Recording engineer specializing in rock, Recorded drums with Kenny Aronoff, interned with Kris Crummett.
Rachel Leonard is an audio engineer and producer from Lombard, IL. Rachel’s passion is studio recording but her wide range of skills making her a very versatile engineer. She has worked on recording many sessions for multiple genres ranging from jazz to rock. She also has tracking, mixing, and mastering experience across genres.
Rachel’s love of rock music while growing up led to her interest in the production and recording of songs and albums. Rachel wanted to learn how to be a part of making albums come to life. She wants to help musicians and bands create music they are proud of that helps them connect with their listeners. Her growing interest in engineering led her to Indiana University where she earned her degree in Audio Engineering and Sound Production from the Jacobs School of Music.
Rachel's services include mixing, mastering, drum editing and sound replacement, and vocal tuning across genres.
Check out rachelleonardaudio.com for examples of work done by Rachel.
Send me a note through the contact button above.
Interview with Rachel Leonard
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Last fall I was lucky enough to work as a head engineer to record session drummer, Kenny Aronoff. I was responsible for pre production, setup, the whole tracking process, mixing, and mastering the track! That session is still a huge highlight of my career and I not only learned a lot about Kenny's recording process but about some of the realities he faces as a session drummer. I had a great time engineering and I hope to continue doing sessions that challenge me as an engineer.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm currently an Intern at Uptown Recording in Chicago and I am fortunate enough to be working on all kinds of projects on any given day.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both! There are pros and cons to analog and digital but it's pretty great to be able to use a mix of both to achieve the sound you are going after.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I promise I will improve your project by offering my services and I promise I will help you reach the goals you have for your project to the best of my ability.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: The whole reason I do this job is because I love music and I believe music is a collaborative process. I really love using audio technology to help an artist get their vision across the way the imagine it to be. I enjoy helping artists push their work to the next level without taking away their original creative vision.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: I really like to know what they have in mind for the project, after all, it is their music. I would like to contribute my work and hopefully make the song sound more like what they have in their head. I really like to ask for song references that my clients feel are close to what they would like their song to sound like. This gives me a clear direction to start in when attacking a mix.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I'd like to think that I bring an outside perspective on your work with an engineer's ear. I listen for things that a client may not catch so that I can hopefully bring out the exciting parts of a song.
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $50 per song
- Mastering EngineerAverage price - $50 per song
- EditingAverage price - $20 per track
- Vocal TuningAverage price - $40 per track
- Vocal compingAverage price - $20 per track
- Time alignment - QuantizingAverage price - $40 per track
Cost may vary depending on size of the project/involvement of service ex. a 7 min song will cost more than a 3 min song. I allow 3 revisions before it begins to cost extra.
- ProTools 18
- Melodyne
- Slate digital everything bundle
- Trigger 2
- Scarlett 18i20 interface
- Scarlett Octopre
- various microhphones
- Vocalign
- Waves plugins
