Conny Plank

Konrad "Conny" Plank (3 May 1940 – 5 December 1987) was a German record producer and musician.

Plank began producing albums and working as a sound engineer in the late 1960s and became involved in the underground music scene which was spreading outwards through Germany from Berlin.

In 1969 he served as engineer for the first Kluster album, Klopfzeichen, which was released the following year.

His long association with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Kluster and later Cluster endured until his death.

He also served as engineer for Alexander von Schlippenbach's album The Living Music, which was released in 1969, the first of a long list of engineering and production credits.

He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s.

Plank was involved in releases by Neu!, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Harmonia, Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru, Kraan, and other German groups of the era.

He later produced for new wave acts such as D.A.F., Eurythmics and Ultravox.

On a recording session in Hamburg in 1970 with Hartmut Kulka from the German Blue Flames & Philip Cantlay of Casey Jones & the Governors/Gaslight Union, together known as Kulka & Cantlay, he set up and recorded conga drums with specially inserted microphones to provide an unusual percussion sound.

In 1970 he had a 56 channel mixing desk hand built by himself, Peter Lang and Michael Zähl.

and went on to produce and/or engineered many recordings by significant German progressive/experimental music acts often referred to as krautrock internationally, including Kraftwerk, Organisation, Neu!, Cluster, Harmonia, Night Sun, Holger Czukay and Guru Guru.

In 1977, through Brian Eno, Plank recruited Dave Hutchins from Island Studios, as house engineer.

Hutchins undertook recording and mixing roles on many of the productions originating from the studios in the following ten years.

As a musician, Plank played guitar and keyboards on three Guru Guru albums: Kang Guru, Guru Guru, and Mani und Seine Freunde, the Os Mundi album 43 Minuten, and Cluster's self-titled debut album.

In 1978 and 1979 he added guitar and percussion to two Roedelius solo albums, Durch Die Wüste and Selbstportrait.

He was a member of the short lived band Liliental, contributing guitar, keyboards, and vocals.

As a billed performer, Plank also formed the group Moebius & Plank, releasing 5 albums between 1979 and 1986.

Plank and the bands he worked with in West Germany had a strong influence on mainstream rock artists, some of whom were able to popularize aspects of his production technique and his distinctive approach.

In 1979 he went into the studio with Dieter Moebius to record the first Moebius & Plank album, Rastakraut Pasta which was released the following year.

Plank continued to work as one half of the duo Moebius & Plank, recording four additional albums.

In the 1980s, electronic pop bands were able to realize his ideas in performance as computerized electronic instruments became readily available.

Plank, who began his career as soundman for Marlene Dietrich, was an ardent believer in the possibilities of electronic music and electronic soundscapes.

He was also known for blending them with conventional sounds, or natural sounds given unconventional treatments, such as using large metal containers and other industrial objects as percussion instruments.

Plank used multi-track recording facilities.

He favored sometimes harsh-sounding effects and contrasting audio for each element in the mix.

Plank used combinations of echo, reverberation and other electronic, mixing, editing and tape-based effects to create mixes.

Plank favoured a 'live' production sound, especially on drums.

During the eighties, Plank remained in high demand with the new generation of electronic pop and new wave artists, including Devo, the Meteors from the Netherlands (Hunger in 1980) and (Stormy Seas in 1981), the Fred Banana Combo, Ultravox (Systems of Romance, Vienna and Rage in Eden), Echo & the Bunnymen, Freur, Killing Joke, the Tourists (Luminous Basement) and Eurythmics (In the Garden).

He also worked on pop and rock productions with artists such as Scorpions, Clannad, Play Dead, and Gianna Nannini (Latin Lover, Sogno Di Una Notte d'Estate, Tutto Live and others, also credited for music).

Plank's other production credits include Liaisons Dangereuses, Phew, Einstürzende Neubauten, Ástor Piazzolla, Psychotic Tanks, DAF (including the classic single "Der Mussolini"), Les Rita Mitsouko, and Nina Hagen.

According to René Tinner and Stephan Plank in a radio documentary about the life of Conny Plank, it was Brian Eno's idea that Plank should produce the U2 album The Joshua Tree instead of him.

After being introduced to the band by Eno and after a short meeting, Plank turned down the job ("I cannot work with this singer").

Their second album, Material, was released in 1981.

Their third album, the African-influenced Zero Set, with Guru Guru drummer Mani Neumeier, was released in 1983.

These two albums are early examples of the predecessors of techno and electronica.

In 1983, Moebius & Plank also recorded the album Ludwig's Law using an Emulator, an early form of sampling keyboard that enabled them to duplicate other instruments without having musicians to play them.

Mayo Thompson of Red Krayola contributed vocals, mainly spoken monologues.

The final Moebius & Plank collaboration, En Route was recorded in Conny's Studio in 1986 but left incomplete as Plank's health deteriorated.

It was completed and mixed in 1995, primarily by Dieter Moebius, and released that year.

The project was rejected by Sky Records and was not released until 1998.