Bobby Owsinski

Last updated

Bobby Owsinski is an American audio engineer, producer, musician, and author based in Los Angeles. [1] [2]

Contents

He is best known as author of over 20 books in the field of music, music recording and social media, and audio engineering, especially in surround mixing with credits including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Pantera, Weird Al Yankovic, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, Neil Young, Iron Maiden, The Ramones, and Chicago. [1]

Early life

Bobby Owsinski grew up in Minersville, Pennsylvania, where he played guitar and sang in regional cover bands throughout his high school and college years. [3] Early success as a professional musician came as a keyboard player with The Other Side, touring along the East Coast and eventually recording one album for De-Lite/Polygram. [4]

Wanting to learn more about production and arranging, Owsinski enrolled in Berklee College of Music where he studied composition and majored in guitar. After a brief time as a student, he was hired as an instructor in the school's then-new recording program, where he stayed for an additional year until moving to Los Angeles. [5]

Career

Audio production and engineering

Owsinski has worked on projects as an engineer, producer, writer, and arranger for music, commercials, television, and motion pictures. During his early years in Los Angeles he worked with many artists including Frank Zappa, The Byrds, and Lou Rawls among others. In the mid-90s he worked in the Southern California blues scene producing recordings for Willie Dixon, Joe Houston, and ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor. He was Taylor's music director for one tour. [6] [1]

Owsinski was a co-founder of music-production company Surround Associates. He was among the first sound engineers to mix music specifically for DVD surround sound, working on projects for artists including Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, The Who, Iron Maiden, Ramones and Chicago. [7] [8]

He has consulted for a variety of music and audio-related companies including Alesis, Amek, IK Multimedia, Lexicon , Line 6, Neve, PreSonus, Shattered Music, TASCAM, United Entertainment Media, Waves Audio, and Yamaha. [1] [9]

He also spent time as an educator, starting with teaching and authoring various audio-related courses at Berklee College of Music, then moving on to Trebas Recording Institute and Nova Institute. Today he conducts guest lectures and presentations at colleges and universities around the world. [1]

Owsinski has appeared on ABC News' 20/20 speaking about the 2012 Beyoncé Inauguration Ceremony controversy, [1] on CNN's New Day, [10] and other programs, podcasts, and radio shows. He has also been featured in artists in Sound on Sound , The Music Paper, Mix Magazine, EQ Magazine, among others.

Recent musical productions by Owsinski include Snew and Adrianna Marie and Her Groovecutters, with her album Double Crossing Blues [11] [12] reaching #2 on the Billboard Blues Charts.

Writing

Owsinski has written numerous magazine articles for trade publications including Billboard , EQ , The Hollywood Reporter , Mix , Electronic Musician , Grammy Magazine, Film & Video, Pro Sound News, Music Connection, and others. He has also written more than twenty books in the area of audio engineering and music production. His books outside of the music business include Social Media Promotion for Small Business and Entrepreneurs and the Cruise Vacation FAQ Book.

He maintains several of his own blogs and contributes to other notable industry blogs, most notably that of Forbes where he provides commentary on the new music business and music technology. [1] Many of Owsinski's books have also been released in video format via Lynda.com, now known as LinkedIn Learning.

Books

Owsinski has authored books on the subject of music and audio engineering since the 1990s, the following list reflects latest edition dates.

Audio-related books
Music books
Music business books
Books outside the music business

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audio mixing</span> Combining input sources to output channels

Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more audio channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic, or otherwise creative treatment is done in order to produce a finished version that is appealing to listeners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power Station (recording studio)</span> Recording studio in Manhattan, New York City

Power Station at BerkleeNYC is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was originally founded in 1977 as Power Station and known as Avatar Studios from 1996 to 2017. Renowned for its exceptional acoustics, the studio has been the site of hundreds of gold, platinum, and Grammy Award-winning recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Finn</span> American record producer (1969–2008)

Jermone Gregory Finn, sometimes credited as "Huckle" Jerry Finn, was an American record producer and mix engineer. He worked with numerous punk rock and pop-punk artists such as Blink-182, AFI, Sum 41, Alkaline Trio, Green Day, MxPx, and Rancid. Finn was known for the warm guitar tone present on albums he produced as well as the "punchy" sound of his mixes. He was instrumental in developing the polished sound of pop-punk in its second wave of popularity between the mid-1990s and early 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliot Scheiner</span>

Elliot Ray Scheiner is a music producer, mixer and engineer. Scheiner has received 27 Grammy Award nominations, four Emmy nominations, three TEC Awards nominations, a TEC Hall of Fame inductee, and was a recipient of the Surround Pioneer Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McNally Smith College of Music</span> Defunct American music college in Minnesota

McNally Smith College of Music was a private for-profit music school in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Initially founded in 1984 as the Guitar Center of Minneapolis, it was renamed Musictech College and moved to St. Paul in 2001. The school was renamed again as McNally Smith College of Music by the school's two founders, Jack McNally and Doug Smith, to memorialize themselves on the school's 2005 20th anniversary.

The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) is a recording studio built in 1979 by musician, composer, songwriter, and bandleader Frank Zappa at his home in Los Angeles, California. The home and recording studio was sold to Lady Gaga in 2016, and later purchased by Elizabeth Jagger in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">POW-R</span>

POW-R is a set of commercial dithering and noise shaping algorithms used in digital audio bit-depth reduction. Developed by a consortium of four companies – The POW-R Consortium – the algorithms were first made available in 1999 in digital audio hardware products. POW-R is now licensed for use by many companies, particularly those in the digital audio workstation (DAW) arena, where it currently has significant market share.

