| Mark
Plati is a producer, engineer and musician based in New York
City. Mark has been involved with music since the age of 10,
beginning with drums in elementary school in Denver; next, studying
electric bass with Duke Ellington's nephew William, throughout
high school in Westchester County, NY; then a variety of instruments
while at Indiana University. He played on his first recording
session with Ellington's jazz ensemble at the age of 16, and
was subsequently drawn to sound and the recording studio. By
his sophomore year at IU he was engineering and playing on sessions.
After college Mark moved to Dallas, where he learned the true
meaning of ‘freelance’: he simultaneously interned
on a 48-track remote recording truck, engineered sessions at
three studios, produced an album for a Dallas band, and played
bass in local bands.
Mark
moved to New York City in 1987 and began working with dance
music legend Arthur Baker at his Shakedown Sound studio as an
engineer, mixer, synthesizer programmer, and musician. Working
with Baker amounted an instant immersion into the music industry
of the 1980s: it was a trial-by-fire period that kept Mark busy
not only in Baker’s domain, but quickly led to work elsewhere.
Between 1987 and 1991 Mark worked with artists such as Quincy
Jones, Janet Jackson, The Talking Heads, Fleetwood Mac, Lou
Reed, Oingo Boingo, Dream Academy, The Fat Boys, Grayson Hugh,
Al Jarreau, and the Bee Gees. After working with Prince on the
‘Graffiti Bridge’ album he decided to leave the
world of dance music and remixing, yet continued to incorporate
those sensibilities as he made a move into more mainstream record
production. During the 1990’s Mark worked with such diverse
artists as Nina Hagen, New Order, Natalie Imbruglia, Suzanne
Vega, Al Green, Big Audio Dynamite, Shawn Colvin, Ryuichi Sakamoto,
and Deee-Lite. In 1991 he began a ten-year association with
minimalist composer Philip Glass’ New York City recording
complex, The Looking Glass, where he produced, engineered, mixed,
or performed on albums by David Bowie, The Cure, Hooverphonic,
Alisha’s Attic, Duncan Sheik, Dave Navarro, and Glass
himself. In 1997 Mark co-produced David Bowie’s ‘Earthling’
album, which marked the beginning of a period where he produced,
recorded, mixed, or performed on most of Bowie’s musical
output until 2003.
In
1999 Mark switched gears and began a three year stint as Musical
Director and guitarist/bassist with Bowie, performing with him
in Europe and the U.S. at such shows as the Glastonbury Festival,
NetAid, the Montreux Jazz Festival, VH-1 Storytellers, The Concert
for New York, and the Area 2 Tour with Moby. He supervised the
live execution of two complete Bowie albums - ‘Heathen,’
and the classic ‘Low.’
In
2005 Mark began a period of working in Paris, producing and
mixing a number of platinum artists including Louise Attaque,
Les Rita Mitsuko, and Alain Bashung. His latest success is with
Charlie Winston - a British singer-songwriter signed to Peter
Gabriel’s Real World label - whose single and album ‘Hobo’
topped the charts in France for weeks, and is beginning to make
its mark in other territories.
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