Jaycen Joshua

Template:New unreviewed article

Jaycen Joshua is (born 1974), an American mix engineer, A&R, producer, and writer. Joshua is a partner of mixer team The Penua Project composed of himself and Dave Pensado, resident at Larrabee Studio, and is managed by Innersound Entertainment. Joshua doesn’t just mix hits; he makes them knock. In a career spanning 16 years, Joshua, won a Grammy as mix engineer on Mary J. Blige’s The Breakthrough and his caboose-rattling mix down of Beyoncé’s "Single Ladies" made it the biggest record of 2008. Joshua's beastly work ethic, or his Midas touch to the soundboard keeps music industry elites like Mariah Carey, Sean Combs, and Jimmy Iovine repeatedly seeking Joshua to make musical magic for their full range of projects.

Early Years

Born in Los Angeles in 1974, Jaycen Joshua was steeped in the music business from the very beginning. By age 8, he already had his “ears”and was following in his mother’s footsteps. Shelly Fowler had been a creative force at record labels such as Casablanca and MCA, where sheworked closely with Gerald Busby, Joshua’s godfather. When Jaycen was just a grade school kid bumping a cassette of Candy Girl by the as-yet-unsigned New Edition at a pool party, Busby took notice, checked out Joshua’s cassette, bought out the independent label that was handling New Edition, and soon signed the band to MCA. The rest was boy band history. After A&Ring such major acts as BoyzIIMen, Another Bad Creation and Johnny Gil with Busby at MCA, Joshua ultimately landed at DreamWorks where he handled both marketing and A&R for a range of acts, such as Papa Roach, Nelly Furtado and Dave Hollister. But by 25, he says he was burnt out by the cutthroat world of A&R. “I was tired of saying ‘No’ to people who had the passion to move mountains. I was sick of being the bad guy.” Luckily, MTV had approached him to do video programming, and he quickly climbed the corporate ladder, handling advertising sales for the Viacom entertainment behemoth. The money was great and so were the hours, but Joshua yearned to return to the melody and the madness of music. Succumbing to his inner muse, he enrolled in Los Angeles Recording Workshop during the evenings. “From the very first day of school I knewright then and there that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” He took the technical groundwork that LARW provided for him and landedan internship at the elite Larrabee Recording Studio, where Prince and Fleetwood Mac recorded some of their greatest records. He was basically starting over from scratch.

"I was taking out trash, fluffing pillows, and delivering In-N-Out Burgers to people who I had once written huge checks to as an A&R exec,” says Joshua. “Some people even felt bad for me.” But he didn’t mind one bit. Joshua was completely immersed in the craft of mixing, relishing the late hours, reading technical manuals, and sneaking into sessions to learn the schematics of each compressor. “I was that overzealous guy,” he says with a chuckle

Joshua soon became top mixer Dave Pensado’s assistant in Larrabee’s Studio Three. Overflowing with work for folks like the Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake, Pensado willingly shared his knowledge and experience with his apprentice. “The reason why you study under someone like Pensado for two years, is so that your ears become adjusted to what a great mix sounds like.” Joshua was setting up Pensado’s records for him, bringing out the drums and the bass and polishing the instrumentation for Pensado to later perfect. Joshua’s skills had an invigorating effect on Pensado’s career and in 2006, the elder mixer wanted to go into business with him. “Nobody can do the rhythm section like you,” Pensado told Joshua one day, before he asking him to become a business partner in Penua Project with his own residency in Larrabee’s elite Studio One. He quickly evolved from that eager intern to one of a tiny handful of top mixers who put the shine on smash records that rock the globe, from Japan’s Utada to Spanish superstar Enrique Iglesias. His rise has been nothing short of meteoric in a world where gray-haired mixing engineers pay dues for decades before they achieve the kind of accolades and notoriety that Joshua has...

“A lot of these older guys are technically and sonically really good. But I think like a producer. If you like my taste and style, you will never leave me. I’m like crack cocaine,” says Joshua.

Producer Tricky Stewart and executive producer Kendu Isaacs are among the addicted. After all they demanded that Joshua be the sole mixer on the entire Breakthrough project, much to the consternation of competing mixers. But the reason is actually quite simple. Says Joshua, “I’m really youthful in my mixes. I mix aggressively like an A&R. And I know exactly what a club record should sound like.”

Discography/Credits

Header text	Header text	Header text	Header text	Header text	Header text	Header text	Header text	Header text	Header text
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example