Stuart Avery

What did you do before joining dBs?  

I have been working in the industry as a freelance mastering, mixing and recording engineer for most of my life, and continue to do so when I’m not teaching at dBs Institute.

I have a mastering studio at home and also work at Spirit Studios. I’m also a Pro Tools instructor for Avid. I still do all these things around my teaching role at dBs, and where possible, try to bring stuff I’m working on into lessons as I think it’s good for people to see real life examples of industry work that’s happening now.

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Why did you first get into music production and sound engineering? 

I started out as a guitar player and songwriter, then (somewhat begrudgingly!) started singing. I always used to get frustrated when we went into studios and the sound never came out like I could hear it in my head. So I decided to learn how to do it for myself.

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Any special areas of interest?  

Mastering is my main specialism, but I also do a lot of recording of live instruments in the studio (such as string quartets, pianos and full bands / drums).

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What do you love most about what you do?

Getting to be creative every single day. Working with lots of different and interesting people. The joy of listening to music and that being my job - it never gets old or boring! I learn so much all the time from different people I work with, and working on different genres and styles of music. 

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Tell us about your proudest career moment?

I used to be a music promoter and myself and 3 colleagues got together and launched our own music festival, called Hungry Pigeon Festival. It was a big success - we got council funding to build a big stage in Piccadilly Gardens and it involved over 250 artists and 20 venues. It was pretty stressful but a great experience! 

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What do you get up to outside of your role at dBs?

I work as a freelance mastering engineer, from my studio in Ancoats, and also do recording and mix work for various clients, labels and artists. I love travelling and often disappear off to some faraway place for a while to explore new cultures and people. I play a lot of squash and love hiking. I recently completed the GR20 (which has the exciting label of “Europe’s toughest hike”!

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Tell us something our students may not know about you?

I am also a qualified psychotherapist, and work with lots of different people with mental health difficulties. My main area of expertise is helping people with PTSD and complex trauma.