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His Game Is Hot
Tough talk from hit-making engineer Tony Maserati.
By Rob Hochschild
Berklee.edu Editor
February 20, 2004
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Engineer Tony Maserati '86 labels the SSL recording console in Studio A during one of his master classes, while Music Production and Engineering student Eddie Jackson watches.
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Photo by Rob Jaczko
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The music industry is a tough business, and if you want to go places, you better get serious, get prepared, and work hard. So says engineer Tony Maserati '86, who traveled through a recent snowstorm to give two student master classes titled "In Service of the Song."
The Grammy-nominated Maserati, who has become one of the most sought-after engineers among leading r&b and pop artists, gave students a taste of what it takes to succeed in the high-pressure environment of major label recording sessions. There are few studio professionals who know more about it than Maserati, who has worked with dozens of superstar-caliber artists on more than 250 releases, according to his All Music Guide entry, including Beyoncé, Sting, Puff Daddy, and Alicia Keys.
Maserati sets high standards and expects the same of anyone he shares the studio with. He talked about working with an assistant engineer who the Hit Factory claimed was one of its "hottest guys."
"His game was light," Maserati said to about 25 students at one of the master classes, held in Studio 1A. "Lazy. Half-assed. It wasn't all the way and that just does not work in the professional world...guys need a wake-up call, big time. I've got to be at the top of my game every day. I can't have an attitude...I've got to have the same drive I had when I went to Berklee almost 20 years ago. Because there's guys like you wanting my job."
After enrolling as a Composition major at Berklee in the early 1980s, Maserati switched to Music Production and Engineering when the college launched the new major in 1983. After he completed his studies, he landed an entry-level job with Sigma Sound Studios in New York, and started to gain confidence in his skills. Then came the reality check.
"I was backing the assistant for months, and I thought my game was hot," said Maserati. "Two guys kicked my ass one day. They said, 'Look dude, you don't know nothing.' An engineer took me aside and told me about my attitude and what I needed to study about being an engineer."
A new outlook and a subsequent immersion in recording technology helped Maserati get noticed, but he said it was a grounding in a range of studio fundamentals that moved him onto the first-call list for engineers working in New York.
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| Maserati worked on the Black Eyed Peas' Elephunk, which was nominated for a Best Engineered Album Grammy. |
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"Anyone can get wrapped up in the technology of it, but it's not about technology," said Maserati. "I can use technology to serve the song, but I can't make a bad song better with technology...it's imperative that every engineer learn important things: how to record vocals, backup tracks, acoustics."
One of the biggest keys, Maserati said, is learning how to interact with musicians and other music professionals.
"This is a people kind of business," Maserati said. "You need to make relationships...watch how people work in the room, how they deal with other people. Serving the song. These things will never change."
Maintaining productive relationships with producers is one of the biggest challenges engineers face, Maserati said. "Good producers say 'I'll take care of this, this, and this. You got everything else.' Producers usually speak to me in emotions, not in technology. 'That chorus isn't hitting me. Something's missing.' I'd rather hear it on emotional than technology terms. Ninety percent talk only about emotional terms."
Maserati received three Grammy nominations this past year—two for Record of the Year for "Crazy In Love" by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, and "Where Is The Love," by the Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake, as well as a nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, for the Black Eyed Peas' Elephunk—and it's a good bet he'll receive more nominations in the near future. He's already worked on one of this year's most talked about albums, Kylie Minogue's Body Language, with a single that's reached number 2 on the dance charts. Looks like his game is still pretty hot.
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