Rich Costey

Richard Costey is an American record producer, mixer, and audio engineer known for his versatile work across genres including rock, indie, pop, hip-hop, and electronica.^[1][2] Born in Los Angeles, California, Costey began his music career as a DJ at age 16 and later studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he gained early experience at Q Division Studios.^[1][3] His professional breakthrough came in the mid-1990s after relocating to New York City, where he served as head engineer at Philip Glass's Looking Glass Studios and contributed to high-profile projects like Fiona Apple's second studio album When the Pawn... (1999), which he engineered and mixed over several months.^[3][1] Costey's career expanded significantly in the 2000s after moving to Los Angeles, collaborating with producers like Rick Rubin and Jon Brion on albums for artists such as Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine.^[3] He has since become a sought-after collaborator for major acts, including producing Muse's Absolution (2003), mixing Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007), and working with Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, Foster the People, The Killers, and Deftones.^[1][2] His production and mixing have earned him two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album—for Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008 and for Muse's Drones at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2016—along with a Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for Mon Laferte's Norma at the 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2019.^[4][5][6] Costey's discography spans over 200 credits, emphasizing innovative sound design and genre-blending that has influenced modern alternative and rock music.^[2]

Early life and education

Childhood and early influences

Richard Costey was born on June 27, 1969, in Los Angeles, California.^[7][8] During his high school years, Costey developed an early interest in music as a guitarist, laying the foundation for his future career in production and engineering. He was influenced by experimental music during this period.^[9] At the age of 16, he began working as a disc jockey on a local radio station, which marked his first professional involvement in the music industry and provided initial exposure to various sounds through broadcasting.^[1]

Berklee College of Music

Rich Costey attended Berklee College of Music in Boston following his early experience as a radio DJ at age sixteen.^[1] He attended in the late 1980s, graduating in 1991.^[10] During his time at Berklee, Costey developed key technical skills in recording and mixing through hands-on college projects, including demo sessions that honed his engineering abilities.^[11] These experiences laid the groundwork for his professional approach to audio production. Costey graduated in 1991 and remained in Boston, where he began producing for local indie bands shortly thereafter.^[10][3] His initial work included engineering and mixing sessions that built on the foundations from his Berklee training.^[9]

Career

Early career in Boston and New York

After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Rich Costey launched his professional career in Boston during the early 1990s, focusing on engineering and production for local indie bands. His initial steady role came as co-producer and engineer for the Boston shoegaze group Swirlies on their debut album Blonder Tongue Audio Baton, recorded in 1992 at Q Division Studios.^[1] He also contributed as producer and engineer to projects like the self-titled 1993 EP by Boston hardcore band Sam Black Church, helping establish his reputation in the city's underground scene. In 1995, Costey relocated to New York City to pursue greater opportunities in the music industry.^[3] There, he joined Looking Glass Studios as the in-house engineer for a three-year tenure, assisting modern classical composer Philip Glass on recordings while handling sessions for a range of artists.^[9][1] This position allowed him to immerse himself in Manhattan's vibrant creative environment, where he began forging connections in the indie and rock communities through engineering work on emerging projects.^[9]

