ABOUT : MICHAEL GRAVES

Michael Graves is a multiple GRAMMY-Award winning mastering engineer. Working with clients worldwide, Michael is one of the foremost audio restoration and re-mastering specialists working today, earning 5 GRAMMYs and 14 GRAMMY nominations.

• 2009 GRAMMY Award for Best Historical Album for Dust-to-Digital’s Art of Field Recording: Volume I: 50 Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum (the 51st GRAMMY Awards)

• 2013 GRAMMY nomination for Dust-to-Digital’s Opika Pende: Africa at 78 RPM (the 55th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2014 GRAMMY nomination for Dust-to-Digital’s Pictures Of Sound: One Thousand Years Of Educed Audio: 980–1980 (the 56th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2015 Two GRAMMY nominations, one GRAMMY Award. Graves received a double nomination for Dust-to-Digial’s Longing For The Past: The 78 RPM Era In Southeast Asia and Omnivore Recordings’ Hank Williams: The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 with Hank Williams ultimately winning the GRAMMY (the 57th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2016 GRAMMY nomination for Dust-to-Digital’s Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings, 1947–1959 (the 58th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2017 GRAMMY nomination for Dust-to-Digital's Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles 1959 (the 59th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2018 Two GRAMMY nominations, one for Dust-to-Digital's Washington Phillips And His Manzarene Dreams and one for Ostinato Records' Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa (the 60th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2019 GRAMMY Award for Dust-to-Digital's Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris (the 61st GRAMMY Awards)

• 2021 GRAMMY Award for Omnivore Recordings’ It's Such A Good Feeling: The Best Of Mister Rogers (the 63rd GRAMMY Awards)

• 2022 GRAMMY Nomination for Dust-to-Digital's Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World’s Music (the 64th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2023 GRAMMY Nomination for Numero Group's Blondie - Against The Odds: 1974-1982 (the 65th GRAMMY Awards)

• 2024 GRAMMY Award for Craft Recording's Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos (the 66th GRAMMY Awards)

These and other projects have received favorable reviews and critical acclaim by many news organizations and publications including: National Public Radio, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, SPIN, Mojo, Uncut, Down Beat, Pitchfork, and many others.

Beyond his studio work, Graves enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with fellow engineers and music enthusiasts through speaking engagements with organizations such as the Audio Engineering Society (AES), The Recording Academy, Yale University, The Library of Congress, The Center for Recorded Music, and others.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:

• Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC)

• Audio Engineering Society (AES)

• Blues Foundation

• International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA)

• National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS)

BOARD SERVICE:

• Governor in the Los Angeles Chapter of the Recording Academy (2020-2022)

• Advisory board of Music Memory (2011-Present)

• The Recording Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing National Advisory Council (2017-2018)

• Governor in the Atlanta Chapter of the Recording Academy (2010-2013, 2013-2017)

ABOUT : jordan mcleod

Jordan McLeod (Mastering engineer and audio restoration specialist).  Based in Nashville, Jordan is a graduate of Virginia Tech and Icon Collective College of Music in Los Angeles. His music career started by following two paths as both an artist and freelance mixing engineer. While writing, producing, and mixing his own music under the project Years of Youth, he also helped artists bring their musical vision to life by assisting with co-production and mixing. His first studio experience came from interning at The Fab Factory recording studios in North Hollywood, where he gained valuable hands-on experience as well as frequently sitting in with legendary engineer Dave Pensado.

While living in Los Angeles, Jordan joined Osiris Studio initially to help with media preservation and digitization in early 2020. During this period, he worked with recordings and assets from numerous artists, estates, record labels and archives such as The Leonard Cohen Archive, Metallica, Tupac Shakir, The Band, Aretha Franklin, Buck Owens, Omnivore Recordings, The Stax Museum Archives, Numero Group, and many more. Jordan quickly became familiar with handling and transferring a wide variety of current and obsolete audio formats.

Soon after, under the guidance of Michael Graves, he began learning the craft of audio restoration and mastering.  Since 2023, Jordan and Michael have worked closely on almost every project that has come through the studio. 

