Rising Stars: Meet Lisle Engle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisle Engle.

Hi Lisle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and raised in Savannah, GA. It was a great place to grow up, but by the time I was 18, I was ready to head to the big city. I attended Boston University for four years, graduated with a Mass Communications and Public Relations degree, during which time I also put together a college rock band called The Promise. As it turned out, Boston was too cold and the scene was kinda worn out, so we loaded up our cars and drove to LA in 1989, where we all rented a band house together and converted the garage into a rehearsal and recording studio while proceeding to shop around for the fabled big-label record deal. We spent some time in the studio on a spec deal to make a record, but this was all before digital recording had really taken off. In order to get a pro-sounding demo, you had to go to a proper studio.

I was working in advertising, doing ad layouts at a mid-level agency, but had decided sound engineering would be a better avenue for me, so I asked the owner of the studio who was making our demo if he would give me a job as an assistant engineer. He told me that it was not a very good position and that he was about to branch out of music into film post-production. I saw a big opening there to purchase some of that aforementioned new digital tech for audio and upgrade my MAC II computer into an audio workstation. Mind you, I didn’t even own a car at this point. The first two years I lived in LA, I rode around on a little 250 Honda motorcycle because that’s all I could afford. I had a rad computer setup though because I could make money doing layouts, but I had always wanted a reason to purchase 10K worth of audio interfaces that I could use for post-audio and music. So I did… I figured out a loan and bought the gear, the studio owner gave me the job, and I hooked everything up and taught myself how to edit sound for movies. Our first movie was also Sandra Bullock’s first movie and we did well enough to get a contract for 30 more. These were low-budget Roger Corman films, but it was a great opportunity to cut my chops and put some credits under my belt.

That was in 1991 or so and I’ve been working in post-audio ever since. It’s a perfect match for me in that I can use all of my gear for both posts and music. I came out to LA to get famous and then managed to parlay that into a great sound career. I currently work at Warner Brothers as a Re-Recording Mixer. A couple of my recent projects are The Flight Attendant and the TV reboot of A League Of Their Own. I’ve also been doing some restoration work that has been great fun… updating old titles that I grew up with. I’ve won some Golden Reel Awards, and I have an Emmy Nomination. Life is good.

That’s my professional audio side, but there is still that music side of me that likes to make an appearance now and again. I have a couple of albums of original material available on all major streaming services. California Miles is a great collection of songs I wrote during my first couple of decades in LA. That record is also filled with trippy audio montages between the songs for “all the kids at home with headphones”, as we used to say. It’s funny because everyone is on headphones these days. There’s some good ear candy on that record. My last solo album came out in 2021. Medicine Man is my account of the madness that occurred in 2020 with the Covid Pandemic. There are 6 videos on YouTube from the album that explore many facets of life throughout that strange year.

I suppose that brings us to my current project that will be released very soon. It is fairly unique and combines all of my creative skills from post audio and music to graphics and 3D and my lifelong interest in computers. This release is what I am calling an “interactive single”, which you can think about as a type of virtual album sleeve. I have taken the metaphors from the lyrics and expanded them out into objects in a surreal gaming landscape. “Do you remember a time?” Is the first line of the song, and I have scattered a collection of clocks around the landscape that you have to find. “I have a recent photograph” is another line for which I have created six giant Polaroid photographs that you find and match up to the clocks by the times written on them. So it’s sort of a game, but it’s a materialization of the song concepts into a strange vision that you can walk around in, culminating in a final presentation of the full song and lyrics. The Single is called Heavy Distance and should be available very soon for IOS, Android, Mac, PC, Steam, Microsoft Store, etc.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
If you get into post-production the job creates constant layers of problems to be solved. Expect problems. Solving problems keeps your mind sharp and nimble.

Playing music in bands also comes with all kinds of problems. I love playing with real people but keeping a band together can be challenging when you get a bit older. I’m all about original music so the current cover band scene isn’t really for me. Opportunities always arise though, and I can still sing, so that book is never closed. I’m actually doing a solo acoustic show at Maui Sugar Mill in Tarzana on Thursday, June 29 at 10PM. Come check it out!

And you wanna talk about struggles… this Heavy Distance project has been a very large bullet to bite on. Besides the recording of the song and such, I had to learn an entire game development environment using Unity, create all the landscapes, deal with models and textures and GUI controls on mobile screens, and physical controllers for desktop versions, and create materials and models and then learn enough coding to put it all together. Then came navigating everything up onto all of the stores and the never-ending stream of roadblocks that I dealt with along the way. I have learned a ton though and well… thankfully, I get off on it.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Well, we shall see how Heavy Distance goes over in the marketplace. It is by no means a AAA console-type title. It’s not supposed to be, really. It’s just a digital expression of a love song into a different type of game experience. There’s no danger or points or death or fear in the game. It’s more like a calming experience where you just wander around inside a Dali-esque painting, and if you collect and match all of the photos with the clocks, you get to experience the final song presentation atop a giant Mesa with the Milky Way spread all around you. Not too bad for 99 cents.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
At 56 years old, I’ve been around the block a couple of times. I’ve seen a lot of successes and failures. I suppose my best advice is to find something in life that you enjoy doing for work and you will have the best of both worlds. Buy tools that you can use to make money and build a career and don’t waste it all on watches and suits and cars…. unless that’s your thing, of course. As long as you can pursue your happiness and allow others to pursue theirs, I think that’s true freedom.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lisleengle.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Lisle-Engle-Music/100075876446059/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7fJeUhAwujYb3cpps4WCyQ

Image Credits
Photo with Big Pipe by Yuri Reese