Iron Maiden and Deep Purple Producer Martin Birch Dead at 71 - Ultimate Classic Rock

He produced every Iron Maiden album from 1981's Killers to 1992's Fear of the Dark, and engineered or produced nearly a dozen Deep Purple albums.

"Occasional producers who make an album with a band, then move on to another, are bound to do something pretty shallow.

The results are always brilliant, excellent at the time, but you realize later that the true colors of the band don't come out and the album loses quickly its prestige.".

"When Bruce joined, it opened up the possibilities for the new album tremendously," Birch recalled.

He produced a string of Iron Maiden albums, and then retired from the industry after Fear of the Dark.