Record producer Michael Wagener has announced his retirement from the music industry.
“I have now been active in the music business for over 50 years and I think it’s time to retire and get out and catch up on some vacations,” Wagener proclaimed in a post to his Facebook page. “I have sold the studio and Double Trouble Productions does no longer exist as an official company,” he further explained, adding that his “studio has been sold and except for some guitars, amps and minimal studio gear there is not much left here.”
Born and raised in Germany, Wagener befriended Don Dokken in the late ‘70s. He’d go on to produce Dokken’s first EP Back in the Streets (1979), and debut album Breaking the Chains (1979).
After relocating to Los Angeles, Wagener became one of rock’s most in-demand producers and engineers. Skid Row’s first two albums, Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Motley Crue’s Too Fast for Love, Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears, Warrant’s Dog Eat Dog, Poison’s Look What the Cat Dragged In, Extreme’s Pornograffitti and Alice Cooper’s Constrictor are just some of the many albums on which Wagener worked. His further credits include material by Queen, Janet Jackson, Megadeth, Great White, W.A.S.P., White Lion and Stryper.
Now, after more than five decades in the business, the music veteran is moving on.
“I had an amazing time and met a ton of wonderful people and I am thankful for having been able to work with such great musicians and create such wonderful music. Now it’s time to see some more of the world,” Wagener declared. “I want to thank you all for allowing me to live a great life and to do what I love. I am looking at a future of lots of traveling; it has been a great trip so far.”