Robert Friedrich

For nearly eighteen years, recording engineer and producer Robert Friedrich – a life-long musician with intensive classical training – has worked with some of the most talented and innovative artists in classical, jazz and a variety of other musical genres. His work has been recognized industry-wide with three GRAMMY Awards (including a Latin GRAMMY), as well as a 2002 Surround Music Award (Best Made for Surround Title, for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet’s LAGQ Latin) and a 2006 Blue Note Award (for pianist Michel Camilo’s Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue). In addition to his three GRAMMY wins, Friedrich was also nominated for a GRAMMY in 2004 for LAGQ’s Guitar Heroes (Best Engineered Classical Recording) and again in 2006 for Tierney Sutton’s I’m with the Band (Best Jazz Vocal Album).

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1969, Friedrich began formal training on violin at age six. By the time he was 10, he was performing professionally in church services in Brooklyn. He spent his middle school years attending specialized music schools, including Fiorello LaGuardia’s High School of Music and Art in New York City, Hartford University Summer Music Camp in Connecticut and Interlochen Music Camp in upstate Michigan. During this time, he performed with the Citywide Orchestra, The New York Youth Symphony and the Kingsborough College Orchestra and String Quartet. He was awarded a full scholarship to Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, where he studied violin with Yukiko Kamei, a protégé of the legendary Jascha Heifetz. While at Pepperdine, he was concertmaster of the Pepperdine University Orchestra, the musical director and on-air host of the KMBU Classical Show and a performer at the Edinburgh Music Festival.

After graduating from Pepperdine with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music history and literature, Friedrich began teaching violin. While still performing, Friedrich learned the business side of music by working at Clinton Recording Studios in New York City, where he assisted and observed numerous top-notch engineers, producers and artists. The Clinton experience – along with various independent recording projects – shifted Friedrich’s focus away from performing and toward engineering. During this period, he recorded numerous artists representing a range of styles, including Will Downing, Vanessa Williams, Paul Plishka, Jonatha Brooke, Ralph Macdonald, Steve Gadd, Abe Leborio.

In 1994, Friedrich mixed Toby Twining’s Shaman album, released on RCA/BMG. Shaman was runner up for Album of the Year in the 1995 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards and highly acclaimed for its acoustic integrity. After the success of Shaman, he went on to record more BMG sessions for a range of artists, including Musica Sacra, Chanticleer, Marimolin, Meredith Monk.

Friedrich joined the world-renowned Telarc label in 1997 to work among some of the most acclaimed engineers and producers in classical music. He has traveled around the world to record numerous artists on Telarc and its contemporary jazz affiliate label, Heads Up International. Friedrich’s Telarc/Heads Up projects have included Philip Bailey, Bobby Short, John Pizzarelli, Monty Alexander, The Saxophone Summit, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Tierney Sutton and Michel Camilo and many others.

For all of the experience that Friedrich has amassed over the years, he continues to subscribe to the less-is-more philosophy of recording. “Keep it simple,” he says. “My goal is always to be as direct and transparent as possible.”