NEW YORK, NY, May 23, 2024 — HEAR (Harris-Elff Audio Resources), innovative leaders in the field of audio recording and music mixing for live broadcast, announce the addition of Rob Macomber to their team of forward-thinking specialists. In addition to being a multiple Grammy and Emmy-award winning audio engineer, Macomber brings his decades of experience as Chief Engineer for Jazz at Lincoln Center, one of the premier live music venues in the world and a leader in live music broadcast. The combined team, which also includes HEAR founders and fellow award winning engineers John Harris and Jody Elff, has over 70 years of professional audio experience in live broadcast music mixing and recording at the highest levels.
“Rob has been a friend and valued colleague in the industry for many years and is a natural fit for the aims of HEAR,” said Elff. “He is highly respected in the field and brings an incredible wealth and diversity of experience to our team.”
“Bringing Rob into the team speaks directly to the core mission statement of HEAR — providing the finest audio expertise in the industry with an experience that speaks to the ever-expanding nature of live music broadcast,” added Harris. “The three of us come from diverse backgrounds in audio and music and that makes us greater than the sum of our parts. We’re thrilled that we’re able to answer these needs with the expanded capabilities of our team.
After graduating from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor in Jazz Composition and Orchestration, Macomber cut his teeth at the Omega Recording Studios before being named Chief Engineer at the Music Studios at Jazz at Lincoln Center for SiriusXM Radio. There, he worked alongside a diverse array of major artists engineering live broadcast events for the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Sting, Dave Brubeck, and more. During this time he was also part of the live broadcast audio teams for the 12-12-12 Hurricane Sandy Relief Benefit that featured the Who, Roger Waters, and Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake’s 2008 ‘FutureSexLoveShow’ HBO Special, and U2’s 3D Concert Film ‘U2 3D’ among others.
Macomber’s diverse taste in genres and appetite for authentically capturing various shades of the American musical experience has also won him multiple Grammy awards for recording and mixing. These include Best Latin Jazz Album for Arturo O’Farill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra’s ‘Song for Chico’, Best Jazz Vocal Album for ‘Dedicated To You: Kurt Telling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman’, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Ted Nash’s ‘Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom’, and Best Regional Roots Music Album for Ranky Tanky’s ‘Good Time’.
Prior to joining forces in HEAR, the trio worked together on various leading-edge production approaches in the live broadcast audio sphere. Macomber and Harris introduced mixing in Pro Tools live to broadcast on the MTV VMA’s which has now been adopted widely in the industry. Macomber and Elff also collaborated extensively on the concept of networked mixing surface control over local internal mixers from afar, which has become a key component of HEAR’s remote mixing capabilities.
“It’s truly an honor to work alongside John and Jody as a full partner in HEAR,” said Macomber. “As a combined team, we work to elevate the experience of music in broadcast audio for everyone — artists, producers, and the viewers at home. We strongly believe that the presentation of music in live broadcast should be an enveloping, emotionally moving experience that serves to connect us as people. I’m humbled to bring my experience in the service of such an important mission.”
For more information about HEAR, please visit: https://hearmix.com/
About HEAR
HEAR is a partnership between John Harris, Jody Elff, and Rob Macomber providing recording and mixing services, promoting awareness of the value of experienced audio professionals, and connecting content producers with audio specialists across the media spectrum. Harris, Elff, and Macomber have partnered to address the needs of an evolving media industry, providing recording, mixing and audio production resources that focus on the talent and experience of the engineers, coupled with hardware solutions to meet the needs of a new generation of content producers.
With over 70 years of combined professional audio experience focusing on (but not limited to) music, the HEAR team have worked in some of the most demanding audio production environments in the world, from high-profile international television broadcasts to field recordings in Africa, art installations to award-winning album productions, their experience spans the spectrum of what is possible when working with audio in the 21st century.
