Gloria Kaba is a Ghanaian-American sound engineer, producer, mixer, and writer whose impact spans over a decade. Renowned for her contributions to albums such as A Tribe Called Quest's We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service and Solange's groundbreaking A Seat at the Table, Gloria has made an indelible mark on the music industry. From her early days as an intern at Battery Studios, to her current role as Technical Director at Power Station at BerkleeNYC, Gloria's journey embodies a relentless pursuit of sonic excellence and collaborating with industry icons while championing emerging talent.
How did you get your start after college?
The first internship I did was at the indie label, 456 Entertainment. I think it was co-owned by Carson Daly at the time. This was in 2003, and I was searching the internet. I'm from North Jersey, and it was an easy commute. I knew that's where everything was happening. I cold emailed and got that internship. The next one I did was a major one through Sony, which ended up getting me my first job. I had applied for an A&R internship, and there were a million applicants. They said, “We think we have all the people we need,” but they were looking at my resume and saw that I was interested in production, and that I had a little bit of experience with software. I was taking recording classes in college. They were like, “Hey, we have a private studio called Battery Studios. We don't actually offer an internship to that studio, but we'll talk to the manager and see if that's something they'd be open to.” The manager at the studio was my first mentor. We got lunch last week.
Were you getting hands-on experience?
Not really. At the indie label, we were passing out flyers, printing copies, and mailing things. At the studio – just like with most studio internships – I was doing similar tasks that a runner would do: Making coffee, wrapping cables, and organizing the studios. But I loved that, because I was around people who were interesting to me, had loads of experience, and who I knew I could learn from. Once I graduated, I started cold calling and emailing studios. I got a call back from Legacy Recording Studios. I was friends with the hiring manager, and I do think that relationship definitely made me stand out there. The manager was very direct and transparent about the type of work and how difficult it is. I was not deterred by any of that. There were a few women on staff, so I didn't feel too out of place. The staff, especially at the lower levels, were super welcoming. I was running for three years and then assisted for another three years, which was a great experience. I got to learn from a lot of people. I took that as an opportunity to absorb everything I could. After six years, I decided to go freelance. A friend of mine from college randomly called me and said, “Hey, Q-Tip is finishing a studio in his house, and his engineer’s looking for another engineer to start assisting and trade off engineering.”
I'm listening to you talk about your life, and I don't know that I believe that there are coincidences.
I definitely believe that. I put that out there.
The traditional studio path still existed then. Do you still see that in New York?
There just aren't many major studios in New York anymore. There are not a lot of opportunities. But there's also this new tier that I'm seeing – especially if you've gone through the major labels – of a Pro Tools “op.” It’s someone who's done the assisting and they've gotten to the point where they're very skilled at running the software in the studio. They might be called in by an engineer to do the more tedious editing. You can make a living by doing that, so there are opportunities. It's also about relationships, but you have to be in the system to get hooked into those.
How'd you get involved with Berklee and Power Station?
A good friend of mine who came up at the same studio had gone on to teach at Berklee Valencia's master's program [in Spain]. He was brought on to help put the [Power Station] project together. The studio was going to remain open for a few years until all the renovation plans were in place, so he needed people who were experienced who he could plug in and run the studio. I was one of the people he called on. I started as an engineer and moved into management as the years went on. I manage the staff, do the scheduling, and work with clients to...
