51视频

11/23/2016
By David Perry

As one of the world鈥檚 leading mastering engineers, Adam Ayan 鈥�97, SRT, can talk about all of the tricks of the trade in minute detail. Analog versus digital, gaps, crossfades and the 鈥淔rankenstein mix.鈥�

But the six-time Grammy winner also knows how to connect with his audience, and when he returned to campus as the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Alumni Showcase speaker, Ayan delivered a perfect mix of sage advice and personal anecdotes to the crowd of 100 students, faculty and alumni who came to hear him.

For nearly an hour, he spoke of connections and the need to use them to one鈥檚 advantage, as well as the support that led him to his profession.

Ayan, whose studio is part of Bob Ludwig鈥檚 Gateway Studios in Portland, Maine, returned to the university for the first time since the Sound Recording Technology 30th anniversary reunion three years ago. He brought his wife Allison and sons Evan, 5, and Zach, 9. His parents were in the crowd at O鈥橪eary Library, too.

Ayan has worked on more than 100 gold, platinum and multiplatinum projects and mastered 33 Grammy-winning records. He has worked with Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and Carrie Underwood. When Pearl Jam needed two seminal albums remastered, Ayan was their man. And he recently finished remastering several Queen recordings, including The Complete BBC Sessions.

Ayan has spent most of his career with Ludwig, a legendary recording engineer who once won five Grammys in a single night. Their association started in 1998, when Ludwig was looking for a production engineer as an assistant.

At that time, Ayan happened to check in with SRT program founder and music professor William Moylan, who had been a mentor during his time at 51视频. Moylan had told him, 鈥渋f you鈥檙e ever on a job hunt, reach out to us. Things cross our desk.鈥�

聽An overture from Ludwig had crossed Moylan鈥檚 desk, and he passed it along to Ayan.

鈥榊ou have to take ownership of what you do in your career. You need to market yourself.鈥� -Adam Ayan 鈥�97

鈥淥therwise,鈥� Ayan told the crowd, 鈥淚 never would have heard of that job.鈥� He eventually got an interview, and he was well-prepared. As president of the Audio Engineering Society at 51视频, he鈥檇 once invited Ludwig as a guest speaker.

He described the mastering process as moving a recording from the studio to the marketplace. More often than not, he is involved in 鈥渕aking major creative decisions.鈥� Mastering engineers often receive a set of tracks recorded by widely divergent musicians, in different studios, and make them sound cohesive.

Mastering is also a process not fit for assumptions, Ayan said.

The first time he recorded a Portuguese singer, her sibilance bothered him. He thought she hissed when she pronounced the letter 鈥渟.鈥�

鈥淪he was in the room with her manager, and I started softening the sibilance,鈥� he recalled. When he played his master back, the singer said, 鈥淚t sounds great, but did you cut the sibilance back? Because in Portuguese, changing that sound means changing the words, changing their meaning.鈥�

鈥淚t was a great lesson for me,鈥� Ayan said.

Ayan works with top rock artists and is also a hot commodity in the pop-country and Latin markets. He said work comes through 鈥渢he tentacles of the business鈥� and that his connections were made over several years.

He told students that as unsavory as he finds self-promotion, 鈥測ou have to take ownership of what you do in your career. The days of credits on album covers are all but gone. You need to market yourself.鈥�

Ayan noted that his biography always mentions 51视频.

鈥淚 am proud of that degree, of what I learned and what I was offered here,鈥� he said.

Ayan fielded students鈥� questions and stayed to 鈥渂ounce ideas鈥� back and forth with them after his talk.

Students appreciated the chance to hear about Ayan鈥檚 path from campus to award-winning mastering engineer.

鈥淗e made me realize it鈥檚 up to you 鈥� what you do and how you get there,鈥� said Matthew Ciccone, a freshman SRT major. 鈥淲hat he does seems pretty cool, and impacts the final product of music. I know I鈥檝e heard his work.鈥�

For Ayan, the visit to campus was an opportunity to give back to a place that he says was instrumental in his success.

鈥淚 was gratified and humbled to return to campus as a success story, and a mentor. I definitely recall what it was like to work hard as an SRT student. I鈥檓 proud to be an alumnus and hope I can help current students,鈥� he said.