Son of Auburn Manufacturing executive wins a Grammy

Colin Leonard wins Grammy for master engineering Beyoncé's Album of the Year, "Cowboy Carter."

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AUBURN — Colin Leonard is still riding high after his win at the 67th Grammy Awards ceremony Sunday in Los Angeles, despite deciding to stay home in Atlanta, Georgia, with his family. Beyoncé took home Album of the Year for “Cowboy Carter,” her first country music album, and Leonard won for master engineering it. Leonard is a master engineer in the music industry and the son of Auburn Manufacturing’s CEO and President Kathy Leonard.

He and 13 others on Beyoncé’s team were recognized for their work on Cowboy Carter. It is very rare for a master engineer to win a Grammy award, with a limited number of categories for which they are eligible. Colin Leonard stands in the lobby of his engineering studio, SING Mastering, in Atlanta, Georgia.



He won a Grammy Award on Sunday for his work as master engineer on Beyoncé’s Album of the Year titled “Cowboy Carter.” Leonard is the son of Auburn Manufacturing CEO and President Kathy Leonard. Submitted photo The singers may get the headlines but it’s the producers, mixers, songwriters and master engineers who pull it all together.

What exactly does a master engineer do? “It’s the last stage of the creative process of production,” Leonard said. “What I’m doing is listening to the song and the mixes that I get from an overall standpoint and making creative decisions to make those recordings sound as good as possible to the listener in their listening environment.” Music is in his blood, he said, something his mother agrees with.

“ I believe he inherited his grandmother’s musical gene,” Kathy Leonard wrote in an email. Colin’s grandmother was a professional musician — a concert pianist and singer who trained at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in Havana, Cuba’s premier music academy. Kathy Leonard said her mother was a child prodigy at age 5 and went on to have her own radio show as a teen and sang opera at Havana’s opera house before moving to New York City to become a star and a U.

S. citizen. Kathy Leonard said her mother volunteered to entertain troops with the USO at Radio City Music Hall during World War II using the stage name Maria Moreno.

There she met a GI, who became her husband, Kathy’s father. While her career ended at the time, Leonard said she never lost her love of music. “S he was still playing Rachmaninoff piano Concertos at all hours of the night in her Clover Manor apartment in Auburn at the age of 92!” Kathy Leonard said.

It was piano lessons early on for Colin Leonard, before his mother bought him a set of drums at age 7. “When I was in seventh grade I started playing in this high school steel drum band,” said Leonard, who attended North Yarmouth Academy for all but one class at Edward Little High School in Auburn. He credits a former music teacher, Rebecca Wing, with getting him hooked on music.

She went on to found the Mindfulness Center of Maine with her husband. “She was just a huge inspiration for me,” he said. Credit where credit’s due of course, because it all starts at home as he tips his hat of appreciation to his mother.

“She pretty much approved of any type of musical thing which was cool.” After attending the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music in California, Leonard traversed the country to Florida where he took an audio engineering program at Full Sail University in Winter Park and played in a jazz band. He moved to Atlanta 1998 and has been there since, opening his SING Mastering engineering studio.

Colin Leonard plays guitar in 1998 at a wedding in Maine. On Sunday, he was given a Grammy for master engineering Beyoncé’s Album of the Year titled “Cowboy Carter” in his studio in Atlanta, Georgia. Submitted photo Leonard has worked with Beyoncè since 2018 and has been nominated for a Grammy 18 times, winning his first one last year.

The list of celebrities he has worked with is long and impressive, mastering the works of Justin Bieber, Lil Baby, Jack Harlow, Lil Wayne, Beck, Gucci Mane and Mastadon, among others. He mastered a song on Paul McCartney’s last album and Elton John’s last album. Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rico-based rapper known as the King of Latin Trap.

“He’s got the number one album in the world right now, and I mastered that, and I work closely with his mixing engineer who also mixes for Justin Bieber, and I do all of Justin Bieber’s albums as well,” Leonard said. Working with celebrities at that level is easier than one might think, he said. “I think it’s actually easier a lot of times because they’re very professional .

.. the more experienced they are, I feel like the easier it is,” he said.

Beyoncé is super easy to work with, he said. “She’s such a nice person ..

. she thanks me for staying up late and stuff.” As for Beyoncé’s foray into country music, Leonard said she deserved the Grammy for Album of the Year presented to her Sunday.

“I think the album is amazing but to me it’s not really country,” he said “It’s eclectic and it it’s cool, and I think, it’s a really cool piece of art.” Kathy Leonard admits she’s not one to brag, but 18 Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards speak for themselves. “I’ve always been amazed at Colin’s ability to meld the mechanics and artistry of all kinds of music,” she wrote.

“Instead of being the star on stage, he’s the star behind those stars, making positively sure their music sounds the best it can be,” she said. “The list of major artists who have their music mastered by Colin is proof of both his talent and hard work. He’s certainly a huge star in our family.

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