Building a Community Through Sound: A Conversation with Graham Cruser
In an industry often defined by solitary work, Graham Cruser is charting a different path. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore how his artistic upbringing shaped his approach to creativity, his transition from producer to mixing engineer, and his philosophy on building spaces that foster both sonic excellence and authentic community.
Through his story, we get a glimpse of how the next generation of audio professionals might approach their craft – with equal emphasis on technical mastery and human connection.
Growing Up in an Artistic Environment
Your upbringing in an artistic household shaped your approach to creativity. Can you tell us about that influence?
My family is a huge influence on who I am. I grew up in a family of visual artists. My mom is a photographer and painter and my father has been a furniture maker for the past 50 years. My parents are older, and I’ve never really felt like I was born in the right era. I wish I was born in the 50s or 60s. My dad actually designed and built our childhood home himself, so I grew up in a home where making things was very normal. During my childhood, we were constantly junking. We would be driving down a road and pull over to a trash pile. It would have a bunch of boomsticks that people threw out. For us, we would dig through the trash piles, find the old broomsticks, cut them up, sand them, paint them, and my dad would make cabinets out of them. One year, my brothers and I went to home depot and literally built a 3ft vert halfpipe in our backyard in two days to skate on. The house literally always had some sort of building project going on.
But my musical journey started with my two older brothers. They started taking bass and drum lessons, so I started taking piano lessons. I was 7 years old, we started a band, and began writing songs together, specifically in Jazz. I always grew up looking up to my older brothers, and one day my oldest brother showed me Garageband and the iPod. That's when music really took over my life. I started making shitty beats and producing my brother's songs, and started listening to music on headphones all the time. They convinced me to enter the second grade talent show, and that was my first performance. I performed a mashup of the Pink Panther Theme and the James Bond Theme songs and won the contest. I was so inspired by that, that the next month I wrote the theme song for my elementary school and produced it in Garageband. Funny enough, they still use the theme song today. This year was its 20th year anniversary. They wrote me an email last month saying thanks for the epic theme and they still play it every morning on the loudspeaker to the kids before they sing the national anthem.
For my 9th birthday, my brothers showed me the Novation launchpad and it came with Ableton Live Lite. Ableton became my video game and exposed me to music and technology early on. So my childhood is a huge part of my approach to creativity.
Building Community in Audio
You've become known for fostering genuine connections in the industry. How did you develop this community-focused approach?
It started for me back in Texas. In high school, I started a monthly performance called ‘Electric Lunch’. Students of all ages (freshman to senior) each month would sign up, go to my house, and my friend and I would teach them the parts for drums, bass, guitar, or piano, and then we would perform them during lunch one day each month. I also played organ in a Gratedead and Phish cover band with a group of college kids who lived in Austin. Looking back it’s hilarious to think, but at the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I loved playing and composing so much, I became the conductor for my highschool orchestra and I raised $10,000 in Houston to build a recording studio at my highschool. In that studio, I composed a piece for the orchestra's spring performance, and that was one of the hardest things I've ever done because I had to learn how to read and chart music. Before then, I just played piano and instruments by ear. I know it sounds funny, but playing piano and jamming was how I built my community back home. I was just a music kid that loved jamming with people. I still am.
But I think that I get my community skills from my grandfather, Papa. He was the master of connecting people and building strong relationships. He was my hero growing up even though he is no longer with us, I think about him daily. He always had a smile on his face, treated everyone with grace, and had this amazing ability to make you feel comfortable. We were close. He was the best story teller I’ve ever met. I definitely give him and my mom all the credit for who I am as a community builder. I don't really think about it honestly, it's just kinda who I am.
When I moved to LA, I networked and collaborated a lot with my peers in music school. I have to give a huge shoutout to one of my college professors, Rick Schmunk. He recommended me to Ableton for their internship program. I was lucky enough to be hired as one of the first two interns Ableton hired in the US. The other student was named Ellis Rovin. That's when I designed and built Ableton’s recording studio in the US and became close with the team there.
I definitely refined my community-focused approach when I was hired to do Artist Relations for Ableton in North America. For four and a half years, my job was literally to get to know artists, producers, and engineers, and build community. I traveled the world hosting private events in almost every city in the US, CA, and Mexico. I was 22, and it was a dream. I met so many of my heroes, and I took a lot of pride in making sure my people were given the support they needed and also that North American artists' voices were heard in regards to feature developments within the Ableton software.
