Multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning engineer, mixer, producer Charles Dye has mixed records for John Ralston , Robi Draco Rosa, Ricky Martin, Jon Bon Jovi, Julio Iglesias, Sammy Hagar, Billie Myers, Jon Secada, and Jenna Drey, as well as recording Lauryn Hill, Shakira, Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez, Thalia, Hanson, Gloria Estefan, and many others.
In the last few years Dye has become a bit of a pioneer in the area of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) mixing, evidenced by his mix of Livin’ La Vida Loca, as Dan Daley said in Mix Magazine, “a milestone of technology: the first Number One record to be done completely within a hard disk system. In addition to changing the course of mainstream pop music, ‘La Vida’ may also turn out to be a pivot point in how records are made.†Dye’s further commitment to mixing in-the-box was demonstrated by his two-time Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated engineering and mixing of five additional songs on Martin’s English debut album, including two more singles Shake Your Bon Bon and Private Emotion.
In 2001 Dye was awarded a Latin Grammy® Award for Best Engineered Album for Thalia’s Arrasando, working with a DAW on that project as well. As a veteran DAW user he has recorded, mixed and produced almost every record he's worked on in the last nine years completely on these systems, and though he may use an analog or digital large-format console from time to time, you’ll always find his DAW nearby for the sounds and techniques he’s become known for.
DAW’s have radically changed the way records are made today and Dye is a big believer in helping improve other users experience with this new and sometimes challenging technology. He has toured the world (quite literally from Paris to Taipei) teaching Mixing In the Box Master Classes at Digidesign's DigiWorld events. And his extremely popular monthly column Hard Disk Life featured in DIGIZINE is a twelve month DAW mixing course. (Available for FREE: HdL Column .)
More recently, Dye's Mix It Like A Record interactive mixing course has become enormously successful and widely praised. Leading industry professionals, pro audio critics, top educators, bestselling authors and users all agree, Mix It Like A Record is the best and fastest way to learn the elusive skill of mixing. The DVD walks the viewer through every step of a single mix, plug-in by plug-in, fader by fader.
Dye has also worked hard to help establish a set of standard guidelines to help all DAW users. As chairman of the Recording Academy’s DAW Guidelines for Music Production Committee, Dye is one of the contributors along with Roger Nichols, Eric Schilling, Tom Morris, and other dedicated recording professionals who created the Pro Tools Session Guidelines for Music Production three years ago.
Now, Nichols, Schilling, Morris and Dye have joined together with Chuck Ainlay, Frank Filipetti, David Rosenthal, Scott Garrigus, Don Gunn, and other very committed music + pro audio professionals to create the DAW Guidelines for Music Production , a universal set of guidelines that will apply to all DAW users. They can eliminate much confusion for all operators on a project, provide answers to anticipated questions, solve certain problems before they arise, and shorten the time between opening a session and going to work. Making the transferring of sessions from one operator to the next as seamless as possible.
Additionally, Dye has his own studio, Ranch Labs, on a converted horse ranch in Hollywood, FL where he does much of his mixing and production work.
For more visit these sites:
Turn Me Up! – Bringing Dynamics Back to Music
MiLaR Forum – Advanced mixing forum + MiX iT! educational event
Recent Projects – Indie, alternative + modern rock
Project Studio Network – The best podcast on recording
