Christopher Mario Testa in the studio- 2014-03-13 11-40

Christopher Mario Testa (born March 8, 1973) is an American producer, mixer, engineer, re-recording mixer, sound designer and musician. He was born in

Florham Park, NJ Florham Park is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 11,696,Los Angeles, California.

Biography

In the late 1990s Chris started his career as a drummer playing live gigs and doing sessions in and around the New York City area. In 2002 he got his first gig as an assistant engineer at the legendary, now defunct, Hit Factory Studios. He was the only person working there who didn't have any formal recording training. Even though he only worked there for a year it was enough time to work with many of rock, pop and hip hop's biggest stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Kanye West, J Lo, Beyoncé, and Justin Timberlake to name a few. After developing a relationship with Los Angeles producer's

Jim Scott Jim or Jimmy Scott may refer to: Music * Jimmy Scott (1925–2014), American jazz vocalist * Jim Scott (producer), music engineer and producer * Jim Scott (musician), acoustic guitar player and songwriter * Jimmy Scott (songwriter), British-born mu ...

and John Fields he was convinced to make the move to Los Angeles to further his music career. He worked on many pop records working as engineer to producer John Fields with such pop artists as Pink, the Backstreet Boys, Mandy Moore and Switchfoot. Following that was a year stint at the legendary Cello Studios (the old United Western Recorders, the studio where the Beach Boys recorded Pet Sounds) working with fellow engineer and producer Jim Scott with such artists as Wilco, Tift Merritt, Kathleen Edwards, and Nikka Costa.

The Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way"

In mid-2005 Chris, along with Jim Scott, started work recording the Dixie Chicks Grammy Award winning album "Taking the Long Way" with Rick Rubin producing. Recording for the record went well into the following year. He did the bulk of the record with Jim Scott then continued on his own with the three girls, Natalie Maines,

Martie Maguire Martha Elenor Maguire (née Erwin, previously Seidel; October 12, 1969) is an American musician who is a founding member of both the all-female alternative country band The Chicks and country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in na ...

, and

Emily Robison Emily Burns Strayer ( Erwin, previously Robison; born August 16, 1972) is an American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and a founding member of the country band The Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks. Strayer plays banjo, dobro ...

. The record was recorded in legendary Los Angeles studios Sunset Sound and The Village. He is credited with engineering and playing additional percussion on the record. As the record finished up the girls put him to work on preparing material for the live show, working on their back catalog of ringtones and helping organize the studio audio for the movie "Shut Up and Sing" directed by Academy Award- winning director Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck.

2007 Grammy Awards Ceremony

In 2007 the Dixie Chicks won 5 Grammy's at the

49th Grammy Awards The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at the Staples Ce ...

. The record won every coveted award including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Country Album of the Year, and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. This marked the first time any band has won that many Grammy awards in the same year. Chris won Grammy's for 3 of the 5 including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. The record went on to sell almost 4 million copies worldwide and was #1 on Billboards Top 200 albums for 2 weeks in a row reaching gold status in the first week.

Jimmy Eat World "Chase This Light"

Immediately following the Dixie Chicks record, Chris went to Tempe, AZ to record with emo rock pioneers

Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They h ...

on what would become "

Chase This Light ''Chase This Light'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Jimmy Eat World. The band began working on the follow-up to ''Futures'' (2004) by late 2005, and had made demos by early 2006. They started recording their next album with engin ...

". He was signed on first to engineer the record with the band producing and the legendary

Butch Vig Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the drummer and co-producer of the alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of the diamond-selling Nirvana album ''Neve ...

acting as Executive Producer. He wound up participating in more ways than the band had originally envisioned and was granted a producer credit on the record by the band. The record went on to be Jimmy Eat World's highest debut ever, debuting on the Billboard Top 200 at number 5.

Current Work

He spent most of time producing and mixing bands moving back and forth between well known acts and more independent bands such as Rickie Lee Jones, Switchfoot, Sherree Chamberlain,

The Dollyrots The Dollyrots are an American punk rock band formed in 2000, composed of wife Kelly Ogden (bass, lead vocals) and husband Luis Cabezas (guitar, backing vocals). They have released six studio albums and are currently under their own label, Arrest ...

, Liquid Love Letter, Mat Kearney, the Goo Goo Dolls, the Subways and producing and mixing Phoenix indie rockers Source Victoria, Reubens Accomplice, Kinch and Courtney Marie Andrews. He continues to move between smaller bands and more well known artists producing and mixing from his adopted hometowns of

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

and Silverlake, CA. Currently he is moving between mixing television shows, films and records. He spent most of 2013 working fo
TheCo
as their in house re-recording mixer and sound designer. In 2014 he started working fo
Lighthearted Entertainment
as their in house re-recording mixer. In 2015 he mixed over 70 episodes for the Company, Lighthearted Entertainment an
Intuitive Entertainment
for such networks as CNBC, MTV, VH1, TLC and the Food Channel.

