Brent Kolatalo Last updated November 26, 2025 Musical artist , Producer
Musical artist
Brent Kolatalo is an American mixer , record producer , engineer and songwriter based in New York City. Kolatalo has worked with numerous artists and musicians, including Kanye West , Jay-Z , Eminem , Drake , Bruno Mars , X Ambassadors , Future , Chris Webby , Ella Henderson , Taylor Swift , Lorde , OneRepublic , Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey among others. [ 1]
He has worked on several albums such as, To Pimp a Butterfly , Uptown Special , If You're Reading This it's too Late , Based On a T.R.U. Story , My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , Watch the Throne , Just Charlie , Late Registration and The College Dropout among others.
Life and career Kolatalo was born in Barberton and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio . [ 2] He began practicing guitar when he was a kid, one of his tutors was Jeff Martin. [ 3] [ 4]
He attended Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio and graduated in 2000. [ 4] In 2002, he went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, during summers he was a trainee at Avatar Studios . [ 5] Kolatalo dropped out in 2004 after working on Kanye West debut studio album, The College Dropout which earning several nominations at the 47th Grammy Awards. [ 5] [ 6]
In 2007, Kolatalo started The Skywalkers, a production team with his partner Ken Lewis which was renamed to Katalyst in 2011. [ 7] [ 8]
Kolatalo's songwriting credits include "The Blacker the Berry ", Kendrick Lamar's track, which appeared on his album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) . [ 2] He is the engineer on multi-platinum Mark Ronson's single featuring Bruno Mars, "Uptown Funk". [ 9] [ 10] In 2016, Kolatalo recorded and played on the track "Come to Mama" from Lady Gaga's album, Joanne. [ 11] In 2019, he worked on Taylor Swift's album, Lover . [ 12]
Discography 2020: Ella Henderson , Take Care of You — Producer 2020: Eminem , Music to Be Murdered By: Side B — Recording 2019: Rick Ross , Port of Miami 2 — Bass, Composer, Drums, Keyboards 2019: Taylor Swift , Lover — Engineer 2018: Des Rocs, Let The Vultures In — Producer, Mixing 2017: Belly , Mumble Rap — Composer 2017: The Marias , Superclean Vol. I. — Mixing 2017: K. Michelle , Kimberly: People I Used to Know — Composer 2017:The Score , ATLAS — Composer 2017: Lorde , Melodrama — Drum Programming 2016: One Republic , Oh My My — Additional Production, Drums, Keys, Guitars 2016: V. Rose , Young Dangerous Heart — Mixing 2016: The Score , Unstoppable — Composer 2016: Farid Bang , Blut — Mixing 2016: Lady Gaga , Joanne — Drums, Engineer 2015: Kendrick Lamar , To Pimp a Butterfly — Composer 2015: X Ambassadors , VHS (Deluxe) — Producer 2015: Drake , If You're Reading This it's too Late — Composer 2015: Gallant , Red Bull Single for "Borderline" — Mixing [ 16] 2015: Jamie Foxx , Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses — Composer 2014: Future , Honest — Producer 2014: Chris Webby , Chemically Imbalanced — Additional Production, Mixing 2014: TyDi , Redefined — Mixing 2014: Niykee Heaton , Bad Intentions — Sample Recreation 2013: Kanye West , Yeezus — Engineer 2013: Eminem , The Marshall Mathers LP 2 — Digital Editing 2013: Pusha T , My Name Is My Name — Composer 2013: Jay-Z , Magna Carta... Holy Grail — Sampling 2013: John Legend , Love in the Future — Engineer 2013: Big Sean, Hall of Fame — Musician 2013: J. Cole , Born Sinner — Engineer 2012: Timeflies , One Night Ep — Mixing 2012: Bruno Mars , Unorthodox Jukebox — Drum Engineering 2012: Lana Del Rey , Born to Die — Drums, Engineer 2012: 2 Chainz , Based on a T.R.U. Story — Bass Programming, Drum Programming 2011:Jay-Z / Kanye West, Watch the Throne — Bass, Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards 2011: Drake , Take Care — Engineer, Instrumentation 2011: Maybach Music Group Presents: Self Made, Vol. 1 — Keyboards 2010: The Knocks , Magic — Mixing 2010: Rick Ross , Teflon Don — Instrumentation 2010: Charlie Wilson, Just Charlie — Musician Engineer 2010: Eminem, Recovery — Musician, Engineer 2010: Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy — Drum Programming, Engineer, Keyboards 2010: Kid Cudi , Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager — Engineer 2010: Rain, Back to The Basic — Mixing 2009: Mario , D.N.A. — Drum Programming 2009: SS501 , Rebirth — Mixing 2008: Miggs , Unraveled — Mixing 2008: Cristian Alexanda , Too Fine — Mixing 2008: Balance, Golden State Warriorz Comp, Vol. 1 — Mixing 2008: Kanye West, 808's & Heartbreak — Musician 2008: San Quinn , From a Boy to a Man — Mixing 2007: E.P., Supastar — Mixing 2007: Skidmore Fountain, Break — Mixing 2006: Skidmore Fountain, Skidmore Fountain — Mixing 2006: D&A, Love Goes — Mixing 2006: Ghostface Killah , Fishscale — Musician 2005: Cuban Link , Chain Reaction — Engineer 2005: Common , Be — Musician 2005 : Memphis Bleek , 543 — Musician 2005: Cassidy , I'm a Hustla — Sample Recreation 2004: Jin , The Rest Is History —Engineer, Musician 2004: Kanye West, The College Dropout — Engineer 2004: Man on Earth, Disposable Sounds for the Fickle Mind — Engineer 2004: Jadakiss , Kiss of Death — Musician References ↑ Heads, Ambrosia For (December 30, 2019). "Here Are Ambrosia For Heads' Top 25 Rap Albums Of The Decade" . Ambrosia For Heads . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . 1 2 Dorn, Anna (February 12, 2018). "Meet Ken Lewis: Hip-Hop's Max Martin" . DJBooth . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ {{cite web }}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link ) 1 2 Hilty, Lindsey. "Lakota alumni win Grammy awards" . journal-news . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . 1 2 "Brent Kolatalo" . Barker Collective . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . [ dead link ] ↑ "Brent Kolatalo" . GRAMMY.com . November 23, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ "Ken Lewis: The One Man Band ...From Joe Budden to Kanye West" . AllHipHop.com . May 13, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2021 . 1 2 "Producer Crosstalk: Brent Kolatalo" . Music Connection Magazine . August 14, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ "Ken Lewis" . Plugin Alliance . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . 1 2 "US: BMG Proudly Congratulates Clients On Their Grammy Success" . BMG . February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ "Meet the Creative Team Behind Lady Gaga's 'Joanne' Album" . Billboard . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ "Taylor Swift - Lover Credits and Streams" . FreeMusicCredits.com . August 23, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ September 2019, Ben Rogerson 06 (September 6, 2019). "Brent Kolatalo: 5 things I've learned about music production" . MusicRadar . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . {{cite web }}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link ) ↑ "Berklee Alumni Win 13 Grammy Awards | Berklee" . college.berklee.edu . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ "Alumni All-Stars in the Field of Music Production and Engineering | Berklee" . college.berklee.edu . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . ↑ Reilly, Dan (November 17, 2020). "9 Engineers on the Hardest Song They Ever Mixed" . Vulture . Retrieved February 6, 2021 . This page is based on this
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