Craig Bauer

Craig Bauer is a two-time GRAMMY Album of the Year nominee and GRAMMY Award winning mixing engineer.

Bauer began his mixing career in 1993 when he opened HINGE studios in Chicago, Illinois. In the early 90’s, Bauer’s clients included many of the top contemporary jazz artists, including; Brian Culbertson, and Dave Koz, and Steve Cole.

In 1997, Bauer began working with an obscure rap group dubbed “The Go Getters”, which included a very young Kanye West. Several of the demos West recorded with Bauer were later built into tracks on the College Dropout album. Bauer later mixed “Heard ‘Em Say”, “Roses”, “Bring Me Down”, “Addiction” and “Late” on Kanye West’s Late Registration Album which was nominated for Album of the Year at the 48th Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2006.

Bauer went on to mix Lupe Fiasco’s debut studio album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, which received four GRAMMY Award nominations at the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards, including a nomination for Best Rap Album. In 2007, Bauer mixed the majority of Fiasco’s second album, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, including the hit single “Superstar” which peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool was nominated in 4 categories at the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards.

In 2008 Bauer was again a nominee for Album of the Year for his contributions to Kanye West’s Graduation album. Bauer won a GRAMMY statue that year for mixing the Clark Sisters album Live: One Last Time. 

In addition to GRAMMY nominated works, Bauer also mixed the SNL Digital Short Motherlover featuring Justin Timberlake and Andy Samdberg. In 2012 The Live Room by Warren Music filmed Ed Sheeran performing 4 songs at HINGE studios, Chicago. Ed Sheeran specifically requested to film with Bauer at HINGE as he was a massive fan of the Late Registration album.

In 2014 Bauer relocated HINGE studios to Los Angeles, California where he continues to produce and mix major label and independent artist projects in nearly every genre of music.

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  AMEK EQ 200

  I've been (not so) patiently waiting for years for a faithful recreation of my favorite hardware EQ. The wait is now finally over with the AMEK 200. I can finally get back to the exact sound on kicks, snares, and vocals that was always a staple in my "analog" days. With the addition of Brainworx's TMT and M/S processing, the AMEK 200 adds features never possible with that legendary EQ.

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  NEOLD U17

  The NEOLD U17 compressor is unlike any other compressor in my vast vast arsenal of plugins. Its sound ranges from rather subtle and clean compression to coloration and tonality that's not easily described in "typical" terms. Having demoed it on a number of different sources, it was adding it to an acoustic guitar track that really stands out. It pushed that guitar forward in the mix while taming the transients and adding a coloration that was nothing short of brilliant. 

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  Brainworx bx_limiter True Peak

  Well... this just destroyed my go-to master fader limiter. Compared at equal level.

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  Knif Audio Soma

  Back in my analog outboard days, there was a well known and very high end analog parametric EQ that went on every kick, snare and lead vocal on every single mix for many years. I had yet to find it's equal in the digital domain....until now. The KNIF SOMA functions and sounds every bit as great as that analog staple. I can think of 8200 reasons why this just became my new "go to" EQ.

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  Vertigo VSM-3

  This new Vertigo Sound VSM-3 native plugin from Plugin Alliance will change your life.... I use the hardware version on my stereo bus on practically every mix.

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  SPL EQ Ranger Plus

  Developing the modules for EQ Ranger Plus was a fun and rewarding project. Whether a pro or a novice, having a variety of EQ setups to quickly pick from will give you a great starting point. For the novice, a graphic EQ like this is a great tool for honing your EQ skills.

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  Brainworx bx_console N

  How do you make one of my favorite and most used plugins absolutely perfect? The addition of THD and channel randomization answers the question. Now being able to dial in an appropriate amount of harmonic distortion, bx_console N has quickly become one of my most used tools in breathing analog life into a mix.

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  Brainworx bx_delay 2500

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  PA SPL Bundle

  SPL hardware had always been a staple back in my analog mixing days. Now that I'm fully ITB, I still rely daily on Plugin Alliance's faithful software emulations of these essential tools.