Kearney Whitsell Barton (December 29, 1931 – January 17, 2012) was an American record producer active in Seattle, Washington, from the 1950s to the 2000s.
Particularly known for his 1950s and 1960s-era recordings of garage rock bands, Barton recorded many Pacific Northwest musicians such as The Fleetwoods, The Ventures, The Wailers, The Sonics, The Frantics, The Kingsmen, Quincy Jones, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Bonnie Guitar, and Dave Lewis.
[4] Barton recorded into the 2000s, continuing to use vintage equipment such as Neumann vacuum-tube microphones due to their characteristic sound quality.
The studio contents of Barton's home, which held more than 7,000 open-reel tapes,[2] were partly preserved by the University of Washington.
[8] In 2020, Light in the Attic issued a compilation of music produced by Barton, culled from the University of Washington archives.