Ken Rich

Ken Rich (born 1967) is an American recording studio owner, producer, engineer, composer and musician. Rich has worked with artists such as Tracy Bonham, Angus & Julia Stone, Big Yuki, Ingrid Michaelson, Dar Williams, Joseph Arthur, Morley, Valerie June, Sophie B. Hawkins, Toshi Reagon, Lizz Wright, Brian Blade, and Cory Henry. In 2008, he received the Ovation Award for Intimate Theater and the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Sound Design.

Early life and education

Rich was born in Seattle, Washington, United States and grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he began playing violin at age five. He took up tuba at nine and electric bass at fifteen, the instrument that would define his professional career. At Oberlin College, where he majored in philosophy and minored in religion, he played in the big band jazz ensemble under Wendell Logan and later Donald Byrd, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989.

Career

After college, Rich returned to Boston, where he studied with Bruce Bartlett and Ed Friedland and played gigs with Bob Moses, Peter Calo, Stan Strickland, and Myanna, among others.

He moved to New York City in late 1990 and quickly established himself in the session and live music scene, playing regular blues gigs at Mondo Cane and Mondo Perso as well as with rock bands Blue Leaves (1994), Pull My Daisy (1995), Julia Darling and Miami Relatives (2001), performing regularly at CBGB, The Mercury Lounge, Arlene's Grocery, and The Bitter End. Rich served as bassist and musical director of Babatunde Olatunji's New York-based band from 1994 until Olatunji's death in 2004.

His early session work in NYC included David Byrne's "It Goes Back," "Offbeat: a Red Hot Soundtrip," Shabba Ranks' Grammy Award-winning album X-tra Naked (1993), and Laurie Anderson's "In Our Sleep" with Lou Reed. Those sessions inspired Rich to build a home recording studio in his Upper East Side railroad apartment, where he began composing for the NBA, WNBA, HBO, and VH1, while producing independent artists.

In 1998 he moved to the East Village, and in 2001 to Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where he produced Joseph Arthur’s album Our Shadows Will Remain— voted Entertainment Weeklys Album of the Year and Chris Rubin's (Rolling Stone) number one album of 2004. He also co-produced Arthur's "You're so True,"which appeared on the Shrek 2 soundtrack. During this period Rich also produced Tracy Bonham's "Blink The Brightest"(Zoe Records), Rene Lopez's "One Man's Year", and Morley's "Days Like These" (Universal France), and co-produced and recorded Julia Darling's self-titled album.