Adam Ayan, a mastering engineer, poses next to Grammys and other awards that he’s won over the years. The former Windham, N.H., resident will speak at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill next week.
12/04/2015
Newburyport News
By Breanna Edelstein
Paul McCartney, Carrie Underwood, The Rolling Stones and Kelly Clarkson share more than worldwide fame. Through their careers, the stars have all worked with Adam Ayan, a Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer with roots in southern New Hampshire.
On Wednesday night, the former Windham, N.H., resident and alumnus of Pinkerton Academy in Derry, N.H., will be at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, giving a presentation on how he’s risen to the pinnacle of his craft.
As a student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Ayan, now 40, developed an affinity for recording studios on top of his passion for playing bass guitar.
“During my second semester of sophomore year, I completely changed gears,” he said. “My creative focus went from instruments to making music in the studio. Further along in college, I discovered mastering, and my interest for it peaked.”
Following graduation, he landed a job at Gateway Mastering Studios, a well-known Portland, Maine, company.
“Part of the reason I came to Gateway was because it’s a world-class mastering facility,” he said. “We work with indie artists up to superstars.”
In the 17 years since starting his career, he’s earned five Grammys and collected more than 90 gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums.
But even among industry professionals, the ins and outs of Ayan’s job are mysterious. He’s often answering the same question — “What do you do?”
“Most people know about the part where you put a microphone in front of a musician and record. Then there’s the mixing, where you balance all the things you’ve recorded,” he said. “But mastering is the last step where you take a final mix and use equalization and dynamic processing to make it sound as great as possible.”
Artists typically send their nearly completed albums to Ayan and trust him to finish them off, but they’re always welcome to join him during editing sessions, he said.
“It’s more so independent work,” he said. “Clients are all over the world, and most of them really like what we do, so they trust us. They send me mixes, I do my work and I send it back. That continues until they love the end result.”
Despite juggling a list of high-profile clientele, Ayan makes time to speak at several colleges and industry events each year.
This will be his second speaking engagement at NECC, where a friend from college played a fundamental role in starting the school’s one-year audio recording certificate program.
“This presentation is an incredible opportunity for not just music students, but the entire community to meet someone with Adam’s credentials,” NECC music professor Mike Lecuyer said.
More information: mlecuyer@necc.mass.edu or www.adamayan.com
If you go
- What: Grammy winner Adam Ayan talks music
- When: Wednesday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m.
- Where: Hartleb Technology Center, Room 103, Northern Essex Community College, 100 Elliott St., Haverhill
- How much: Free
Ayan’s Accolades
- 2005 Grammy for Best Historical Album
- 2007 Latin Grammys for Best Engineered Album and Album of the Year
- 2010 Latin Grammy for Album of the Year
- 2015 Latin Grammy for Album of the Year