At that job, I met every type of musical creative you could imagine that uses Ableton - artists, instrumentalists, vocalists, music directors, midi programmers, super producers, plugin developers, managers, record labels execs, A&Rs, and recording engineers. My job was to manage around 4000 relationships, so I became really good at communication. It taught me to communicate with all different types of creatives.
Over time, I became better at connecting people and telling stories. It was an honor to be on the marketing team and partnering with music icons for Ableton product launches, educational events, and content. Looking back, I am incredibly grateful for all the wonderful humans I met while at Ableton.
I also have to give credit to Ableton for giving me such an unbelievable opportunity. The job that I was hired for was for someone that had 5-7 years of experience already doing Artist Relations. I clearly didn't because I just graduated college. They took a chance on me. I am eternally grateful they did.
Also my co-workers had a big impact on me. They were not only brilliant people, but also the best humans and support system I could have imagined. I did not develop this community based approach on my own, I learned from some of the best people in the business and it was an honor to be on the team. People like Brigid Gilbert, Coleman Goughary, David Reid, Angelica Tavella, Martin Rowe, and Christa Whalley. Since Artist Relations was a small team with massive territories around the world, we were forced to think about community both globally and within our own regions. We were a strong team that really cared for our community, and I am so proud of the work we did together. I have so many beautiful stories from how that job allowed us to really impact people’s lives. Serving the artist community and being a part of the Ableton Live 10, Live 11, and Push 2 launches were some of the best memories in my life.
In a world filled with more technologies that are distracting us from reality, I truly believe that we need strong and thriving communities more than ever. I’ve seen what happens to people that don’t have support, and I want to be a part of creating an audio industry that actually cares for the people who work in it.
Why Mixing?
Did you always know you wanted to be a mixing engineer? What led you to pursue that?
No. When I moved to LA, I thought I wanted to be a producer. It took many years to learn that I like finishing records more than I like starting them.
I started off as a tracking engineer. I was a runner for six months at the John Williams Scoring Stage recording orchestras and jazz big bands for feature films, and then became an assistant engineer for a year and a half. I was always producing pop music in my free time with friends, but I was honestly just busy working as a tracking engineer.
For the next two years, I became the in-house engineer for a producer named Smidi. He had this amazing studio in Venice, and I think that's when I realized how big the world of music was. We worked closely with Sony Extreme Music mainly on sync licensing and catalog music, but he also wrote theme songs for massive kids TV shows like ‘Paw Patrol,’ and I helped him out by helping build the recording studio, producing and programming the live shows in Ableton for his artists, and doing any grunt work for their record label, Saint Rogue Records. He is one of the best teachers I have ever had. We went to Abbey Road Studios, and we won a Telly Award for producing the live show for Hans Zimmer’s Season One of Planet Earth at the Microsoft Inspire event in Washington D.C. That work is really what led to getting connected with Ableton.
I really fell in love with mixing when I started working for Ableton. Everytime I would go to Berlin to the Ableton headquarters, I would take a week's vacation to go to France for a Mix With The Masters seminar to learn. I ended up going to 3 seminars in a little over a year, and that was the start of my obsession.
When I returned to LA, mixing became the way I jammed with people.
Building A Catalog
How did you find your first projects as a mixer?
I started mixing originally because the artists' projects I was producing did not have big enough budgets for a mix, so I ended up mixing a lot of songs.
But after going to mix with the masters, I decided I wanted to stop producing and just focus on mixing. I remember Jacquire King saying “you are not a mixer until you have mixed a full album.” That really hit with me, so my goal became how to find an artist to mix their album. That was actually one of the best challenges someone has ever given me. It motivated me to work really hard and push myself outside of my comfort zone. I mixed over 100 songs for friends that year for free. I just wanted to mix.
And then I got my first break. Funny enough, I got hired to mix Kobe Bryant’s podcast called ‘The Punies’. It was my first paid mixing gig. I went straight to Vintage King and bought a pair of Barefoot Footprint 01s monitors. Previously I was mixing on KRK Rokit 6s I had since middle school haha.