Breakthrough with Fiona Apple

Rich Costey's collaboration with Fiona Apple on her second studio album, When the Pawn... (1999), marked a significant turning point in his career, where he served as recording engineer, mixing engineer, and programmer alongside producer Jon Brion.^[12][3] The project, recorded over approximately 10 months in top Los Angeles studios like Capitol Studios, allowed for extensive experimentation, including multiple takes of songs and the use of various drum kits to capture dynamic textures.^[3] Costey's engineering work emphasized creative freedom without label interference, contributing to the album's layered, baroque-pop aesthetic that blended Apple's raw piano-driven compositions with orchestral elements orchestrated by John Bainbridge.^[13][3] In mixing the album, Costey focused on enhancing its intimate and intricate sound, particularly in capturing Apple's vulnerable vocals and integrating the orchestral arrangements to create a warm, detailed sonic palette.^[9][3] His approach involved refining tracks through repeated revisions, ensuring the vocals retained emotional immediacy while the strings and brass provided a rich, enveloping backdrop without overpowering the core performances.^[3] This technical precision helped realize the album's experimental edge, drawing from classic gear in premier facilities to achieve a polished yet organic feel that highlighted Apple's lyrical intensity.^[9] The album achieved commercial success, debuting and peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart, and received critical acclaim, including a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2001.^[14][15] This project elevated Costey from an up-and-coming engineer in New York to a prominent figure in alternative and pop production, attracting attention from major artists and producers like Rick Rubin, who contacted him shortly after for further collaborations.^[3][9]

Collaborations with major artists

Following his breakthrough production on Fiona Apple's When the Pawn... (1999), which established his reputation in alternative rock circles, Costey attracted a series of high-profile collaborations with major artists across rock, indie, and electronic genres.^[9] Costey's partnership with the British rock band Muse began with the production and mixing of their third album Absolution (2003), which featured expansive orchestral elements and dynamic soundscapes that helped propel the band to international stardom. He continued this collaboration on Black Holes and Revelations (2006), where he handled production, mixing, and additional recording, contributing to the album's blend of progressive rock and electronic influences that earned critical acclaim and commercial success, including hits like "Supermassive Black Hole." The duo reunited for Drones (2015), with Costey providing additional production and mixing alongside co-producer Tommaso Colliva, resulting in a concept album noted for its cinematic intensity and thematic depth.^[16][17][18] In 2007, Costey produced and mixed Foo Fighters' sixth album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, blending acoustic introspection with hard-rock energy to create a versatile record that showcased Dave Grohl's songwriting range and topped charts worldwide.^[19][20] He later mixed the band's 2022 single "The Foundations of Decay," maintaining his ties to their evolving sound.^[21] For Vampire Weekend's third album Modern Vampires of the City (2013), Costey mixed key tracks such as "Step," "Diane Young," and "Ya Hey," enhancing the indie rock band's maturation with polished, layered production that contributed to its Mercury Prize win and critical praise for its lyrical sophistication.^[22][23] Expanding into hip-hop and electronica, Costey produced and mixed Santigold's 99¢ (2016), infusing the album with eclectic beats and genre-blending experimentation that highlighted her innovative style. Similarly, he produced Foster the People's debut Torches (2011), co-producing tracks and mixing the record to amplify its infectious indie pop hooks, which became a global phenomenon.^[24][25] Costey's recent work includes mixing Ghost's live album and soundtrack Rite Here Rite Now (2024), capturing the Swedish rock band's theatrical performances with vivid sonic detail for their concert film release. He has also collaborated with Sam Fender on mixing singles like "Will We Talk?" (2019) and "Get You Down" (2022), and co-producing his third album People Watching (2025), supporting the British singer-songwriter's raw, narrative-driven indie rock.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Musical style and production techniques

