Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer of Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California. Marcussen is one of the most sought-after mastering engineers in the music industry and his expertise has been coveted by a wide range of artists over the years. ^[1] In his 30+ years in the music profession, Marcussen has cultivated strong working relationships with some of music’s most respected artists such as The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Frank Zappa, R.E.M., Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Dave Matthews Band, Ben Harper, Dwight Yoakam, Matchbox 20, Korn & Shania Twain to name a few.^[2]

Marcussen was born in Zimbabwe and spent his adolescence attending boarding school in England. Once moving to Los Angeles, his burning desire to work in the music industry inspired him to take a janitor position at one of LA’s most prominent recording studios at the time, Studio 55, owned by established producer Richard Perry. After spending two weeks as head janitor, he jumped on the opportunity to become the studio’s gopher and utilized the position to spend more time observing and learning about sound engineering. Shortly thereafter, he became an assistant engineer to Richard Perry himself.

In 1979, Marcussen left Studio 55 to help develop Precision Lacquer, a new facility that was trying to get its start in mastering. It was then that he began mastering music and building his own credits as a mastering engineer. In his 20 years there, he steered Precision through the dissolution of phonograph records and into the world of digital recording. ^[3]

In 2000, he opened Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California. Since opening his facility, Marcussen has been recognized for his thorough knowledge of all current audio formats.^[4] His broad range of mastering credits also include such artists as Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, B.B. King, The Pretenders, Beck, The Counting Crows, Solomon Burke, Smashing Pumpkins, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, Kirk Whalum, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince and Nirvana. ^[5] He continues to master music spanning many genres and countries for both major label and independents.