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The Change Makers

Meet the producers, engineers, songwriters and musicians By SOS Team
Published September 2023

The Change Makers

Meet the producers, engineers, songwriters and musicians featured on this month’s Sound On Sound front cover.

1. Anna Laverty

Anna Laverty is a producer, engineer, mixer and co‑writer whose credits include Camp Cope, Stella Donnelly, Amanda Palmer, Pinch Points and Courtney Barnett. Anna is also founder of the Music Producer and Engineers’ Guild of Australia.

2. Jennifer Decilveo

Jennifer Decilveo is a Grammy Award‑winning producer, songwriter and multi‑instrumentalist who has played a pivotal role in numerous projects across multiple genres. 

3. Marta Salogni

Italian‑born, Grammy‑nominated recording engineer, producer and mixer Marta Salogni works from her own Studio Zona, in London. Some of the artists she’s worked with include Björk, Depeche Mode, Sampha, MIA, Bon Iver, Black Midi, Animal Collective and Holly Herndon.

4. Manon Grandjean

Based in London, Manon Grandjean worked for award‑winning songwriter and producer Fraser T Smith before becoming a freelance mix and mastering engineer in 2020. She has worked with a wide range of artists including Stormzy, Nao, Flo, Cat Burns and many more, and has been involved in six UK number ones and 18 top 10s.

5. Halina Rice

Halina Rice is an electronic music producer and AV artist working at the intersection of music, art and technology: her sold‑out live shows have been described as “part rave, part art‑happening”. Her performances and installations are frequently presented in spatial sound, both in physical venues as well as metaverse and VR environments.

6. Linda Perry

Beginning her musical journey as the lead singer of 4 Non Blondes, Linda Perry has profoundly impacted pop culture through her work as a producer and songwriter, helping shape the sounds of Pink, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Britney Spears, Adele, Arianna Grande, Celine Dion, Miley Cyrus, James Blunt and many more.

7. Eve Horne

Award‑winning creative mentor and advisor Eve Horne has over 20 years’ experience in the music industry as a singer, songwriter and producer. She is founder of PeakMusicUK and the UNHEARD Campaign, and recently become an Ivors Academy Senator and a Board Director at the MPG.

8. Grace Banks

Grace Banks is a mixer and producer with a background in writing. She has engineered for Robyn, Jamie T, D Double E, Omar Apollo, Hozier, Jockstrap, Black Midi, Kelsey Lu and the Blessed Madonna, and has worked with producers and mixers such as Kid Harpoon, Inflo, Jim Abbiss, Alan Moulder, Catherine Marks, Markus Dravs and Marta Salogni.

9. Katie Tavini

Katie Tavini is a mastering engineer with a rich and diverse client list that is not limited to a particular sound or scene. Her recent credits include Bloc Party, Arlo Parks, Fatherson, Nadine Shah, Hundred Reasons, Emeli Sandé and Ash.

10. Emily Lazar

Grammy Award winner and eight‑time nominee Emily Lazar has mastered more than 4000 albums for the world’s leading artists, from the Beatles to David Bowie. Her studio, The Lodge, offers state‑of‑the‑art mixing, mastering and specialised recording, as well as immersive mixing and mastering for Dolby Atmos. A proponent for gender equity and inclusivity, Lazar founded nonprofit organisation We Are Moving The Needle to help shape the future of the recording industry.

11. Catherine Marks

Producer and mix engineer Catherine Marks produced and mixed Wolf Alice’s Grammy‑nominated ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’, mixed the Grammy Award‑winning album Masseduction by St Vincent and has production or mix credits on six top‑10 UK albums, including boygenius’ recent number one album the record. Catherine is an Executive Director of the Music Producers Guild.

12. Ramera Abraham

Ramera Abraham is a London‑based vocal producer, recording engineer and songwriter. She frequently works with music distribution and artist services company Platoon across their artist roster. Ramera was also included in SheSaidSo’s Alternative Power 100 List 2021 as one to watch, and is the Music Producers Guild’s Vocal Producer of the Year 2023.  