Approach to mixing and engineering

Rich Costey's approach to mixing and engineering centers on capturing the artist's vision through a deeply collaborative and intuitive process, prioritizing emotional resonance over rigid formulas or technical flawlessness. He views engineering as a partnership that builds trust, allowing artists to explore ideas freely without fear of judgment, which fosters an environment where creative risks can lead to innovative outcomes. This philosophy stems from his belief that the engineer's role is to enhance the core essence of the recording, using instinct to guide decisions rather than predefined workflows, ensuring the final product aligns with the performer's intent.^[3] Central to his method is a strong preference for in-studio presence, where he can engage directly with artists and producers to refine sounds iteratively through real-time feedback and adjustments. Costey often mixes section by section, starting with foundational elements like intros to establish dynamics, then layering and automating volumes to create seamless transitions that maintain energy and flow. This hands-on iteration helps cultivate rapport, enabling subtle refinements that preserve the music's raw vitality while addressing any imbalances organically. His early experience at Looking Glass Studios in New York honed these foundational practices, providing him with essential hands-on expertise in diverse recording scenarios.^[19][11][30] Costey adapts his techniques across genres by focusing on emotional impact, tailoring mixes to evoke the intended mood—whether intensity in rock or intimacy in pop—through careful balance rather than over-processing. He integrates analog and digital tools strategically to optimize dynamic range and clarity, favoring analog equipment like Neve consoles and Pultec EQs for their natural warmth and subtle shaping, while employing digital plugins sparingly for precision tasks such as de-essing or low-end control. As discussed in his Mix with the Masters sessions, this hybrid approach avoids excessive compression, providing headroom that lets the music "breathe" and connect viscerally with listeners, ultimately prioritizing feel over perfection.^[1][11][3]

Signature contributions

Rich Costey's production work is renowned for crafting expansive, cinematic rock sounds, particularly in his collaborations with Muse, where he employed layered guitars and atmospheric effects to achieve grand, immersive textures. On the album Absolution (2003), he recorded drums using multiple microphones, including ambient placements in swimming pools to capture epic tom sections for tracks like "Apocalypse Please," enhancing the spatial depth and drama.^[9] Similarly, for Black Holes and Revelations (2006), Costey managed dense guitar arrangements through precise panning and fader automation, creating a wall-of-sound effect that defined the band's arena-ready aesthetic.^[19][11] His vocal treatments often balance polish with raw emotional intensity, as seen in projects with Fiona Apple and My Chemical Romance. For Apple's When the Pawn... (1999), Costey captured her performances using a Telefunken ELA M 251 through Neve 1073 preamps, Pultec EQP-1A, and Fairchild 670 compression, resulting in a warm, detailed sound that preserved the intimacy and vulnerability of her delivery without over-processing.^[11] In contrast, for My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade (2006), he applied heavy compression to Gerard Way's vocals with minimal cleanup—eschewing breath reduction and favoring a gritty, unpolished edge inspired by raw punk influences like The Stooges—to maintain an urgent, live-wire presence.^[11] Costey frequently integrates electronic elements into rock productions, bridging organic instrumentation with synthetic textures for hybrid innovation. On Muse's Black Holes and Revelations, he layered Kyma sound synthesis patches with live bass guitar on "Hysteria," doubling the low end for a futuristic, pulsating drive that elevated the track's intensity.^[11] This approach extended to Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City (2013), where his mixes incorporated quirkily orchestral and electronic flourishes—using ancient analog gear—to infuse the indie rock with sonically adventurous, genre-blending depth.^[31] For Foster the People's Torches (2011), Costey blended electronica with alternative rock elements, producing tracks like "Pumped Up Kicks" that fused indie hooks with subtle synthetic layers for a polished yet energetic pop-rock hybrid.^[32] These bold, boundary-pushing choices have earned Costey the moniker "the world's most dangerous mixer" from My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, highlighting his reputation for risk-taking mixes that prioritize artistic impact over convention.^[2]

Awards and recognition

Grammy Awards

Rich Costey has received two Grammy wins and three nominations as of 2025, primarily for his engineering and mixing contributions to rock albums.^[33] His first win came at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008 for Best Rock Album, shared with producer Gil Norton and engineer Adrian Bushby for Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, where Costey handled mixing duties that helped the multi-platinum release earn widespread acclaim for its dynamic production.^[34][35] The album also garnered additional nominations for Costey in categories tied to his production work, including Album of the Year, highlighting his role in crafting the record's polished sound across its acoustic and hard rock elements.^[36] In 2016, at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, Costey secured his second win for Best Rock Album as mixer on Muse's Drones, a concept album praised for its orchestral intensity and electronic flourishes, which he engineered to amplify the band's cinematic scope.^[33] This project contributed to one of his three total nominations, underscoring his engineering impact on high-profile, multi-platinum rock releases.