Jordan has restored and mastered hundreds of songs, becoming an integral part of the Osiris team and right-hand to Michael. His work can be found on labels such as Numero Group, Analog Africa, Omnivore Recordings, and Guerssen Records.

ABOUT : joy graves

Joy Graves (Studio Manager/Transfer Engineer).  Joy manages Osiris Studio and is a skilled transfer engineer. Joy has worked with aging audio and video formats for over 20 years including assets from the National Park Service archives (Great Smoky Mountains, Yosemite, Sitka and Joshua Tree), Dust-to-Digital, The Leonard Cohen Archive, Omnivore Recordings, Metallica, Doc Pomus, Motörhead, Numero Group, Art Pepper, Def Leppard, Matador Records, Slayer, Olivia Newton-John, Dr. John, Charles Mingus, Bon Jovi, Peggy Lee, Maynard Ferguson and many others.

ABOUT : media

STORYOPHONIC S5E08 - CHERYL PAWELSKI & MICHAEL GRAVES

(December 2023) “This episode features two Multi-Grammy Award winners, currently nominated for two 2024 Grammys for Written inTheir Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos. Over 17 years, producer Cheryl Pawelski gleaned 146 songs from 665 possible choices; hits like “Respect Yourself,” and “634-5789,”alongside never-released gems. Through the wizardry of mastering engineer Michael Graves, these recordings – barebones performances to full funk horn-driven testimonials—represent a vital link in American Music. Cheryl and Michael share the magic on Storyophonic.”

"Written in Their Soul: Stax Songwriter Demos" Evan Toth Interviews Mastering Engineer Michael Graves

(June 2023) “While there’s no debating the enjoyability and archival importance of this project, here, we take a closer look at the sound of the Stax songwriters and the process of getting all of those tapes together and creating something suitable for a listening session. GRAMMY Award-winning mastering engineer and audio restoration expert, Michael Graves was tasked with making each of these recordings sound as good as possible without losing the raw charm inherent on a songwriter’s palette. He is kind enough to join me to discuss the tricks of the trade he employed to give you a front row seat to hear the things you didn’t think you’d ever have the opportunity to hear.”

Michael Graves: The Evan Toth Interview

(July 2022) “To help us demystify the mastering process is GRAMMY Award winning mastering engineer Michael Graves. Mr. Graves has recently remastered the Blondie catalog for a sprawling box set highlighting Blondie’s complete recorded output, including many rare tracks that have never seen the light of day. Graves discusses not only his work on the Blondie project, but also his lauded output for Analog Africa, Omnivore Records, Dust to Digital and other highly respected labels. He also mastered my most recent album, The Show.”

Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle Podcast Episode 429 - Michael Graves

(July 2022) “My guest this week is audio restoration and mastering engineer Michael Graves, who’s a four time Grammy award winner and 12 time nominee. Michael’s main focus is saving historical audio that was recorded on deteriorating or obsolete grooved media, as well as more recent recordings where the sound is obscured for various reasons.

Michael uses a combination of physical and electronic specialty techniques designed to rescue rare, one of a kind recordings or deteriorating media. This includes old 78 rpm records clouded by surfaces noise and years of neglect, right up to digital recordings that were done on some of the earliest pioneering formats.

During the interview we talked about how his hobby became a career, why a high-end turntable is his secret weapon, the surprising styli that he uses to avoid record surface noise, why a stereo needle is preferred even for a mono record, and much more.

I spoke with Michael via zoom from his studio in Hollywood.”

storyophonic s3E11 – MICHAEL GRAVES

(February 2019) “As one of the leading audio restoration and re-mastering specialists in music, Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves works with a vast spectrum of projects, from classic jazz, world music and field recordings to obscure rock cult artists and legendary country originators, including Hank Williams. Pairing technical knowledge with a deep reverence for the legacy of these recordings, Michael Graves brings audio to life. Experience musical history on Storyophonic.”