Check Out Curtis Bye’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Curtis Bye.

Hi Curtis, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started as a recording engineer in San Jose, Ca in the bay area.. Originally I just recorded and mixed my own music but then I started being asked to record and mix some songs for some artists in my city and surrounding cities. Eventually a friend offered me a job as lead engineer at a studio in Santa Clara, CA called The Hendrix Studios. At the Hendrix I met some prominent artists in the Bay Area and worked with them on some projects that did well. After a while I left The Hendrix and went back to working out of my home studio while waiting tables at Morton’s The Steakhouse. After a year or so I had my friend Zyme refer me to a singer he knew named Prxmise. Prxmise was looking for an engineer and was managed by a studio owner in Fremont. Simultaneously, the head engineer at this studio was moving to LA and they were in need of a new head engineer and Prxmise connected me with the owner for an interview. They decided to give me a shot and gave me 2 sessions on the weekend. Both sessions went well and the clients loved my work so I got a call gthe next day from the owner Josh and he said you are running all of our sessions moving forward. I built my clientele there at Street Symphony Studios and made my way through the Bay Area artists. During my time at Street Symphony a friend of mine, Cyrus, was working with the one and only Mixed By Ali. He invited me out to a couple sessions with him and Ali, the first session I attended was Ali mixing “This is America” by Childish Gambino, and then months later the song won a Grammy. This was life changing for me and my desire to move to LA. After visiting for another session Ali and Cyrus said I should consider moving to LA so I saved up $20k over the next year and took the leap and moved to Sherman Oaks. Ali and Cyrus let me come to their sessions to learn and grow and eventually Ali put me with Hitmaka to be tried out as a recording engineer for their team. They liked my work after the first session and invited me to be their recording engineer. This went on for 8 months or so until I rejoined Ali and Cyrus in the studio to assist with Ali’s mixes. I was fortunate enough to help with Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial and Summer Walker’s ‘Over It’. I remained assisting Ali and Cyrus for the next couple years working on multiple diamond and platinum projects. Ali’s company EngineEars partnered with Dolby to create a Dolby Atmos certification course and I took the opportunity to get certified in Mixing Dolby Atmos. This brought me a lot of work from labels for back catalog Atmoms mixes and new mixes. I was fortunate enough to be brought in on Killer Mike’s ‘Michael’ album for atmos mixing with Ali and Cyrus, which led to 3 Grammy wins for our work on the album. I am still mixing in stereo and atmos today and also I am the head of education for EngineEars and I teach the Dolby Atmos course that certified me, allowing me to certify hundreds of other engineers. Always great to give back to the community that gave me so much opportunity.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think every journey has its ups and downs, especially in the entertainment business. There’s definitely been times where I’ve taken a break or thought about quitting but always stuck to it until I saw some success. You can’t fail if you don’t quit right?

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Im a 3x Grammy Award Winning mixing engineer. I am known for co-mixing for many rap and R&B artists such as Roddy Ricch, Summer Walker, YG, and more. I also mix and teach the Dolby Atmos format, winning 3 Grammy’s for Killer Mike’s album, Michael.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Most people let the fear of success stop them from succeeding. You gotta take the leap of faith even when you’re scared, when it scares you it’ll probably change your life. Also, if you tale everything too serious all the time you’ll never make it out alive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thesircut.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curtis.sircut.bye
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sircut
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtis-bye-533b892ba/
• Twitter: @sircut_music
• Youtube: @CurtisSircutBye