Michael Romanowski

Michael Romanowski is a five time GRAMMY winning, and nine time Nominee mastering engineer. Based in Berkeley CA, he is the owner and chief mastering engineer of Coast Mastering, and co-founder of the analog tape label The Tape Project.

Michael has been in the vanguard of  immersive audio. He built his first surround studio in 2001, and adding height channels in 2015. His first Atmos music releases were completed in 2016, before Dolby Music was a separate entity from Dolby Cinema. Since xyz date, he has been involved in early testing and consulting as an advisor and expert with companies such as  Dolby, Sony and Fraunhofer.   His contributions have helped to build and refine tools to push the boundaries of immersive audio production. Michael has been a early adopter and pioneer in immersive audio and continues to advocate for the necessity to master immersive audio, and was one of the very first engineers to do so. being one of the very first Immersive Audio Mastering engineers on the planet.

Michael has served the Recording Academy and its members for more than 20 years, representing the San Francisco Chapter as president and Trustee, as the National Awards and Nominations committee, co-chair of the P&E Immersive Committee, and serves on the National Advisory Council to the Producers & Engineers Wing. He is also the former chair of the Planning and Governance Committee and the National Presidents council.

Since 1994, Michael has worked to support the tradition and the diversity of the San Francisco Bay Area sound, and has become a national expert in the art and science of mastering. He’s written articles for Mix Magazine, and Electronic Musician, and has spoken / presented at AES, NAMM, SXSW, Tape Op, Potluck Con, AES Mexico, and AES Europe. His audio career began as a musician and live sound engineer in Nashville, where he quickly progressed to recording and mixing pop, rock and alternative acts. In 1994, he relocated to the Bay Area to apprentice at Rocket Lab with Paul Stubblebine, learning the art and craft of the mastering engineer. In 1999, he became the chief mastering engineer for The Plant Mastering in Sausalito. In 2001 he reunited with Stubblebine and together they built two new mastering rooms at the former location of Coast Records. In 2007, Michael acquired the business and re-launched Coast Recorders as a tracking space in addition to having the two Mastering rooms. In 2015, Coast Recorders closed its doors, and the mastering business, as Coast Mastering, moved to the historic Studio C in the Fantasy Studio Complex in Berkeley CA. Most recently, Coast Mastering expanded one more time, with one of the first immersive mastering facilities purposefully designed and built from the ground up. The 9.1.6 and Sony 360RA capable room was created in consultation with Bob Hodas and Bob Levy, and  was awarded a TEC Nomination for studio design in 2020. 

Michael’s extensive credits include Alicia Keys, Prince, Ray Charles, Vince Gill, Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, Earth Wind & Fire, Pfife Dawg, Kane Brown, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, The Bee Gees, Al Green, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Peter Frampton, George Strait, Too $hort, Star Wars Soundtracks, Fantastic Negrito, Dr Strange 2 Soundtrack, The Eagles,  and several thousand more.