Bisel was raised in Moraga, California. Although he sang in the school choir and played bass, he was mainly interested in music production. He began recording friends in his bedroom when he was 14, and at 17 got an internship at Studio 880 in Oakland.[3]
Bisel studied music at the University of Michigan. During the summers, he interned for Mark Needham, an engineer and mixer who had worked with artists including Fleetwood Mac and The Killers. Bisel learned from watching Needham mix and later cited him as an influence.[4]
Career
Rick Rubin, Shangri-La, Kendrick Lamar, Doja Cat, Grammys
Following his college graduation Bisel moved to LA, where he met Dana Nielsen, an engineer who worked frequently with Rick Rubin at Rubin's Shangri-La studio. He was hired as a runner at the studio in 2014, and later worked with Rubin as an assistant engineer and engineer. Bisel said that Rubin inspired him, "fueling his hunger to dive deeper into production." [3]
In addition to Rubin, at Shangri-La Bisel engineered for artists and producers including Mark Ronson, Travis Scott, and Harry Styles. He also served as an engineer on Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers during the six-month period that Lamar recorded at Shangri-La. In 2022, he worked with Lamar once again, earning a Record of the Year Grammy nomination for "The Heart Part 5" and an Album of the Year nomination for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. Bisel was nominated for Grammy awards in the same two categories for engineering Doja Cat's album Planet Her and the single "Kiss Me More" the previous year.[5][3]
SZA and SOS
In 2020, Rubin recommended Bisel to SZA, who had booked Rubin's studio and home in Kauai to begin recording her second album, the follow up to her multi-platinum debut, Ctrl They spent a week in Kauai, "just vibing and coming up with song ideas", before returning to Los Angeles. They picked up their collaboration in LA and were working at SZA's home in Malibu at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. SZA invited Bisel to shelter-in-place at her house, and together they continued to work on the album.[6] In a 2023 interview, Bisel said: "It was a pretty crazy situation, because she was used to going to big studios with tons of people coming in and out, and suddenly it was just the two of us, and I had to step into much more of a Rick Rubin producer role than just be the typical engineer. It gave me the space to present beats to her that I had made, alone or with others. If she liked the beat, she recorded over it. She also ended up really liking the way I recorded and mixed her vocals, which led to me mixing songs as well.” [3]
The album, SOS, was released in December 2022. Bisel engineered the album, mixed 10 songs, and co-produced 11 of the album's 23 tracks. He also co-wrote 15 songs, including the double-platinum single I Hate U and Kill Bill, which was the #1 song on the US Hot R&B/Hip Hop charts for 23 weeks, breaking the chart's record for weeks at #1.[7][8] The album was #1 on the Billboard charts for ten weeks,[9] and #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop for a record-breaking 41 weeks.[10] Bisel hit #1 on the R&B producer chart in May 2023.[11] He was nominated for eight Grammy awards for his work on SOS in 2024, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year.[12]
Personal life
Bisel lives in Los Angeles. His recording studio, Ponzu, is named after his dog.[3]
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