Other accolades

Costey received the Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for his mixing contributions to Mon Laferte's album Norma at the 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2019.^[6] Albums produced and mixed by Costey have earned multi-platinum certifications from major industry bodies, demonstrating the commercial success of his work. For instance, Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (2006), on which Costey served as producer and mixer, was certified platinum in the United States by the RIAA in 2006 and achieved quadruple platinum status in the United Kingdom.^[37][38] Similarly, My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade (2006), produced and mixed by Costey, has been certified quadruple platinum in the United States by the RIAA as of 2025.^[39] Costey's production techniques have garnered acclaim in specialized audio engineering publications. He was profiled in Sound on Sound magazine's "Secrets of the Mix Engineers" series, where he discussed his approach to achieving distinctive vocal and instrumental tones through compression, EQ, and distortion.^[19] Additionally, he contributed to an "Inside Track" feature on Muse's Drones (2015), detailing collaborative mixing processes with co-engineer Tommaso Colliva.^[16] Through Mix with the Masters, Costey has shared his expertise via an online video series deconstructing the production and real-time mixing of Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" from Black Holes and Revelations, emphasizing modular synthesis and sonic reinvention.^[40] Post-2020, he has taken on mentorship roles, including hosting a four-day on-site mixing and production masterclass in Paris in March 2025, reserved for professional participants to learn his workflow in a studio setting.^[41] These educational invitations underscore his influence in training the next generation of producers and engineers.

Discography

Selected productions

Rich Costey's production work spans multiple genres, showcasing his ability to shape diverse artistic visions through creative direction and sonic innovation. His selected productions highlight pivotal albums where he took on significant leadership roles, often collaborating closely with artists to enhance their conceptual and musical goals.

• Fiona Apple – When the Pawn... (1999): Costey co-produced the album with Jon Brion, providing full production oversight that blended Apple's raw songwriting with intricate arrangements and a polished yet intimate sound.^[42]
• Muse – Absolution (2003): Serving as additional producer alongside the band and Paul Reeve, Costey focused on integrating orchestral elements to amplify the album's epic, cinematic scope.^[43]
• Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City (2013): Costey mixed select tracks on the indie pop record, infusing eclectic influences and meticulous textural details.^[44]
• Ghost – Impera (2022): Co-producing with the band, Costey emphasized the album's grandiose heavy rock orchestration and thematic grandeur, marking his versatility in genre-blending up to recent years.^[45]

Selected mixing credits

Rich Costey's mixing work spans a wide array of genres, with notable contributions to albums that highlight his ability to enhance dynamic and energetic sounds. For the Foo Fighters' sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007), Costey served as the primary mixer, capturing the band's explosive rock dynamics across tracks like "The Pretender" and "Long Road to Ruin."^[46][23][19] On Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (2006), Costey mixed standout singles including "Supermassive Black Hole," which became a global hit, blending the band's progressive rock with radio-friendly clarity.^[23] Costey mixed Foster the People's debut album Torches (2011), refining its pop-indie sound for tracks like "Pumped Up Kicks" to achieve a polished, commercial sheen that propelled the album to multi-platinum status.^[25][23] In the nu-metal realm, Costey mixed select tracks on Linkin Park's 2024 album From Zero, infusing aggressive, layered tones into songs such as "Heavy Is the Crown" and "The Emptiness Machine."^[47][23] Extending into indie and punk territories through 2024 and beyond, Costey mixed Lovejoy's EP Wake Up & It's Over (2023), including the single "Call Me What You Like," and Scowl's album Are We All Angels (2025), demonstrating his adaptability to raw, high-energy aesthetics in emerging scenes.^[23][48][49]

• Sam Fender – Seventeen Going Under (2021): Costey mixed select tracks, contributing to the album's raw, anthemic indie rock energy and emotional depth.^[50]