studios 301 in Sydney in 1977. Under their tutelage he worked with Albert Productions artists AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, John Paul Young and Flash and the Pan. He developed his production skills as an audio engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. His early producing jobs were on the Angels' albums Face to Face and No Exit. He assisted the Angels to develop their signature sound with thick guitars, which dominated Australia's 1980s airwaves.
Warner Music's management offered Opitz the position as Head of during 1980, while he was producing the East album for Cold Chisel. As A&R he signed Billy Field and Divinyls to the label. He also produced further albums for Cold Chisel, Richard Clapton, Swanee and the Hitmen. He left Warner in 1982 to buy Rhinoceros Studios in Sydney, with a commercial partner, and set up his own production company. Over the next five years he produced albums for Jimmy Barnes, INXS, Models, Hoodoo Gurus, Australian Crawl, Noiseworks and the Reels. During the 1980s Opitz won Australian music industry awards for his production work on six occasions: Best Australian Producer at the Countdown Awards for 1980, 1982, 1985 and 1986; as well as Producer of the Year at the ARIA Music Awards of 1987 and the following year.
Opitz was based primarily in the United States and Europe during the 1990s while working with international artists. However, he produced more INXS studio albums Welcome to Wherever You Are and Full Moon, Dirty Hearts. He had accompanied the group on their international tour, which resulted in the live album, Live Baby Live, as well as Live at Wembley Stadium 1991 from their performance at Wembley Stadium. In the late 1990s Michael Gudinski of Mushroom Records invited Opitz to join his executive team and oversee Australian music recording projects in readiness for the sale of Gudinski's label to News Limited. Opitz worked in various facets of Mushroom Records' business interests and produced the Mushroom 25th Anniversary series of concerts, albums and TV/VHS specials in 1998.
Opitz is included in Billboards All Time Top "Producer Encyclopaedia", which covers all genres of music. He worked with Bob Dylan on latter's Academy Award ceremony performance of "Things Have Changed" from the movie The Wonder Boys and on Kiss and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's recording Kiss Symphony: Alive IV. He has also worked with Lenny Kravitz, Ray Charles and the Beach Boys. Opitz' company The Best Seat in the House produced the INXS DVD/TV special I'm Only Looking for international release through Warner Music in the US and Universal Music for the rest of the world. This project included many interviews, mini-documentaries as well as music videos and live performance footage. He also produced the music for Kiss' US TV special/DVD release Rock the Nation in 2006 and Paul Stanley's solo project in 2007. He produced albums for Rose Tattoo, Jeff Lang, and Monique Brumby.
As of 2011 Opitz was a full voting member in all categories of both ARIA Awards in Australia and Grammy Awards in the US. He developed music programmes by merging various music genres for rock group Bad//Dreems from Adelaide. In 2016, the Australian National University spent $12 million to establish their School of Music with Opitz as a Visiting Fellow of that department. In August 2017 he was listed as one of The 7 Most Influential Music Producers of All Time by Mixdown Magazines David Tomisch and Will Brewster.

Technical works

YearArtistWorkRole
1977John St Peeters"Summer of Love" Producer
1977Reg LindsaySilence on the LineEngineer
1977AC/DCLet There Be RockEngineer
1978The AngelsFace to FaceEngineer, producer
1978The AngelsAfter the Rain – The Tour Producer
1978AC/DCPowerageEngineer
1979The AngelsNo ExitEngineer, producer
1979The ReelsThe ReelsEngineer, producer
1979The AngelsOut of the Blue Producer
1980Cold ChiselEastEngineer, producer
1980SwaneeInto the NightProducer
1981The HitmenThe HitmenProducer
1981Cold ChiselSwingshiftMixer, producer
1982Richard ClaptonThe Great EscapeProducer
1982DivinylsMonkey Grip EPProducer
1982Cold ChiselCircus AnimalsEngineer, producer
1982INXSShabooh ShoobahEngineer, producer
1982SwaneeThis Time Its DifferentProducer
1983Australian CrawlSemantics Producer
1983DivinylsDesperateProducer
1983INXSDekadanceEngineer, mixer, producer
1984Cold ChiselTwentieth CenturyEngineer, mixer
1984EuroglidersThis IslandProducer
1984Richard ClaptonSolidarityProducer
1984Jimmy BarnesBodyswerveEngineer, mixer, producer
1984Mental As Anything"Apocalypso " Producer
1984Cold ChiselBarking Spiders Live: 1983Producer
1984Deckchairs Overboard"Walking in the Dark" Producer
1985DivinylsWhat a Life!Producer
1985Flame FortuneFlame Fortune Producer
1985The VenetiansStep off the EdgeProducer
1985ModelsOut of Mind, Out of SightMixer, producer
1985Deckchairs OverboardDeckchairs OverboardProducer
1985Jimmy BarnesFor the Working Class ManProducer
1986INXS and Jimmy Barnes"Good Times" Producer
1986SpaniardsLocked in a DanceProducer
1986ModelsModels' MediaProducer
1987Hoodoo GurusBlow Your Cool!Producer
1987NoiseworksNoiseworksProducer
1987INXSKickMixer, remaster
1987Jimmy BarnesFreight Train HeartProducer
1987Mental As AnythingMouth to MouthMixer
1988The SaintsProdigal SonMixer
1988The VenetiansAmazing WorldProducer
1989The Ocean BlueThe Ocean BlueProducer
1989Mental As AnythingCyclone RaymondProducer
1989Cats in BootsKicked & KlawedProducer
1989Scary BillScary BillProducer
1990SteelheartSteelheartProducer
1990Red HouseRed HouseProducer
1990INXSXRemaster, remixer
1991INXSLive Baby LiveMixer, producer
1991RoxusNightstreetProducer
199219271927Producer
1992INXSWelcome to Wherever You AreProducer, remaster, remixer
1992Ghost of an American AirmanLife Under GiantsMixer, producer
1993INXSFull Moon, Dirty HeartsMixer, producer
1994INXS"The Strangest Party " Producer
1997InqbatorHatchedMixer, producer
1998Hunters & CollectorsJuggernautMixer, producer
1998Paul KellyWords and MusicProducer, remixer
1999DeadstarSomewhere Over the RadioProducer
1999Jimmy BarnesLove and FearEngineer, mixer, producer
1999Little AngelsLittle of the PastProducer
2002Brooklyn RunBrooklyn RunProducer
2002Jimmy BarnesRawMastering, mixer
2003KissKiss Symphony: Alive IVMixer, producer
2007Rose TattooBlood BrothersPhotographer, producer
2007Billy ThorpeSolo – The Last RecordingsProducer
2008Paul StanleyOne Live KissMixer
2009Jeff LangChimeradourProducer
2012Sunset RiotUprisingProducer
2013Owen CampbellThe PilgrimProducer
2017Black AcesAnywhere But HereProducer
2020Rose TattooOutlawsEngineer, mixer, producer