Glenn A Tabor III, Multiple Grammy winning producer and engineer, and owner since 1996 of Gat3 – a multi-room recording facility, video production company, and recording school based in Charlotte in North Carolina. Glenn has worked with thousands of artists, spanning nearly every genre, including funk, jazz, rock, hip-hop, and R&B.
Interview
Glenn, how would you define your profession?
My name is Glenn A Tabor III and I am the owner of Gat3 Productions in Charlotte, NC. We are a multimedia facility, housing five recording studios, a Dolby Atmos suite, video editing and sound stages, as well as a recording school for aspiring engineers and artists. I am also a recording and mastering engineer as well as a producer.
Producing and recording music is quite an incredible career. It is truly something you spend a lifetime refining and crafting. Working with artists and musicians is always interesting. You become the psychologist – it really requires that to extract the most amazing performances. After all, that is what we all want. Great performances help make great sonics as well. I began defining that as taking an artist through their “arc”. Everyone’s arc is different and unique, but there are patterns. I recorded and mixed James Brown’s (The Godfather of Soul) last album and his arc was one take! He had the ability to immediately know what he wanted and deliver it, whereas a new artist who hasn’t had much studio experience may take days or weeks to get through that same arc.
Every recording session also has its own atmosphere and vibe. You must quickly realize the pace and feel of the artist and musicians. If they’ve recorded before, I study their body of work. Great communication and intuition are vital. By listening to thousands of great records you basically a mass a catalog in your brain of great sound to pull from. This is why I want a great playback system to listen accurately.
How critical is audio playback quality in the studios?
I personally auditioned all of the quality music players made
and Audirvāna stood out as sounding the best
as well as being simplistic and visually stunning.
Do you still enjoy listening to music at home?
I ALWAYS enjoy listening to music! It feeds the soul. Leaving the studio, I’ll jam tunes in the car and also at home. I have an audiophile system at home for referencing mixes and masters that includes a lot of great things, like Krell, Chord, B&W, Audeze headphones, and of course Audirvāna.
How long have you been using Audirvāna? What did you think when you discovered it?
I have been using Audirvāna for almost a year now. I am so impressed that we are implementing it in all of our student workstations and recording studios. It is perfect for listening to mixes and masters in pristine quality. It is also great for comparing your work to other masters in various genres.
Do you talk to people about it?
I always share anything that sounds great with others. The joy of high quality music playback is an amazing experience and when others hear it, they are amazed!
What are your passions outside of music?
Music is my livelihood and my passion so it naturally consumes most of my life. However, I do enjoy high performance cars and an occasional day driving on a race track – of course while listening to some great music!
