Bobby Owsinski


Bobby Owsinski is an American audio engineer, producer, musician, public speaker and author based in Los Angeles, California.
He is best known as author of over 20 books in the field of music, music recording and social media, and for audio engineering, especially in surround mixing with credits including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Pantera, Weird Al Yankovic, Willie Nelson, Elvis, Neil Young, Iron Maiden, The Ramones, and Chicago.

Early life

Bobby Owsinski grew up in Minersville, PA where he played guitar and sang in regional cover bands throughout his high school and college years. Early success as a professional musician came as a keyboard player with The Other Side, touring along the East Coast and eventually recording one album for De-Lite/Polygram.
Wanting to learn more about production and arranging, Owsinski enrolled in Berklee College of Music where he studied composition and majored in guitar. After a brief time as a student, he was hired as an instructor in the school's then-new recording program, where he stayed for an additional year until relocating to Los Angeles, California.

Audio Production And Engineering Career

Owsinski has worked on projects as an engineer, producer, writer or arranger including music, commercials, television and motion pictures. During his early years in Los Angeles he worked with a series of artists, including Frank Zappa, The Byrds, and Lou Rawls, among others. In the mid-90s he worked in the Southern California blues scene producing recordings for Willie Dixon, Joe Houston, Gerry Groom, and ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, and serving as Taylor's music director for one tour.
Owsinski was a co-founder of music-production company Surround Associates, and was among the first sound engineers to mix music specifically for DVD surround sound, working on projects for artists including Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, The Who, Willie Nelson, Iron Maiden, The Ramones and Chicago.
He has consulted for a variety of music and audio-related companies including Alesis, Amek, IK Multimedia, Lexicon, Line 6, Neve, PreSonus, Shattered Music, Tascam, United Entertainment Media, Waves, and Yamaha.
He also spent time as an educator, starting with teaching and authoring various audio-related courses at Berklee College of Music, then moving on to Trebas Recording Institute and Nova Institute. Today he conducts guest lectures and presentations at colleges and universities around the world.
Owsinski has appeared on ABC News’ 20/20 speaking about the 2012 Beyoncé Inauguration Ceremony controversy, on CNN’s New Day, as well other programs, podcasts, and radio shows. He has also been featured in artists in Sound On Sound, The Music Paper, Mix Magazine, EQ Magazine, among others.
Recent musical productions by Owsinski include SNEW and Adrianna Marie and Her Groovecutters, with her album Double Crossing Blues reaching #2 on the Billboard Blues Charts.

Writing career

Owsinski is an accomplished author in the area of audio engineering and music production with over 20 books released among three publishers and through his own publishing company. He has also written books outside the music business, including Social Media Promotion For Small Business and Entrepreneurs, and the Cruise Vacation FAQ Book.
Prior to authoring books, he wrote magazine articles for numerous trade publications, including Billboard, EQ, The Hollywood Reporter, Mix, Electronic Musician, Grammy Magazine, Film & Video, Pro Sound News, Music Connection and others. He maintains several of his own blogs and writes guest posts on other notable industry blogs, most notably Forbes, where he provides commentary on the new music business and music technology.
Many of Owsinski's books have also been released in a video format via Lynda.com.

Books

Owsinski has authored books on the subject of music and audio engineering since the 1990s, the following list reflects latest edition dates.
Audio-Related Books
Music Books
Music Business Books
Books Outside The Music Business