Biography

My career began at MediaSound Studios in New York City in 1976. I worked my way up from the Shipping Department to staff engineer by 1978. The staff engineers that I assisted were all the hottest guys in town including; Bob Clearmountain, Mike Barbiero, Ron St. Germain,Michael DeLugg, Ed Stasium, Godfrey Diamond, Tony Bongiovi and Harvey Goldberg.

My first big break came when I was asked to record and mix two songs with singer Luther Vandross for an R&B record called Change. Soon after, Luther approached me to record his upcoming solo album Never too Much which went on to become a Gold Record. I became Luther’s engineer and recorded all his music for the next four years including two Aretha Franklin albums.

In 1984 I flew over to London where the music scene was exploding. I met some A&R people that were willing to give me a shot at production and remixing. I soon became in demand and worked for all the major London labels until 1990 when I decided to focus on the American scene.

I went on to mix such records as the Stones' Steelwheels, New Radicals, Tony Bennett’s Grammy® Album of the YearUnplugged. I've received 7 Grammys® including ColdPlay's Alternative Album of the Year Parachutes, John Mayer’s Best Pop Vocal Album, Continuum, ColdPlay's Best Rock Album, Viva la Vida, John Mayer - Best Engineer in Non-Classical, Battle Studies, Calle 13’s Best Latin Rock Urban or Alternative album for Multi Viral along with a Latin Grammy for Calle 13 Best Urban Album and Angelique Kidjo, Best World Music Album for Eve. ​

In 2018 I opened my own studio, BrauerSound Studios, in New York City's Chelsea area. At the new studio I began utilizing a hybrid mixing setup for the first time in my career, making the mixing process more powerful and efficient.

Recent projects include Zac Brown Band, Hootie & the Blowfish, Michael Kiwanuka, Slash, and The Courteeners.

Michael Brauer's Website

Articles

Product Reviews

  • The PSP 2445 is an exceptional reverb plugin. I remember seeing the original in all the mastering rooms. It was a really high quality verb that few could afford. The depth and natural decay of the PSP 2445 plugin is impressive. They matched perfectly the original and actually I think they improved it. It's no surprise, I love so many of their other plugins.

  • Brainworx bx_console SSL 9000 J

    The bx_console SSL 9000 J was the missing link going hybrid and in the box. I have it across all my tracks.

  • Three-Body Technology Kirchhoff-EQ

    I was not expecting to have the Kirchhoff-EQ sounding so musical. Usually graft EQs are more like a surgical tool and very transparent. This plugin had a lotta warmth and punch if I chose it or smooth upper midrange almost in the pultec feel. Nice work!

  • Black Box Analog Design HG-2MS

    I love that you can really dig into the different parameters of width and tone to achieve pretty much anything your creativity desires.

  • ADPTR AUDIO Streamliner

    ADPTR AUDIO's Streamliner is so incredibly revealing in how your mixes are being spit out on these different platforms, and it's scary to hear that some of these aren't worth spit.

  • Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor Class A

    I love my customized Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, not only did Brainworx match it, but I have to admit, I wish it had all those extra cool features like the mono-maker, stereo width and the parallel to name a few.