It was a children's music podcast, and I got the gig because one of my college roommates was Kobe’s personal assistant. His job was literally to be Kobe’s “Note Taker and Dreamer”. It was awesome. Working with Kobe’s team was so cool. After Kobe's podcast release, I connected with a friend who worked for Media Arts Lab, Apple’s marketing company. They started to hire me as an hourly engineer mixing songs for Apple commercials. Next, they connected me with Twitter, and I started mixing music for Twitter advertisements. My freelance gig suddenly became a part-time job, and I was so grateful for the work.
But it took me about 9 months after returning from Mix With The Masters to find an artist that I could mix a full project with. My close friend Derek Renfroe was executive producing this artist named Mills. I did one mix, they loved it, and then they gave me the full project.
That EP dropped and everything changed. That week Justin Bieber posted videos and clips of the album to his Instagram story. He posted videos hanging out in his house just listening to all the songs and singing along to them, and then posted the album cover saying that he is in love with this project and this artist. Mills got signed to RCA, and that project was really when my mixing career started. After that, I started to get calls.
Investment in Craft and Space
Your studio is one of my favorite rooms I've ever worked in. What drove your decisions in creating this space?
Wow, that is so kind of you to say man! Thank you.
Honestly it came from a dark place. I spent two years building this amazing mix room at a house in Silver Lake, and in January of 2020, my landlord decided to sell the house and gave us three months to move out. A week before covid, we moved out and I signed two 12 month leases (one house rental with some roommates, and one tiny mixing studio room in Atwater Village). Little did I know that the following week COVID would happen and the world shut down. For the first time in my life, I felt paralyzed. I packed up my mini cooper with my speakers and interface, and drove to Texas to live with my parents for the next 8 months. It was a weird time. I continued working for Ableton remotely, and I built a temporary mix studio in my parents garage because my mixing work was starting to pick up. I built the table and acoustic treatment with my dad. I mixed over 100 songs in that garage and just made it work. That year is when I really fell in love with mixing. But really, I was struggling to get the quality of work I had in my first studio and missed my old studio. I knew that I needed to improve my studio situation if I wanted to get back to enjoying work and not struggling.
As soon as Covid hit, I started listening to the Conversations Podcast. When I heard the way you guys were talking about music and community, I was floored. I was already thinking like this and building a community for Ableton, but it was so special to hear you guys talk about the engineer and producer community with such focus and care.
After listening to a few episodes, I hired Spider and Ruairi to help me improve the studio room that I was renting. For the first time in a while, I had hope again. The Unfuck Process changed my life. I sold every piece of gear I owned and started over again. They put me back on the rails. I came back to LA after 8 months in Texas, and mixed for four months in that rented room.
But it was really when I joined you guys helping record podcasts each week and met Jon Castelli that inspired me to create Calhoun Studios. I will never forget walking into The Gift Shop for the first time. I had been to literally hundreds of home and commercial studios all over the world, but meeting Jon and watching him mix in The Gift Shop is what inspired me to leave Ableton and build Calhoun.
I am so inspired by Jon. I think he is the coolest and most talented engineer. I love the way he makes music sound, and how he has built community over the years. I look up to him a lot! He has style, tallent, heart, and works harder than anyone I know. He is the one that inspired Calhoun.
Gear, Education, and Growth
Speaking of investment, how do you approach decisions about gear, education, and business growth?
For gear, I just go with what inspires me and I get inspired by my friends.
For education, I do my best to save money religiously over time so that I can afford to go on seminars like Mix With The Masters. I have been to four seminars in France now. I believe experiences are so much more valuable than things or gear. I can't tell you how much I learned at Jon and Teezio’s Mix with the Masters at Rue Boyer. It was so inspiring. It was a dream to hear about their process. They are so different from one another, but they both get amazing results using different approaches. I think the coolest thing is that both Jon and Teezio are successful just because they are who they are. They both have been doing this for decades, and I love that they are successful for just being themselves.
