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]

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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References

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  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.
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