Recording Connection mentor Tre Nagella takes Grammys in Stride

The Recording Connection has a lot of prestigious and acclaimed mentors. Among them is Tre Nagella, music producer and chief engineer at Luminous Sound Studios in Dallas, Texas. Tre works with superstar artists like Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dogg, Blake Shelton, and, perhaps most extensively, gospel artist Kirk Franklin whose been blowing up the gospel charts for a few years now and with whom Tre won Grammy number two for Hello Fear.

Tre also engineered “Wanna Be Happy?” another Kirk Franklin song which just won the 2016 Grammy for Best Gospel Performance/Song.

Though the recognition is nice, Tre’s focused on the work and art of making music. In fact, winning in 2008 for Fight of My Life was a complete surprise to Tre who only learned of his win when he got a phone call.

I actually didn’t find out until about three weeks after the Grammys. That’s when I got a call from the Recording Academy, they wanted to send me paper work to sign for my trophy, as they call it. I probably sounded like an idiot, asking them, ‘I’m not sure what you’re talking about.’ Then they said, ‘You are Tre Nagella, right? You did do this album, right? You do know that it won a Grammy, right?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, we need to send you your paper work.’ I said, ‘You mean, I get one of those little trophy things that I see on television?'”

When he isn’t winning Grammys, Tre’s in the studio working and passing down his knowledge to others. From getting technical skills to navigating the professional terrain of the industry, Tre is helping Recording Connection students become recording industry professionals who know what the craft is about and how to get on getting-on in the studio.

When asked about how he first started learning the business Tre says he definitely had help along the way:

“I had a number of mentors when I was young, coming up, in my early teens, early 20s. I did the typical rounds of entering the studios and assisting other engineers that were more experienced than I was and had some really good guys who were open to share their knowledge.”

Paying it forward is part of his prerogative.

“Now is my opportunity to do the same thing for someone else…I can’t take everyone, but if I can… If I get a good student, I get to share the knowledge and still have the passion for doing this. So it’s fun for me to explain it to someone else and see them light up.”

Well keep on taking those Grammys in stride Tre! We’ll celebrate for you.

Read up more on Tre Nagella and his approach to mentorship.