In regards to business growth, I honestly stopped caring about that in the past year. In the past, I used to focus on growth and volume, but now my approach is trying to be very intentional on the projects I work on. I just want to focus all my energy on caring deeply for the projects I am working on and collaborating with producers and artists I love. That to me feels more sustainable. I also couldn’t be more grateful for the big projects that come in like The Kid LAROI. I don’t plan for those moments, they just kind of happen. I have to thank BNYX for putting me on. He changed my life and I am so grateful for our friendship over the years. My journey will be what it is, and I am confident in my ability to get better over time. But I am not here to try to rush this. I am thinking about what I want my life to look like in 10 and 20 years, and less concerned about how much business I do this year. I’ve learned that I am more successful when money is not the goal. That just comes over time and you have to believe that it will. You almost have to be crazy to do this.
My goal is to be the best version of myself, and I really just want to focus on that. I am addicted to progress, and being around people that motivate me.
Business Relationships and Brand Development
We worked together on developing your brand. How has that impacted your business?
I think you asked me a lot of questions that helped me understand the things that I care about most. You have this ability to uncover a lot, and then distill the important things. I am excited for people to see the website, and super grateful for your help on building it. I am not sure how it will impact business, but you helped me personally by writing down all the things you found unique to me. I hate thinking about myself, so it was challenging. I am proud of what we did in our workshops. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I learned a lot.
You have a unique approach to working with businesses. Can you elaborate on your philosophy?
Yeah, it's really quite simple, I love supporting and collaborating with people that share similar values. I love building community and bringing people together. This year, I’m excited for what we have coming. For me, my philosophy is that magical and unexpected things happen when you focus on doing things for others. That's kinda how I have lived my life since I was little, and I get a lot of joy collaborating with others to build something bigger than ourselves.
The Monitoring Journey
You use multiple monitoring solutions in your work. How did you develop this approach?
I mainly use my PMC 6-2s for mixing. I also love using my Sonos five for referencing. It sits on top of my rack, and sounds so good when I get tired and need a new reference. I copied this approach from working at Just For The Record while my studio was under construction. Before JFTR opened, Moritz and I co-mixed a lot of projects in the studio, testing out all the rooms and making sure they had no problems. One day, they set up a tiny beats pill bluetooth speaker with the Grace, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. They used a Radial J-ISO Stereo Converter so that we could listen to ProTools in realtime on the Beats Pill.
I loved it so much I just copied this workflow and switched to the Sonos Five bc I love the way it sounds. It has a full range. And I use my tiny Gtone cube monitors for when my ears get tired and I need a break. They are handmade by Dani Munoz (Thundercat and Kali Uchis MD), and I love him as much as I love the monitors. They also just add the last dimension of monitors in my setup. I find them to be a lot of fun.
I personally like to listen to different systems because that is what the public will listen to. I constantly listen to mixes on my iPhone, Model Y car, and different sonos speakers in the room to see how it translates on different devices.
Calhoun Studios
Your space at Calhoun Studios seems to hold special meaning for you. What makes it unique?
Oh man, it's just a special spot that has amazing energy. I remember the first time walking into Calhoun, and it reminded me of my dad’s furniture. It's so warm and cozy. It truly felt like home the second I walked in. When I am here, I don’t feel like I’m in LA and I can focus without distractions; it has made me very present. But what makes it unique is that it can host groups with ease. There are so many hang out spots and nooks. We now have four studios, and each space is getting better over time. I am just grateful people feel at peace and at home at Calhoun.
I have built 10 studios in LA for myself, mentors, producers, and companies like Ableton, but this one feels like the culmination of all my learnings. And it was even more special to collaborate with Ruairi, Spider, and Kyle to design my mix room. They made that room sound better than I ever could have imagined.
When I look around the studio, there is a story to every single piece in it. A lot of the furniture I built was custom to the space, and my dad and I built some pieces together. I have so many people to thank for helping me put it together. I feel a deep connection to the space because it is a reflection of all my influences and people that I hold close. I did not do this alone. Calhoun is more than just a studio for me, it's a place where people can build worlds together, ideas can blossom, and I am constantly amazed by what is happening here in the compound.
It's special to me because I've been dreaming of creating a space like this for many years. I am grateful for my business partner Gus Ross. We are very different, but we make a strong team and we had a lot of fun making this place become a reality.
Quality Over Quantity
You're known for prioritizing quality over volume. How does this manifest in your work?
Man that changes monthly. I don’t know if I have a good answer for that. But working with people who share the same values as me is very important, and I am so grateful to be aligning with some cool artists and producers.
