I met Mike on a Tinnitus board. I was newly afflicted with Tinnitus and was looking for support and answers on how to cope with this. Ringing , noise, in the ears. We are all told by specialist, "just learn to live with it". Mike can attest to being told this too. 
Mike was in the music industry for years and his ears where his career for the sound he had to hear to make him the genious he was in the music industry. Sadly this more then likely gave him extreme tinnitus. It is something very hard to cope with, although Mike was one who learned to live with it as we all do and drown it out to make the music he made sound so incredibly superior.

I was a no body from Ontario Canada.  I was searching for help out of sheer fear of what was newly going on with me. At first I thought I was going to go crazy with it. Nothing can get rid of it and it takes a long time to get used to it. Peace is something us Tinnitus sufferers never ever get again. Mike was who he was, larger then life in who he was and what he did, and I was just someone in Canada who was a hair stylist. On the Tinnitus Board Mike replyed to many of my posts in genuine empathy toward what I was going through. He gave me answers and hope that I will learn to live with it. We formed a friendship over this Tinnitus through the board and I could tell what a great guy he was. Not only was music his passion but his concern over people even us no bodies ;)
In the early days, Mike helped me hang on and was an inspiration being in his industry and being able to over come the Tinnitus he had.

We were worlds apart however in the time I knew Mike, I was blessed by knowing him. It has sadden me beyond finding out recently of his passing. I am shocked, sadden, and wondering "why?"
Perhaps if I still was in contact with him, I too could have talked him into sticking around the way he did me years ago.

I wish I had answers as this is quite shocking and I am so removed from his circle of friends that I may never really know what happened.. I genuinly cared about him as the person he was. A kind soul.
If I could get some answers as to what he was going through or what demons he was fighting it sure would give me closure. Mike shared a lot with me in our conversations about Tinnitus and just life itself.I could tell he would be a true friend to anyone who knew him.
I can be reached at bethannekeep@yahoo.ca   Should anyone be able to give me closure on this dear fellow.
Thank You and Mike, now you have total peace :)
Rest my friend.
Bethanne Keep 

As a kid I was completely enamored with this guy. I had no idea what it was he actually did or why I gravitated to the albums he made. Later as I pursued this line of work more seriously I began to discover what I loved about it. Years later we became "on-line buddies" and talked endlessly about music and studio stuff. Totally blew my mind! Not only was I talking to a peer in this profession but he happened to be one of MY heroes!!

Fast forward to January 2007 and he mysteriously appeared at my studio after a NAMM show. The first thing I said was "I've made a career of ripping-off your style". He thought it was hilarious and took it as a compliment. We became fast friends and spoke pretty much every day since, either by phone of text.

He just called me last Thursday night and was really excited about a project we were to begin soon. He said he had to head back to Nashville to finish a few overdubs and incidentals with Keith Urban then back to LA to work on our project. It's all just confusing. A little too close to home. He was someone who always treated me as an equal. Never condescending. Always humble and self-effacing to a fault. Made me feel like we had parallel careers, when often I'd have to remind him "But dude, you're...umm...YOU!" What always stood out to me was this fire and passion he had for making music. It reminded me of that feeling I had when I first began pursing this life. It was a very childlike innocence that was amazing to witness. He was the farthest thing from jaded or curmudgeonly. It was like every album was his first!! Such a tragic loss. I will miss him terribly.

Mike had an amazing ability to concentrate intensely when working.  If I would make a comment during a mix, he would stop playback, look at me with his slightly annoyed look, answer the question and then start back on the mix with no distractions.  I can picture it now.

We were in New York working on an album and every week I would get my clothes to a fluff and fold place.  He just threw his away and bought new socks, etc., every week.   We just talked about this a few weeks ago...  Sigh.

I still order the dishes at Indian restaurants that he recommended.

As trivial as the last two items appear, they are important to me at this time. 

I was at school with Mike in the U.K. when his family came over for a few years. Became totally emersed in music together, trawling through the second hand vinyl stores trying to find new albums. Hours spent listening to albums, analysing lyrics, gazing at album covers. All played on a fidelty 3 watt per channel system.

Got together a band which evaporated not because of musical differences but total lack of ability. Apart from Mike that is. I think the only reason we got together was that we could have a go on his drum kit.

He and I would go to gigs at Kingston Polytechnic mainly but I do remember a Hyde Park gig with Jack Bruce Band, King Crimson and Roy Harper. Lots of fun at 13 or 14.  It was then that he first entered a recording studio when our form teacher Simon May was doing a kids musical called Smike. I suppose after that it is all history.

Kept in touch when he was in Australia and met up on his return to London when he first stared at Wessex. Still have his teenage letters buried in my archive. I remember one on Wessex paper describing the attack on Johnny Rotten in a pub.

We were supposed to meet up at Black Rock on Santorini but it got delayed as his Dad passed away. Looks as though it's not going to happen now. Sadly I have a fb message from just a week before he  died which I didn't see and didn't reply to.

All I can see is that all I have are good and fond memories of Mike and thank him for so much fun.

I remember fondly, many years ago when I first met Mike....  He had already acquired many Platinum records and one was delivered to him that day at my studio. I said to him, "you must have so many Platinum records by now, what do you do with all of them?"  He said "I send them to my mum".  My heart just melted, what a great son, what an incredible man!

It was Nov. 14, 1999.  I would be playing for Shania Twain that night at Texas Stadium, right after the Cowboys played the Packers.  In the meantime, the football game was still in full swing, and Mike Shipley and I stood in one of the end zones, virtually under the goal post, basking in the energy of the place.  Very soon, the classic Queen tune came blasting over the stadium's speakers with foot stomps and hand claps.  Mike turned to me and said, "You hear that?  My hands and feet are in that."  My jaw dropped.  He went on to tell me how he had shown up to work at the recording studio many years ago in England and saw many people standing in a big, cavernous room on risers that were heavily mic'd.  Everyone yelled, "Get in here, Mike!"  He jumped up on the risers and added his hands and feet to what would become a classic.  I will never forget Mike or the story he told me that day.  Thanks, Mike.  You were one of the best.

Mike shared a great story while i was assisting him at Record Plant.  As a young lad he was in a school talent show with some friends in Australia.  They needed a band name.  They decided to go with Far Canal.  Cool name.  Completely harmless...until you pronounce with an Australian accent...over a PA...to a room full of other young ladies and lads.  Then it becomes PRICELSS!

'Did you record this vocals long ago? ... cause you sound like you were eleven'
'Who did the mics for those violins? ... was he deaf?'
'Those guitars sound fucked .... we are trying to un-fuck it'