Andrew Dawson (record producer)

Andrew Dawson (born March 12, 1980) is an American music producer, engineer, mixer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. Dawson is a three-time Grammy award winner and six-time Grammy nominee, having won for his work as engineer and mixer on Kanye West's Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) - each winning the Best Rap Album category.^[1][2] Dawson is also credited with additional production on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.^[3] Although Dawson made his initial breakthrough with hip hop artists including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Common, Tyler The Creator, and P.O.S, Dawson has also moved on to produce and work on records for pop, indie and rock bands including fun., The Rolling Stones, Pet Shop Boys, Sleigh Bells, Baskery and Night Terrors of 1927.^{[citation needed]}

Life and career[]

Personal life[]

Dawson began playing piano at the age of 5, studying jazz and classical piano at a private music conservatory until the age of 16. During the last few years of high school, Dawson interned at a Minneapolis recording studio and during the summers did live sound mixing for outdoor concerts.^[4] Dawson then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he majored in Music Production & Engineering. While living in the Boston area Dawson worked at Lexicon - a company famous for manufacturing digital reverb units including the 480L.^[5] In 2001 Dawson moved to New York City, where he worked as an assistant then later became a staff engineer at Sony Music Studios.^[4][5][6] Dawson prefers to work on projects that have meaning, due to his passion for music, and work with artists who are equally as passionate about their records.^[7]

Dawson currently works and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Work with Kanye West[]

In 2003, midway through the recording and producer sessions for Kanye West's The College Dropout, Dawson was called to try for the position of Kanye West's engineer. The rap artist and producer Kanye West had gone through a string of seven engineers, all of whom were fired.^[8] Dawson was able to impress the rap star and maintained his position. Since then Dawson has worked as Kanye West's primary audio and mixing engineer. In a period spanning almost 9 years, Dawson has been directly involved in all five Kanye West studio album releases, totaling in sales of over 11 million records^[9][10][11] and four #1 US albums.^[12]

SoundEQ Studios[]

Dawson currently has its own studio, SoundEQ Studios in Hollywood.^[5] The majority of fun.'s chart topping album Some Nights, including #1 single "We Are Young" was recorded at SoundEQ Studios.^[13] Dawson has hosted co-writing sessions with artists and writers including Andy Grammer, Hudson Taylor, Baby E, Zack Waters, K.Flay, Michelle Branch, Kimbra, and Jimmy Harry.

Discography[]

Artist	Year	Album	Producer	Engineer	Mixer	Co-writer
Code Orange	2020	Underneath			Y[14]
Teyana Taylor	2018	K.T.S.E.	Y		Y
Baskery		Coyote & Sirens	Y	Y	Y
Mike Shinoda		Post Traumatic	Y			Y
Pusha T		Daytona	Y	Y		Y
Linkin Park	2017	One More Light	Y
Childish Gambino	2013	Because the Internet			Y
Night Terrors of 1927		Guilty Pleas	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tyler, The Creator		Wolf			Y
Kanye West		Yeezus		Y
Phlo Finister		Poster Girl EP	Y			Y
Sleigh Bells		Bitter Rivals			Y
The Rolling Stones	2012	GRRR!		Y
Kanye West		Cruel Summer			Y
Pet Shop Boys		Elysium	Y	Y	Y
Versa Emerge		Another Atmosphere	Y	Y	Y	Y
POP ETC		POP ETC	Y	Y	Y
P.O.S.		We Don't Even Live Here	Y	Y	Y	Y
fun.		Some Nights		Y
Beyoncé	2011	4		Y
Kanye West, Jay-Z		Watch the Throne		Y
Big Sean		Finally Famous		Y
Snoop Dogg		Doggumentary		Y
Chamillionaire		"When Ya On" single	Y	Y		Y
T.I.	2010	No Mercy		Y
Kanye West		My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy *	co-PY	Y	Y
Rick Ross		Teflon Don		Y
Various Artists		Just Dance Vol. 3			Y
Common		Go! - Common Classics		Y
Mr. Hudson		Straight No Chaser		Y	Y
Thirty Seconds to Mars	2009	This Is War		Y
Mary J. Blige		Stronger with Each Tear		Y
Kid Cudi		Man on the Moon: The End of Day		Y
Jay-Z		The Blueprint 3		Y
N.A.S.A.		The Spirit of Apollo		Y
Kanye West	2008	808s & Heartbreak		Y	Y
T-Pain		Thr33 Ringz		Y
T.I.		Paper Trail			Y
Kanye West feat. Chris Martin		"Homecoming" single		Y	Y
Lil Wayne		The Carter III			Y
Kanye West	2007	Graduation *		Y	Y
Chrisette Michele		I Am		Y
Ne-Yo		Because of You		Y
Consequence		Don't Quit Your Day Job!		Y	Y
John Legend		Once Again		Y
UGK	2006	Underground Kingz		Y
Common		Finding Forever		Y	Y
Jay-Z		Kingdom Come		Y
Nas		Hip Hop Is Dead		Y
The Game		Doctor's Advocate		Y
Monica		The Makings of Me			Y
The Notorious B.I.G.	2005	Duets: The Final Chapter		Y
Paul Wall		The People's Champ		Y
Kanye West		Late Registration *		Y	Y
Common		Be		Y
John Legend	2004	Get Lifted		Y
Destiny's Child		Destiny Fulfilled			Y
Maria Mena		White Turns Blue			Y
Kanye West		The College Dropout		Y

• Indicates Grammy win.

References[]