Jimmy Douglass, also known as "The Senator", is an American recording engineer and record producer. Active since 1970, he has been credited on singles and albums for fellow Virginia-based acts including Missy Elliott and Timbaland.
Career
In the early 1970s at Atlantic Records studios in New York City, he started his studio career as a part-time tape duplicator while still attending high school. There he learned how to operate the studio's custom made 16-channel console and observed, was trained by, as well as worked with some of the greatest engineers, producers and record moguls including Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun. For his first time behind the faders, he was encouraged by Wexler to engineer the session recording for a demo of a new band.[1] He went on to work with Atlantic Recording artists such as Aretha Franklin, Hall & Oates, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Foreigner, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.
Douglass started the first half of the 1990s, working mainly on jingles and post-production. This style of work taught him the importance of working efficiently and capturing the vibe which would greatly benefit him in the years to come. In 1994, he began working with up and coming contemporary R&B/hip hop duo Timbaland & Magoo and served as their main engineer for more than a decade. They would eventually collaborate on classic projects from artists such as Aaliyah, Playa, Missy Elliott, Ginuwine and Jay-Z.
