ABBA sound architect Mikael Tretov has passed away
Automatic translation. Read the Russian original
Mikael Tretov, a key recording engineer who worked with the legendary band ABBA for most of their career (excluding the 2021 album Voyage), passed away on May 20, 2025 at the age of 81. He played a crucial role in shaping ABBA's unique sound, which many consider classic.
According to Benny Andersson, Tretov was the "inspiration" of the band, emphasizing its enormous importance to all four members: Benny, Anni-Frida, Björn and Agneta. “You mean more to us than anyone else,” he told Aftonbladet.
In an interview with Dagens Nyheter in 2014, Tretov explained his approach: he duplicated the accompaniment and slightly accelerated the recording on cassettes, which proved especially successful for Björn and Benny.
After the dissolution of ABBA, Michael continued to work with other artists and write music for movies. In the 1990s, he remastered and restored ABBA’s archives, reaffirming his indispensable role in preserving the band’s legacy.