Daily Inspiration: Meet Joe Gallagher

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Gallagher.

Hi Joe, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am from Philadelphia and my career started there, as an engineer and producer at a recording studio in Philadelphia, MilkBoy the Studio. Most of the beginning of your studio career is as an assistant engineer, hoping to get lucky and get some credits on bigger records while building up your own client base at the same time. I had gotten lucky and helped mix a few songs on Usher’s album (as an assistant engineer), which was my first big credit at the time. My break as a stand alone engineer and producer was when I started working with Jazmine Sullivan around 2013. The first album we did, “Reality Show” did well and was nominated for 3 Grammys (didn’t win) and helped open a lot more doors for me to work from other artists directly as well as other producers. I travelled to LA a lot before moving here in 2019. I was always hesitant to make the move, but at the end of 2018, I worked on 3 songs on “thank u, next” (Ariana Grande) and that made the move a lot smoother, as that album was doing really great, and, well, its simply a lot easier to drum up work when you have something to talk about like that! The years after that were some of my best, work wise, and I eventually was able to break the Grammy losing streak, and won 3 courtesy of “Heaux Tales” again with Jazmine.

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 don’t think any career in music is smooth, especially on the creative side. Its very much a “what have you done for me lately” business, and when you’re up, it feels like it will be that way forever, and when you’re down, it feels like you’ll never get it back. Maintaining some sembelence of patience and, perhaps sanity, is probably the hardest struggle in my opinion. Finding good relationships with people you trust and that look out for you is paramount, and those will always be the ones you can fall back to when you are in those “dips”.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an audio engineer and producer. That’s a pretty wide net, and one’s job in any session or on any project can be very different. Sometimes my job is strictly as a recording engineer, so my focus is to make sure I’m capturing everything the artists and producers are coming up with and keeping it organized and sounding clean. Other times, it can be a dual role, where I’m helping to create the music, in addition to engineering. Sometimes you operate more on the back end, and are mixing the songs once they are fully flushed out. My main goal is to like fill gaps in the creative process, and help the artist get to their goal. My role being a bit fluid is kind of my favorite part of the job. It can be stressful, for sure, but its exciting walking into a room and it never really going the same way twice. I think the work I’ve done with Jazmine Sullivan is what I am most proud of, and I don’t think that will change. Someone of her stature, bringing me into her process and allowing me to do my best work is kind of the dream scenario for someone making records, and I’m proud that even 13 years later, it’s still a working relationship that is going strong.

How do you define success?
Autonomy. I think if you can get to a point where you are working on the things you want to work on, that you’re passionate and engaged with, as opposed to things you HAVE to work on…I don’t think it gets much better than that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/joelogic
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joelogic215/?hl=en

Image Credits
Mansa Johnson and Michelle Nowden