Martin Phillip Birch (27 December 1948 – 9 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer.
He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock and metal bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden.
In 1980, coming from the "Deep Purple camp",[2] he was called upon by Black Sabbath for Heaven and Hell.
The band's previous albums had been self-produced and they were happy to let Birch, who had worked with Ronnie James Dio before, produce them.
[8] Members of Iron Maiden offered a lengthy tribute to Birch on their official website, with Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson and Rod Smallwood reflecting on his personality and his time working with the band.