Shawn Livingston Moseley
Short Version:
Shawn began his music career at the age of 4. A student of Kay Dolan, Shawn was nationally ranked by age 8 as one of the top 10 classical pianists for his age. This ranking held until the age of 14 when he shifted direction from competition to composition. After graduating from Punahou in ‘92 and parting with his band Dread Ashanti, Shawn went on to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. There he attained a degree in Music Production and Engineering, as well as a degree in Songwriting. Since Berklee, Shawn has worked as a producer, engineer, songwriter and musician in major recording studios through-out San Francisco, New York and Boston, as well as running a few of his own. Involved with artists as diverse as The Dave Matthews Band and Metallica to Blues legend Ron Levy and many new up and coming artists, Shawn has dedicated the last 14 years of his life to producing and making records.
Shawn now lives back home in Hawaii and is currenly working on his latest record "The Storm before the Calm", due out early fall, while teaching master classes in piano improvisation for the classical pianist, song writing and music and vocal production.
Long Version
Born Shawn Livingston Moseley, Shawn was raised on the North Shore of Oahu at Waimea Bay. At the age of 4 he began playing piano. By the time he was 8 he was already competing in national piano competitions throughout the US, quickly gaining recognition as one of the top pianist for his age. By the age of 14 Shawn was competing against pianist older than him, many attaining their Master’s in music and performance. It was also at the age of 14 Shawn realized that it was time to stop competing and start composing for he felt it was time for his creative voice to be heard
So Shawn started Reggae band Dread Ashanti, with friend Bryce Nimtz-Myers. Dread Ashanti continued on successfully for them through high school, leading them to share the stage with Steel Pulse, Yellowman, Peter Broggs, and many other great reggae legends. In 1992, graduating form Punahou High School in Manoa, Shawn moved to Boston, Ma., to attend school at Berklee College of Music. There he left after 5 years of studies with a Bachelors of Music with Majors in Music Production and Engineering, Songwriting and a minor in Film scoring. Also while in Boston Shawn spent a lot of his free time practicing in the field of Music Therapy, bringing song and the spirit of music to the deaf, blind and elderly.
Ready to leave the East Coast with his new skills, Shawn moved to San Francisco to work at The Plant Recording Studio in Sausalito, Ca. and also various clubs in the Bay area. During his time in San Francisco, Shawn worked with artist Dave Matthews, Metallica, Elliot Smith and Destiny’s Child to name a few. He also worked for online music publications Sonicnet, an MTVi company and Addicted to Noise as an Audio Engineer and Consultant, started by long time senior editor of Rolling Stones Magazine, Michael Goldberg. After a 4 year stay Shawn moved back home to Hawaii for a year and took a job with True Kiss Disc Studios in Hawaii Kai for Japanese artist “TK”, where he worked on an album with Japanese pop star Namie Amuro. After that record it became very clear to Shawn that it was time to shift gears again and try to get closer to his passion, working on new music and styles through production and composition.
Remembering the wealth of promising new artist, Shawn moved back to Boston where he opened Witch Doctor Recording in Salem, MA., and ran the studio there for almost 5 years before moving it to DUMBO in Brooklyn, NY. SInce the enception of Witchdoctor Recording, Shawn worked with Electric Turn To Me, Converge, Pilot to Gunner, Brian Brown, Nova Social, Ron Levy, Karl Denson, Melvin Sparks, Jerry Portnoy, Kilombo Mambo, David Murray, Tony Perez, Yasek Mansano, Tony Sunshine, Hoffa, BL, Vibewise, and many, many other wonderful musicians.
Witchdoctor in Brooklyn after being built and designed by Shawn and Kurt Balou of Converge, a year after opening was handed over to the amazing and dedicated Andrew Schneider and Mike Law (of New Idea society) to continue making records the studio deserves. Now called Translator Audio, the studio is by far one of the best creative spaces in the northeast.
Shawn now lives back home in Hawaii and is currenly working on his latest record "The Storm before the Calm", due out early fall, while teaching master classes in piano improvisation for the classical pianist, song writing and music and vocal production.