Mary Mazurek: The Music and Science of Classical Recording

I met Grammy® Award-nominated classical music engineer Mary Mazurek last summer at Sweetwater’s Gearfest 2019. Mixmaster Chris Lord-Alge introduced me to her as, “The best classical engineer in the business!” This was followed by a Facebook post from mastering engineer Trevor Sadler, who put it simply: “Mary is an audio badass!” For over 25 years, Mary has worked out of the studios at Chicago’s WFMT radio station. The majority of her time is spent recording live classical music performances both in the studio and on location, with an occasional jazz or folk session in between. Mary invited me down to the studios to share her techniques and philosophy on recording classical music.