About Ryan Kelly:
I started my career out in Seattle and have since worked in studios across the US, Europe, Asia & South America. So far I’ve worked with artists from every continent (with the sad exception of Antarctica, though, one day the researchers will get back to me…)
Legacy Recording Studios in Manhattan gave me my first opportunity working in a major market. Legacy gave me the chance to work along side of and learn from some of the greatest producers and artists at a premier recording studio which was the best follow up education to my time at Full Sail University. From my first day there I was thrown into the heart of New York’s music scene, I made coffee for a film score and a few days later the Wu Tang Clan was in making “8 Diagrams”. This was the first of many musical quick-changes that I’ve enjoyed throughout my career. It is far more common for me to track a rock album, mix a rap single and then jump into a film score than it is to stay with one genre for too long.
This back and forth has allowed me to take approaches from each style and artist and try it out in a different setting. Who knew that the massive drum room sounds would come in crucial to Beyoncé’s “I Care”? Or that Pop vocal production techniques would help with Nefariant’s larger than life vocal sound? It is incredibly useful for Rock artists who want to add a string section or Orchestral groups experimenting with electronics and layering to have an engineer who knows how to deal with syncing LFO’s as well as choosing the right room and mics for a Decca tree setup.
My work at Legacy also introduced me to Nico Muhly, through his score for “The Reader”. I began programming performance rigs and then moved on to mixing front of house at the Barbican Theater when his collaboration with the Stephen Petronio Company (“I Drink the Air Before Me”) toured. From this start I have since mixed Front of House, Monitors, Backline Teched and RF coordinated for artists ranging from the Philip Glass Ensemble to Solange. The introduction of Live Audio into my workflow helped tremendously with planning and organizing sessions as well as to emphasize the importance of getting great sounds fast so artists can get straight to creating instead of worrying if things are really going to sound better in “the mix” rather than during their performance.
After four years at Legacy Recording I went freelance at the age of 21 and have been enjoying the hell out of it ever since. Regardless of language and genre, from Black Metal to Jazz, Swedish to Japanese I love working with artists to ensure that every piece conveys its message.
