Grammy Award, 2x Latin Grammy Award, and TEC Award winning mastering engineer Adam Ayan works at Gateway Mastering & DVD in Portland, ME. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell's Sound Recording Technology program, Adam began his mastering career as assistant to and protégé of mastering legend Bob Ludwig. Adam started at Gateway Mastering & DVD as a production engineer in August 1998, and in August 2001 his mastering studio at Gateway was opened for business.

Adam’s diverse list of mastering credits includes projects for such artists as Nirvana, Madonna, the Foo Fighters, Keith Urban, the Rolling Stones, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, and Incubus, to name a few. Adam has mastered several Grammy Award winning recordings (in the double digits!), and has over 50 Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum projects to his credit to date.

Many of the recording industry’s best producers, engineers, and artists rely on Adam’s ears and expertise to fully realize their artistic vision.

In Adam's own words: "Mastering is all about bringing my clients’ music to its fullest sonic potential, and always respecting their artistic vision. I have been in the fortunate position of mastering recordings across many musical genres, maintaining the same philosophy of crafting my clients’ recordings to best serve their musical message. Be it rock, pop, metal, country or jazz, the concept is always the same: master to best convey my clients’ recordings to the listener."

In 2006 Adam won his first Grammy Award in the category of “Best Historical Album” for his mastering work on the Jelly Roll Morton boxset “The Complete Library Of Congress Recordings By Alan Lomax."

In 2007, Adam won 2 Latin Grammy Awards in the categories of "Best Engineered Album" and "Album Del Ano (Album of the Year)" for his mastering work on the Juan Luis Guerra album "La Llave De Mi Corazon". His win for "Best Engineered Album" marked the very first time a mastering engineer had been awarded a Grammy in that category!

Adam was nominated again in 2008 (the 50th Annual Grammy Awards) for a Grammy Award in the prestigious "Album of the Year" category for his mastering work on Vince Gill's latest release "These Days."

In 2009, Adam won his first TEC (Technical Excellence and Creativity) Award in the category of "Surround Sound Recording" for his 5.1 surround mastering work on the Foo Fighters DVD/Blu-Ray release "Live At Wembley Stadium". Winners of the 25th Annual TEC Awards were announced at the AES Convention in NYC on Saturday, October 10th, 2009.

Adam has also been nominated for several other TEC Awards, including nominations for his mastering work on projects for Nine Inch Nails, The Barenaked Ladies, Dream Theater, and Rascal Flatts.

For scheduling inquiries please contact Scott Sperlich at Gateway Mastering & DVD:

Phone: (207) 828-9400, Email: staff@gatewaymastering.com.

Apart from being an extremely busy mastering engineer; Adam is also an active member of the local community. He has served on several task forces and committees for the City of Portland, including most recently City Hall's "Creative Economy Steering Committee", which among other things has helped the City Of Portland found a new non-profit called the "Portland Creative Corporation", whose mission is to help promote and support Portland's creative economy.

Known in the community as a supporter and activist for the Portland music scene, Adam also founded the Portland Music Foundation in 2006. The PMF is a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to help support, organize, connect, and nurture Portland's thriving music community. Adam served as the PMF's de-facto leader and Board President for it's first 2 and a half years of existence, and now serves as an active member of the PMF's Board of Directors.

Adam is also part time faculty at the University of Southern Maine's School of Music, teaching a digital audio course called "Topics In Music Technology" for the past 8 years. His involvement with USM's School of Music helps bridge the gap between academic world at USM, the professional music world, and Portland, ME's music community.