KORI ANDERS · MIXING ENGINEER
KORI
ANDERS.
Before I knew there was such a thing as an audio engineer, I was just a kid in San Jose who wanted to be a DJ.
MUSIC WAS
ALWAYS THERE.
Growing up in San Jose, California, I was exposed to everything from classical and jazz to the music that would eventually shape my own identity as a DJ.
Long before I understood what happened behind the glass in a recording studio, I was learning to listen — to what made a record move, what made it feel a certain way, and what made you want to hear it again.
I CHOSE
MUSIC.
My path to becoming a mixing engineer wasn't exactly a straight one.
I graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in finance and moved to Chicago, where I was preparing to begin law school. About a month before classes started, I made a decision that changed the course of my life: I walked away from law school and enrolled in Full Sail University's Recording Arts program.
That leap eventually led me to Atlanta's recording industry and a career that has now spanned more than two decades.
THE RECORD
COMES FIRST.
Along the way, I've had the opportunity to work on records with artists and producers including Usher, Future, Gucci Mane, André 3000, Wyclef Jean, Pharrell and many others.
The work has earned Grammy recognition and Gold and Platinum certifications — milestones I'm grateful for, but never the reason I started doing this.
The reason has always been the record.
THE PHILOSOPHY
MUSIC IS
SACRED TO ME.
REVEAL IT.
DON'T REPLACE IT.
My approach to mixing comes from a combination of everything that came before it: the kid absorbing different kinds of music, the DJ learning how records move people, and the engineer who has spent decades developing an ear for the smallest details.
A great mix shouldn't replace what made a record special. It should reveal it.
That means clarity without sterility. Impact without sacrificing emotion. Low end that moves. Vocals that connect. Depth, dimension and polish — while preserving the character that made you believe in the song in the first place.
More than twenty years into this career, that's still what excites me: taking something an artist has created and helping it become the fullest version of what it was meant to be.
Some of those records have gone on to become part of people's lives.
I DON'T TAKE
THAT LIGHTLY.
— Kori Anders