Selected discography

Recording artists / albums * Dixie Chicks " Taking the Long Way" *

" *

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

" Surprise" * Pink " Try This" * Rickie Lee Jones "Balm in Gilead" * Goo Goo Dolls "

Something for the Rest of Us ''Something for the Rest of Us'' is the ninth studio album by American rock band Goo Goo Dolls. It was released on August 28, 2010 in Australia and on August 31 in North America through Warner Bros. Records. The recording process took place du ...

" *

Switchfoot Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, back ...

" Nothing Is Sound" " Oh! Gravity." * Backstreet Boys " Never Gone" * Elvis Presley "

ELV1S ''Elvis: 30 #1 Hits'' is a greatest hits collection of songs by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Records on September 24, 2002. It is the first Elvis Presley album to feature the remix of "A Little Less Conver ...

" * Cheap Trick "

Special One ''Special One'' is the fourteenth studio album by the band Cheap Trick. It was released in 2003 to mixed reviews and features the single " Scent of a Woman." It charted for one week, reaching 128 on the album charts. Background ''Special One'' ...

" *

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

* Matchbox Twenty "

More Than You Think You Are ''More Than You Think You Are'' is the third studio album by American rock band Matchbox Twenty, released on November 19, 2002. The album is again a departure for the band as the album has more of a focus on harder rock than the band's two previo ...

" * The Black Crowes * Tony Bennett * MatKearney "

City of Black & White ''City of Black & White'' is the third studio album by Mat Kearney. Released on May 19, 2009, it follows his 2006 major-label debut, '' Nothing Left to Lose''. The first single, " Closer to Love", was released on March 10, 2009, as a digital down ...

" * Edie Brickell " Volcano" *" Never Let Me Go (2010 film)" *

Because I'm Awesome ''Because I'm Awesome'' is the second studio album by the American punk band The Dollyrots. It was released on March 13, 2007 on Blackheart Records. Tracks featured in TV shows include "Because I'm Awesome", featured on ''Ugly Betty'' and "Watc ...

" "

A Little Messed Up ''A Little Messed Up'' is the third studio album by pop-punk band The Dollyrots. It was released on August 17, 2010 on Blackheart Records. Reception The Allmusic review by Tim Sendra awarded the album 3.5 stars stating "The Dollyrots' third alb ...

" * Nikka Costa "

can'tneverdidnothin' ''Can'tneverdidnothin is the second studio album by Nikka Costa. The album was released May 24, 2005, by Virgin Records. It received generally favorable reviews from critics. Track listing 2005 retail release 2004 promotional release Person ...

" * Willie Nelson " Countryman" * Mandy Moore "

Coverage Coverage may refer to: Filmmaking * Coverage (lens), the size of the image a lens can produce * Camera coverage, the amount of footage shot and different camera setups used in filming a scene * Script coverage, a short summary of a script, wri ...

" *

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...

Harry Connick Jr. Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 best-selling male artists in the Uni ...

* Glen Phillips " Winter Pays For Summer" " Unlucky 7" * Miley Cyrus *Sherree Chamberlain "A Wasp In the Room" *

Reuben's Accomplice Reuben's Accomplice (styled Reubens Accomplice) is an American band from Phoenix, Arizona. The group formed in 1994 at Thunderbird High School in Phoenix and released several 7" singles over the course of the 1990s, touring with DIY punk and emo a ...

"Son's of Men" (TBA) *Source Victoria "The Fast Escape" "Slow Luck" * Kinch "The Incandenza" *Domo "With Friends Like These" *

Sacha Sacket Sacha Sacket (born September 20, 1978, in Tehran, Iran) is an American pop singer-songwriter who resides in Los Angeles, California. Sacket has produced six albums, ''Alabaster Flesh'' (2001), ''Shadowed'' (2005), ''Lovers and Leaders'' (2007), ' ...

Low Millions The Low Millions are a pop-rock band from California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area ...

* Courtney Marie Andrews "No One's Slate Is Clean" *Reto Burrell "Go" * Audioslave * Kathleen Edwards " Back to Me" *

Tift Merritt Tift may refer to: Places * Tift County, Georgia, a county in south-central Georgia, United States People with the given name * Tift Merritt (born 1975), American singer-songwriter People with the surname * Andrew Tift (born 1968), British portr ...

" Tambourine
Neko Case
"The Worse Things Get The Harder I Fight. The Harder I Fight, the More I Love You."
VictoryMarc Carroll
"Stone Beads and Silver"
Crystal Fighters
"Cave Rave" Television
Are You The OneDating NakedWest Texas Investors ClubTwinningThey Took Our ChildLabor GamesBye FeliciaHeartbreakersThe Moment
USA Network
Race To The Scene
Reelz
The Profit
CNBC *The Hiring Squad, Spike Films
The Dictator
Paramount Pictures
Never Let Me Go
Fox Searchlight
Shut Up and Sing
The Weinstein Company
Something's Gotta Give
Columbia Pictures

References

External links

*http://www.christesta.com *http://allmusic.com/artist/chris-testa-p609392/credits *http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2835062/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Testa, Christopher Mario Musicians from Los Angeles 1973 births Living people Grammy Award winners