Steve Sykes is a legendary recording engineer/mixer with 375 Billboard charting projects.

I had a chance to catch up with veteran studio legend Steve Sykes and he shared a lot of cool stories and studio tips in this interview. We had a blast! His advice for young people starting in the business is straight inside scoop and he shares it towards the end of this video.

Steve’s knowledge of diverse musical styles is demonstrated in his wide list of credits which include many Latin artists.  He has worked with superstars Enrique Iglesias, Luis Fonsi and Cristian Castro, Puerto Rican songstress Ednita Nazario, Thalía, Maria Conchita Alonso and Argentinian ska rockers “Los Fabulosos Cadillacs”.  Many of these albums went gold or platinum.  After mixing a couple of albums for platinum selling Spanish rock band Seguridad Social, they asked him to come to Spain to produce an album.  That collaboration resulted in the hit album “Camino Vertical”.  A year later, Steve again headed to Spain to produce another album for the band, “Va Por Ti”.  His international projects also include many for Japanese clients and he has made numerous trips to Japan to record and mix.  Among his Japanese projects are the number one hit and platinum album “Love Again” for popular band Globe and teenage superstar Rie Miyazawa’s first album.  Steve won a Japanese recording award for his work on Mari Ijima’s album “Good Medicine” in 1996.  Recently Steve mixed a best of album for Italian star Umberto Tozzi with producer Greg Mathieson.
 
Other musical genres Steve has worked in extensively are jazz and smooth jazz.  He has recorded and mixed for most of the major artists on the smooth jazz charts including multiple albums for artists including The Rippingtons, David Benoit, Mindi Abair, Rick Braun, Jeff Golub, Wayman Tisdale, Peter White, Paul Taylor, Everette Harp, Brian Culbertson, Diane Schuur, Eric Marienthal and Warren Hill.  He mixed an album for reggae group Black Uhuru which went to the top of the Billboard World Music charts.  He recorded tracks for two albums by Lalah Hathaway, both of which had hit singles on the Adult R&B and Hot R&B charts.  Steve recorded and mixed the reunion album for jazz fusion band Seawind.  He recorded and mixed two albums for singer Miki Howard.  “Miki Sings Billie” was her tribute album to legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday and featured full orchestra recordings by Steve at Capitol Studios.  In 2008, Steve recorded and mixed Al Jarreau’s top Contemporary Jazz Christmas album “Christmas”.
 
Recently Steve has recorded tracks for celebrity DJ “DJ Cassidy”, whose first single “Calling All Hearts” features Robin Thicke and Jessie J.  Cassidy’s album “Paradise Royale” hosts a who’s who of the hottest studio musicians and performers in the world including drummer John “JR” Robinson, guitarists Paul Jackson Jr and Nile Rodgers, bassists Marcus Miller, Freddie Washington, Verdine White and Bobby Watson.  Among the performers on this album were Larry Dunn and Philip Bailey, thus reuniting Steve with his former band mates. This time Steve was the engineer and not the guitar player. In an issue of Electronic Musician magazine, Steve gives an in depth interview where he explains some of the recording techniques, studios and equipment he used in the making of this album.

Find out more about steve at his website https://www.stevesykes.com

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