We recently connected with Kolton Lee and have shared our conversation below.
Kolton, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
This one is kind of a two parter for me. The most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on was a record I mixed in December 2021 for a band called The Late Heavy. To understand why working with The Late Heavy was so important we need to go back to 2015 to another watershed record for me. In the fall of 2015 I was living in Nashville and working as a second engineer for Grammy Award winning Producer/Engineer Jacquire King. In between projects we had three weeks to record and mix a record for the Irish singer/songwriter Foy Vance. At the time I had no idea who he was or what his music was like. After the first day in studio there was no doubt in my mind this was going to be a special project. The first time Foy sat down at the piano it stopped me in my tracks. I was floored. I just froze and listened in amazement. It felt like I shouldn’t be there witnessing it. It was like being teleported and all of the sudden you’re back in time watching Leonardo DiVinci paint the Mona Lisa or something. Witnessing true greatness can be like time traveling. For the rest of the project any excuse I could find to be out on the floor while Foy was writing or rehearsing I was all over it. I was wrapping and unwrapping cables that didn’t even need to be there just to listen. Over the next 3 weeks Foy and his bandmates became like family. We bonded, we drank, we played pool and even spent a wild Halloween night together at Martina McBride’s house listening to records. I was treated as a part of the team by them which isn’t always the case. I even got to play a guitar part on my favorite track on the record. A song that my wife and I shared our first dance as a married couple. There are nearly an impossible number of reasons why making The Wild Swan with Foy was so important to me. I learned a lot, I found one of my all time favorite song writers and got to work with some of the greatest people I’ve had the opportunity to know.
Fast forward to 2021… My wife and I left Nashville and moved back to Arizona in 2020. I opened a mix studio in Sunny Slope called Red Jack Recordings, which I have since moved to Scottsdale. In addition to the studio I started a podcast called One More For Safety. One day out of nowhere I get a text from Foy offering to come on the podcast. WHICH I WAS OBVIOUSLY VERY EXCITED ABOUT. I couldn’t believe that I was going to have Foy Vance on my podcast. We had our chat and it was a great. As we wrapped up our interview Foy asked me if I would be interested in mixing a record for a new band he found called The Late Heavy. As soon as I listened to the demos he sent I knew I wanted to be a part of the project. Whoever these guys were, they knew music. The music was brave and unique without being pretentious. Only after I agreed to mix a song did Foy tell me it that I already knew the band. The Late Heavy was none other than Foy and his bandmates from the record we made in Nashville. Only now Foy is playing drums and the bass player Conor was singing. I couldn’t believe it. One of my favorite artists asked me to mix a record that was obviously very special to him. Mixing that record was such an important moment to me that I bought a watch to commemorate it. I love watches, which is awful because they are just so ridiculously expensive these days. But, I took some of the money I earned mixing the record and bought myself a Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic. A watch that I wear every single day and a watch I will never sell. I think that I will always look back on this record as a special moment no matter where my career goes. So if you don’t know who Foy Vance is go look him up and keep an eye out for The Late Heavy later this year. You can thank me later.
Kolton, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a mix engineer and part time podcaster. I got my start in the industry like many other audio engineers. I was in a band in college and started making records for my band. After a while I started making records for other bands in the area. Before I knew it my band was gone and I was running a studio in Cave Creek. After 4 years I moved to Nashville to further my knowledge in recording. I got a job as an intern for Grammy winner Jacquire King and worked my way up to being his engineer. After 6 years in Nashville my wife and I moved back to Arizona to be with our families. I started Red Jack Recordings in 2020 with the goal to prove that not all the best sounding records have to come out of La, Nashville or New York.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice
I think that NFTs are both fascinating and confusing. I’ve been thinking a lot about what the future of NFTs and making records could mean. I think there are some really interesting opportunities to be had there. Still working on that one though…
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My main goal is to grow on every project. I want each new project to be the best I’ve ever done. It doesn’t always work out that way for so many different reasons but, the goal is always the same. I want to always be improving whether it be in my skill set as a mixer or being a better businessman.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.koltonlee.com
- Instagram: Kolton_Lee
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOfxn7gNyTP9tb5L_wa8GTg/videos
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/qa/podcast/one-more-for-safety/id1549735905
Image Credits
Ben Lindell, Grey Shed Studio