Mark Linett is an American record producer and audio engineer who is best known for his remixing and remastering of the Beach Boys' catalog. Since 1988, he has been the engineer for Brian Wilson's recordings. He has also worked with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Los Lobos, Rickie Lee Jones and Randy Newman. Linett is based in Glendale, California, where he owns a home studio, Your Place or Mine Recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Maserati</span> American record producer and audio engineer

Tony Maserati is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in mixing. He was involved in the development of the New York R&B and hip-hop scene in the 1990s, working with Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, and Queen Latifah. Since then he has worked on Grammy nominated projects with The Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé, Jason Mraz, Robin Thicke, and Usher. Maserati won a Latin Grammy in 2006 for his work on Sérgio Mendes’s Timeless. He has been nominated for a total of 10 Grammys, with four for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audio engineer</span> Engineer involved in the recording, reproduction, or reinforcement of sound

An audio engineer helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound. Audio engineers work on the "technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer…"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Charles Alexander</span> American musician and record producer (born 1958)

Charles Alexander, known professionally as Prince Charles Alexander, is an American record producer and audio engineer. He received a Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album in 2003.

PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc. is an American manufacturer of professional audio equipment and software, used to create, record, mix, and master music and other audio. This includes their line of digital audio workstation (DAW) software, Studio One. In November 2021, it was announced that the company is to be acquired by Fender.


Bill Gibson is an American music producer, and an accomplished musician and teacher. He is the author of books and videos about audio recording and live sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coles 4038</span> Ribbon microphone

The Coles 4038 is a ribbon microphone produced by Coles Electroacoustics. The microphone was designed and patented by the BBC in the 1950s and was originally known as the STC 4038. The sound of the microphone has been described as "British" with a "BBC politeness", and its appearance has been likened to that of a waffle iron. It is used in both sound recording and radio broadcasting.

Chad Blinman is an American recording engineer and mixer, music producer, and electronic musician. He has worked with such artists as Face to Face, the Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, Jackson United, Faith and the Muse, Monica Richards, Senses Fail, Moneen, the Deep Eynde and Jarboe, and is a member of the remix/mash-up team the Legion of Doom and recording projects Viva Death and Real Space Noise. He is also on the faculty of the Music Production and Engineering department at Berklee College of Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio One (software)</span> Digital audio workstation

Studio One is a digital audio workstation (DAW) application, used to create, record, mix and master music and other audio, with functionality also available for video. Initially developed as a successor to the KRISTAL Audio Engine, it was acquired by PreSonus and first released in 2009 for macOS and Microsoft Windows. PreSonus and Studio One were then acquired by Fender in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benny Faccone</span> Musical artist

Benny Faccone is a recording engineer, mixing engineer, and record producer known for his work with Ricky Martin, Santana, Luis Miguel, Maná and Marco Antonio Solís. He has won 5 Grammy Awards and 12 Latin Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bedroom production</span>

A bedroom producer is an amateur musician who creates, performs, and records their music independently using a home studio, often considered a hobbyist opposed to a professional record producer in the recording industry that works in a traditional studio with clients. Typically bedroom producers use accessible digital technology that costs less than the equipment in a professional studio, such as MIDI controller-based instruments and virtual studio technology, to create music for release to the world. While a professional record producer oversees and guides the recording process, often working alongside multiple people such as studio musicians, singers, engineers, mixers, songwriters, arrangers, and orchestrators, a bedroom producer does everything independently: creating the ideas, recording them and processing them for release. Bedroom producers are often self-taught, learning sound design, mixing and music theory by reading music production blogs and watching tutorials on the internet. As bedroom producers depend on the accessibility of music technology, bedroom production has been made easier with advances in home computing power and digital audio workstations (DAW).

Peter Doell is an American recording and mastering engineer known for his work with Miles Davis, Toto, Céline Dion and The Beach Boys. Doell has been a staff engineer at Capitol Studios, Sunset Sound Recorders and Universal Mastering Studios West. His film and TV work includes Road To Perdition, Black Hawk Down and Monsters, Inc., American Idol, The Voice and Empire.

Malinda Lowe, is a Sri Lankan record producer, audio engineer, songwriter, and event manager particularly in Live Sound and mixing console. He is known for recording and mixing songs and synthesizers for major artists such as Shreya Goshal, Udit Narayan, Olivia Newton-John, Mohombi, Akon, Sonu Nigam, Bathiya and Santhush and The Gypsies. He is also the creator and founder of Universal Sound Productions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Bobby Owsinski Press Kit - Bobby Owsinski". Archived from the original on March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  2. ↑ [ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ "Minersville native pens book about Abbey Road producer". Republicanherald.com. April 8, 2012.
  4. ↑ [ dead link ]
  5. ↑ "MP&E Department History". Mpe.berklee.edu. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Recording: In the Studio: Overlooked (And Vital) Variables of Recording". Prosoundweb.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  7. ↑ Owsinski, Bobby (2009). Music 3.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN   978-1-4234-7401-2.
  8. ↑ Buskin, Richard. (January 2001) Engineering Techniques. Studio Sound, pp. 43-45.
  9. ↑ "Working with Bobby Owsinski". Bobbyowsinski.com. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  10. ↑ "CNN.com - Transcripts". Edition.cnn.com. January 25, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  11. ↑ "What's Ahead for 2011? Bobby Owsinski Sees a Shift Towards Realism in the Music Indusry". Hypebot.com. December 20, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Bio - Adrianna Marie". Archived from the original on March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Mixing Engineers Handbook 3rd Edition - Bobby Owsinski". Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.