Fun Behind the Board

December 1, 2013

When Jeff Bhasker was working on the Some Nights album for Fun., he tapped trusted colleagues Andrew Dawson ’01, Pawel Sek ’00, and Ken Lewis ’91 to help him get the job done.

Dawson, an MP&E major at Berklee, has engineering credits on more than half the songs on the disc. He worked much of the time at his Hollywood studio SoundEQ. “Fun.’s budget was not huge,” Dawson says. “That’s part of the reason why we recorded a lot of it in our own studios rather than in bigger places.” Dawson arrived in Los Angeles in 2008 after working as an assistant engineer for Sony Music in New York for several years. So far, Dawson’s work has netted him three Grammys and other accolades. The roster of artists he’s worked with includes Kanye West, Beyoncé, Drake, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Pet Shop Boys, and many others.

Pawel Sek helped engineer seven cuts on Fun.’s album. He worked alongside Bhasker at the producer’s studio where he has also assisted Bhasker on albums by Taylor Swift, Dido, Pink, and others. Sek’s first gig in Los Angeles was preparing tracks for a Lady Gaga tour for which Bhasker was the music director. The Przemysi, Poland, native also has extensive jingle, TV, and movie credits.

Ken Lewis created the big drum sound on the hit “We Are Young.” An L.A. studio veteran for more than 20 years, Lewis works with such artists as Danity Kane, Usher, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, and others.

This article appeared in our alumni magazine, Berklee Today Summer 2013. Learn more about Berklee Today.
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