13. Hannah V

Jumping from the Royal Academy of Music into playing stadiums with stars such as Rihanna, Jessie J, Jason Derulo and Taio Cruz, Hannah V soon found her true vocation in production and songwriting, working with artists such as Yola, Stormzy, JP Cooper, Lalah Hathaway and TOBi. In 2018 she scored her first gold‑certified album from producing and co‑writing on JP Cooper’s Raised Under Grey Skies, and in 2021 was part of the writing team for Yola’s Grammy‑nominated album Stand For Myself.

14. Olga FitzRoy

Olga FitzRoy is an award‑winning recording engineer and mixer with credits including Coldplay, The Crown and the London 2012 Olympics. Recording Engineer of the Year in 2016, she served on the board of the Music Producers Guild from 2019‑2022 and has previously stood for the UK parliament for the Labour party in Croydon, South London.

15. Leslie Gaston‑Bird

Leslie Gaston‑Bird began her term as President‑Elect of the Audio Engineering Society in 2023. She is founder and director of Immersive and Inclusive Audio, CIC, which provides training in Avid Pro Tools and Dolby Atmos certification for underrepresented groups. Author of Women In Audio and Math Fundamentals For Audio, Leslie is Lecturer in Sound Recording & Music Production at City University in London.

16. Ann Mincieli

Ann Mincieli is a recording and mix engineer best known for her work with Alicia Keys. Mincieli has three Grammy Awards and five nominations. Ann and Alicia are co‑founders of Jungle City Studios in New York, and partners in She Is the Music, a non‑profit organisation aiming to increase the number of women in the music industry. 

17. Steph Marziano

Philadelphia‑born, London‑based Steph Marziano moved to the UK to study at LIPA and later cut her teeth as an engineer recording Kasabian’s UK number one ‘For Crying Out Loud’. She now works as a producer, songwriter and engineer, and her co‑writing credits include Hayley Williams (of Paramore), ODESZA and Bartees Strange.

18. Dani Bennett Spragg

Dani Bennett Spragg is a recording engineer and mixer who started her career as an assistant at Assault & Battery Studios, the home of Flood and Alan Moulder, in 2016. Dani is now freelance and works mainly from her mix room in West London. She was voted Recording Engineer of the Year at the 2021 MPG Awards. 

19. Mika Sellens

Mika Sellens is a producer, writer, mixer and engineer from London with a background in electroacoustic music and sound art. Mika is a professor of Electronic and Produced Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a Senator for the Ivors Academy, and an Executive Director of the Music Producers Guild.

20. Charlie Deakin‑Davis

Charlie Deakin‑Davies, aka charlieeeee, is a songwriter, producer and artist based at Ten87 Studios in Tottenham Hale. Having been in‑house writer/producer for Gary Barlow, Charlie has gone on to work with Laura Marling, dodie, MNEK, FRED, James Bay, RAYE, KAMILLE, GIRLI, Ellie Dixon, venbee, piri & tommy and more, and was twice voted NMG’s Producer of the Year.

21. Fiona Cruickshank

Award‑winning engineer, producer and film music editor Fiona Cruickshank has a portfolio that spans film, music and performance arts. In recent months, Fiona has worked with Alicia Keys and Keaton Henson, as well as with the National on their acclaimed album First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, while her film credits include The Little Mermaid, Greatest Days and The Whale.

22. Isabel Gracefield

Isabel is an engineer and mixer based at London’s RAK Studios. She worked on Dua Lipa’s multi‑platinum, Grammy Award‑winning album Future Nostalgia, and other high‑profile credits include PJ Harvey, Razorlight, Jim Abbiss, Lionel Richie and sessions for Hans Zimmer at British Grove.

23. Gili Portal & Stephanie De Angelis

Gili and Stephanie are assistant engineers at RAK Studios in London. Sound On Sound would like to thank RAK and Emma Townsend for making the studio available for our cover photo shoot.

This special issue of Sound On Sound is brought to you in association with the Music Producers Guild. Thanks also to Phoebe Fox and Andreia Lemos for photography and design.

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