Over the past few years, I have found that mixing can be a very reactive lifestyle, so I have been very proactive with working with certain people to make my life less transactional. Mainly, I love working with friends. Especially people I have done a few projects with, and now I am working on our second or third album/EP. I find it more exciting to grow with artists, collaborate deeply together, and I will be doing more of that over the next few years.
I’m mixing three albums this December. I’ve been working with one of the artists for 6 years now. The other two are newer artists. For me, quality over volume means that you have to believe in the music and people you work with deeply. It is a long-term investment, and you might not see the outcome for years. I have found that when I focus on the outcome, it usually leads to disappointment. These days, I focus on things I can control, and try to find fulfillment in those.
Health and Wellness in Audio
You've been vocal about the importance of health and wellness in our industry. What prompted this focus?
I have had a few close friends pass away and family members as well. I don’t think sitting in a chair locked in a dark room for many years is healthy. The more I mix, the more I want to attempt to find balance in all aspects of my life. My priorities will always be health, family, and then work.
I also found myself doing too much when I left Ableton. I was designing and building studios for people like a GC, consulting for music tech companies, building my own studio, building multiple businesses, mixing, investing in companies with VCs and friends, I was constantly all gas and no brakes. I am so grateful I did that, because they allowed me to burnout and find focus in my life. Looking back, I am the most fulfilled when I am able to find focus and eliminate distractions. It's not easy to do, but I believe that is when I learn and grow the most.
I also love working out and I love playing tennis. Jon and I play a few times a week, and I really just want to get in really good tennis shape. I cold plunge every morning at 6am sharp with my friend Josh. These things have become obsessions. I love routine.
My focus on wellness takes me out of the studio, and when I come back to the studio, I feel that much more energized and present to work and be of service to others.
I’m just getting started and I’ve got many years of work ahead. I know what I signed up for. I look up to the great engineers, and I'd love to be one of them. That day is a long ways away, but I am going to work my ass off and try my best. I struggled with sore horrible throats for many years and I had to get my tonsils removed. That surgery changed my life. Since then, health has been a huge priority for me.
Looking Forward
What excites you most about the future of audio and community building?
I look forward to building musical worlds with artists and producers, and creating more spaces that bring people together.
I am excited to put together some special events coming soon, and I look forward to helping launch some cool products.
I look forward to supporting my friends and cheering them on. I am inspired by people like Jon Castelli, Teezio, Ben Thomas, Dopamine, Charlie Coffeen, BNYX, Pinkslip, Jarom Sua, Gus Ross, Emiliano Caballero, Austin Brown, Andrew Luce, Jonnywood Beats, Kurtis Wells, Pete Miller, Nathan Phillips, Axel Benemar, Linus Hablot, Sol Was, Leven Kali, Moritz Braun, Noah Glassman, Diamond Pistols, Felly, and so many more.
I also want to attend more events like Mix With The Masters. In a world with constant changes in technology, I want to continue being a student and keep my pulse on the edge of music, technology, and education. There is so much to learn, and I am so excited for what the future has to offer.
I also just want to say thank you for writing such beautiful questions. I have always rejected interviews because the questions were not my style. When I read these, I felt different. I have never shared my story, so it feels really special to express the culmination of my experiences that have led me to who I am now. I am grateful our worlds collided. I love the content you are putting together, and look forward to seeing what you do next.
As our conversation draws to a close, it's clear that Graham Cruser represents a new vision for the audio industry – one that values community as much as technical excellence. Through Calhoun Studios, he's created more than just a professional workspace; he's built a testament to the power of genuine connections and intentional creativity.
His journey from a kid making beats in GarageBand to mixing for major artists like The Kid LAROI wasn't just about technical growth – it was about understanding how to create spaces where artists and engineers can thrive together. In an era where technology often threatens to isolate us, Graham's community-focused approach reminds us that the future of audio production isn't just about better sound – it's about better connections.
Whether he's introducing new engineers to the industry, collaborating with established producers, or building custom furniture for his studio with his father, Graham approaches each aspect of his work with the same philosophy: focus on people first, and the rest will follow. As the audio industry continues to evolve, his example shows us that success doesn't have to come at the expense of community – in fact, it might depend on it.
