Dave Cooley
Dave Cooley (David J. Cooley; born 1970) is an American mastering engineer in Los Angeles, California. He has mastered and remastered records for all the major record labels and many notable independent labels. His discography includes mastering or remastering credits for M83, Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Eat World, Fitz and the Tantrums, Freddie Gibbs, Blood Orange, J Dilla, Animal Collective, The Presets, School of VII Bells, Serge Gainsbourg, Jackson C. Frank, Isaac Hayes, Sixto Rodriguez, Black Angels And Washed Out with over 800 records credited. He has worked on Grammy nominated or winning albums including albums for Silversun Pickups[1] and Ziggy Marley. Many of his credited records have achieved Gold or Platinum sales status. His remastering work for Sixto Rodriguez appeared in the soundtrack for “Searching for Sugarman”, which was awarded an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2013.[2]
Originally living in Milwaukee, WI in the 80's and 90's, Cooley studied jazz piano from the age of 15 at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music under the instruction of jazz pianist David Hazeltine. As the same time he began working in midwest punk, hip hop, and electronic music. In his twenties, Cooley moved on to educate himself in recording and production. Cooley was a member and keyboardist of Milwaukee bands Wild Kingdom and Citizen King. Citizen King’s most successful single "I’ve Seen Better Days” was co-written by Cooley.
Upon moving to Los Angeles’s Echo Park area in 2000, he founded Elysian Masters. During this period he mastered and in some cases mixed records by Madlib, J Dilla, Madvillain and other artists for Stones Throw records. He produced albums for rock bands Silversun Pickups and Birds of Tokyo before transitioning to a full focus on mastering in 2013. He currently masters records and does archival remastering at Elysian Masters studios in Los Angeles, alongside associate engineer Jared Hirshland.
Cooley is both a member of the AES (Audio Engineering Society) and IASA (International Association of Sound and Visual Archives).