Brent Kolatalo

Brent Kolatalo
Background information
OriginCincinnati, Ohio, United States
Genres
Occupations
Years active2003–present
Websitebrentk.com

Brent Kolatalo is an American mixer, record producer, engineer and songwriter based in New York City. Kolatalo has worked with numerous artists and musicians, including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Eminem, Drake, Bruno Mars, X Ambassadors, Future, Chris Webby, Ella Henderson, Taylor Swift, Lorde, OneRepublic, Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey among others.[1]

He has worked on several albums such as, To Pimp a Butterfly, Uptown Special, If You're Reading This it's too Late, Based On a T.R.U. Story, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne, Just Charlie, Late Registration and The College Dropout among others.

Life and career

Kolatalo was born in Barberton and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio.[2] He began practicing guitar when he was a kid, one of his tutors was Jeff Martin.[3][4]

He attended Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio and graduated in 2000.[4] In 2002, he went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, during summers he was a trainee at Avatar studios.[5] Kolatalo dropped out in 2004 after working on Kanye West debut studio album, The College Dropout which earning several nominations at the 47th Grammy Awards.[5][6]

In 2007, Kolatalo started The Skywalkers, a production team with his partner Ken Lewis which has been renamed, Katalyst in 2011.[7][8]

Kolatalo's songwriting credits include "The Blacker the Berry", Kendrick Lamar's track, which appeared on his album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).[2] He is the engineer on multi-platinum Mark Ronson's single featuring Bruno Mars, "Uptown Funk".[9][10] In 2016, Kolatalo recorded and played on the track "Come to Mama" from Lady Gaga's album, Joanne.[11] In 2019, he has worked on Taylor Swift's album, Lover.[12]

Awards and recognition

He is a three-time Grammy nominee by name and has worked on over sixteen Grammy nominated albums.[13][8] Having nominated for his work as audio and mixer engineer on works such as Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly (2015),[10] Eminem's Eminem (Recovery) (2010)[14] and Kanye West’s The College Dropout (2004).[15]

Grammy awards

Year Artist Album or Song Category Result
2015 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly - The Blacker the Berry Best Rap Album Nominated
2010 Eminem Recovery - Session One Best Rap Album Nominated
2004 Kanye West The College Dropout - All Falls Down, Heavy Hitters, Last Call, Family Business Best Rap Album Nominated

Discography

References

  1. ^ Heads, Ambrosia For (December 30, 2019). "Here Are Ambrosia For Heads' Top 25 Rap Albums Of The Decade". Ambrosia For Heads. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Dorn, Anna (February 12, 2018). "Meet Ken Lewis: Hip-Hop's Max Martin". DJBooth. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  3. ^ Sep 25, Hollin Jones on; comments, 2019 in Interviews 0. "Interview: Brent Kolatalo". ask.audio. Retrieved February 6, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Hilty, Lindsey. "Lakota alumni win Grammy awards". journal-news. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Brent Kolatalo". Barker Collective. Retrieved February 6, 2021.[dead link‍]
  6. ^ "Brent Kolatalo". GRAMMY.com. November 23, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  7. ^ "Ken Lewis: The One Man Band ...From Joe Budden to Kanye West". AllHipHop.com. May 13, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Producer Crosstalk: Brent Kolatalo". Music Connection Magazine. August 14, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  9. ^ "Ken Lewis". Plugin Alliance. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  10. ^ a b "US: BMG Proudly Congratulates Clients On Their Grammy Success". BMG. February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  11. ^ "Meet the Creative Team Behind Lady Gaga's 'Joanne' Album". Billboard. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  12. ^ "Taylor Swift - Lover Credits and Streams". FreeMusicCredits.com. August 23, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  13. ^ September 2019, Ben Rogerson 06 (September 6, 2019). "Brent Kolatalo: 5 things I've learned about music production". MusicRadar. Retrieved February 6, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "Berklee Alumni Win 13 Grammy Awards | Berklee". college.berklee.edu. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  15. ^ "Alumni All-Stars in the Field of Music Production and Engineering | Berklee". college.berklee.edu. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  16. ^ Reilly, Dan (November 17, 2020). "9 Engineers on the Hardest Song They Ever Mixed". Vulture. Retrieved February 6, 2021.