Ken Rich is an American producer/engineer/ composer and musician. He began playing violin at age 5, tuba at age 9 and moved on to the electric bass at age 15. After majoring in philosophy at Oberlin College

Oberlin College

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

 while pursuing intensive jazz studies with Wendell Logan

Wendell Logan

Wendell Morris Logan was an American jazz and concert music composer who created the jazz department at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music....

 and Donald Byrd

Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...

, he moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1991. He quickly ensconced himself in the session and live music scene of New York playing bass on David Byrne

David Byrne

David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...

's "It Goes Back", "Offbeat - a Red Hot Soundtrip", Shabba Ranks

Shabba Ranks

Shabba Ranks is a Jamaican dancehall musician.He was one of the most popular dancehall artists of his generation. He was also one of the first Jamaican deejays to gain worldwide acceptance, and recognition for his 'slack' lyrical expressions and content, when "ridin' di riddim"...

' 1993 Grammy Award winning album "X-Tra Naked", and Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson

Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...

's "In Our Sleep" with Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

. Mr. Rich was a member of Babatunde Olatunji

Babatunde Olatunji

Babatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist and recording artist.- Biography :Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at...

’s NYC-based band from 1994 until Olatunji's death in 2004.

Those sessions inspired Rich to develop his own home studios in the East Village

East Village, Manhattan

The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...

 and Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 apartments where he produced Joseph Arthur

Joseph Arthur

Joseph Arthur is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. Combining poetic lyrics with a layered sonic palette, Arthur has built his reputation over the years through critically acclaimed releases and constant touring; his unique solo live performances incorporate the use of a...

’s album “Our Shadows Will Remain

Our Shadows Will Remain

Our Shadows Will Remain is the fourth studio album by Joseph Arthur. The album was released in the US September 28, 2004 on 12" vinyl, October 12, 2004 on CD, and in the UK on July 11, 2005 on CD and double 12" vinyl...

” which was voted Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

’s Album of the Year in 2004 and Chris Rubin’s (Rolling Stone) Number One album of 2004. He also co-produced Mr. Arthur’s “You’re so True” which appeared on the Grammy-nominated Shrek 2 Soundtrack. From those home studios Mr. Rich also produced Tracy Bonham

Tracy Bonham

Tracy Bonham is an American alternative rock musician best known for her 1996 single "Mother Mother".Raised in Eugene, Oregon, Bonham is a classically-trained violinist and pianist...

’s “Blink The Brightest” (Zoe Records), Rene Lopez’s “One Man’s Year” and Morley’s “Days Like These” (Universal France) which Time magazine said “embodies modern-day NY femininity in all its multicultural finesse”.

In 2007 Ken Rich opened Grand Street Recording in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...

 where his credits include Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...

 “Red Letter Year” (Righteous Babe Records-2008), The Gutter Twins

The Gutter Twins

The Gutter Twins is a musical collaboration between rock musicians Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. Dulli and Lanegan have regularly contributed to each other's projects since 2000, most notably in Dulli's Twilight Singers; of the duo's origins, Dulli said "I think Mark told a journalist we were doing...

 “Saturnalia” (Sub-Pop-2008)., Lucinda Black Bear “Capo My Heart and Other Bear Songs” (2008), Noe Venable Summer Storm Journals (2008), Fionnn O’Lochlainn “Spawn of the Beast” (2008), The Compulsions EPs Laughter From Below (2004), Demon Love-2008, and High as Hell (2009), William Hart Strecker “Smoke and Clouds” (2005) and “All This Dreaming” (2007), Ward White “”Pulling Out” (2008), Greg Tannen “Rocket” (2008), The Key Party

Darren Gaines & The Key Party

is a 7 piece subversive lounge act from New York City. The band was started by Darren Gaines in 2006 .The self-released debut came out in the fall of 2006. It was named Album of the Day by , Download of the Week in the and dubbed “15 songs of rock and roll poetry celebrating the debauched, the...

's Hit or Miss, named CMJ album of the day (CMJ 2007) and the SF Chronicle’s Download of the Week in 2007.) and “My Blacks Don’t Match” (2009), and the Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout’s 7” ep featuring Leah Siegel

Leah Siegel

Leah Siegel, is an American musician, singer, songwriter. She is the daughter of Robert Siegel and Jane Siegel.Siegel wrote a song for a Topsy Foundation commercial. The commercial won a Clio Award, Grand LIA and award at Cannes, in addition to being named an "ad worth spreading" by the nonprofit...

(2009),

In 2008, Rich's score and sound design for Alex Lyras’s play “The Common Air” were nominated for 2008 Garland Awards and won the 2008 Ovation Award for Intimate Theater and the 2008 LA Drama Critics Circle Sound Design Award.

Ken Rich continues to produce, engineer, mix, master and still plays an occasional bass gig.

See also

Grand Street Recording
The Common Air