Austen’s career began in London, where he honed his craft at the legendary Dean St. Studios. By the age of 23, he had become Head Engineer, accumulating over 10,000 hours of hands-on studio experience while working alongside artists such as Adele, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, A$AP Rocky, SZA, Mark Ronson, and John Legend. His engineering work on Adele’s 25 contributed to its Grammy win for Album of the Year.

As a Vocal Producer, Austen has been instrumental in shaping the signature sounds of global artists. His work on Kali Uchis’ Sin Miedo helped define the album’s sonic identity, with the hit single Telepatía achieving platinum status and spending 28 weeks on the Billboard Global 200. His expertise was also key to Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season), which earned a Latin Grammy in 2024.

Beyond the studio, Austen has been featured in Music Tech magazine and has shared his insights on leading industry podcasts such as My Forever Studio and Songwriter Sanctuary. Passionate about education, he regularly guest lectures, offering students a firsthand perspective on vocal production and the realities of a career in music.

Now based in Los Angeles, Austen continues to push the limits of commercial production, combining technical precision with a deep understanding of artistic vision to create music of the highest caliber.

Getting to offer insight and feedback on new innovative approaches to audio equipment has been a very exciting and intriguing process and I’m pleased that such a hard working company is gaining much deserved critical acclaim for they’re work. It was great to catch up with James at Winter Namm 2019 to get a hands-on demonstration of their latest release the “Stealth” microphone. I was blown away by how they had managed to pack in so many genuinely useful and thoughtful features into a product at such a reasonable price point.