You have to look no further than Colin Leonard’s Sing Mastering Instagram page to realize that he is single-handedly completely perfecting the music of the world! His client list reads like the weekly top forty with chart-topping success after chart-topping success. Albums and singles sold in the U.S. with Colin Leonard listed in the credits as a mastering engineer total over 100 million in sales. This master sound engineer is rethinking the way we all hear music! “I love being able to work in so many genres,” said Leonard. Justin Bieber, Paul McCartney, Lil Wayne, Migos, Megan Thee Stallion, H.E.R., Dua Lipa, Cardi B, and Beyoncé are but a few of the recording artists that have trusted Colin Leonard to take their music to the next level. “I don’t think mastering is genre-specific,” said Leonard, “It’s really about making the music connect with the listener and making it sound as emotional as possible.”
Colin began playing instruments at about twelve years old. With a concert pianist grandmother, an exceptional music teacher, and a mom that was super supportive; it was easy to see that music was what he wanted to do. “I wasn’t the biggest fan of piano lessons," said Leonard, “but when I started playing drums it was really fun.” Colin studied classical guitar at University of the Pacific and then went to Full Sail University for audio engineering. “My band recorded a three-song demo while at Full Sail and I spent the whole summer after college mastering it myself.” Around 2005, Colin started doing mastering on a professional level, “that’s when it really hit me, that this was my thing.”
Today things are quite different. Colin Leonard’s process is quite simple, “at this point I just listen to it and I have a picture of what I want it to sound like in my head. You keep adjusting and adjusting until it hits a certain point where you can feel it and your head starts bobbing a little bit. It is really about how the song makes you feel more than anything else,” said Leonard, “I try to apply that to every song in a master.” His process is tried and true and delivers the best-sounding music anywhere. “I am constantly listening to things I’ve recently worked on,” said Leonard, “always comparing how things sound on multiple playback and streaming services. I like to make sure that it sounds good in the car and when you play it on a cheap Bluetooth speaker or on your phone.”
“I think that music is a great escape for people, including myself. It can take you somewhere else and make you feel all kinds of different ways,” said Leonard.
