As a Vocal Recording and Mixing Engineer, Philly’s own Ben Thomas has perfected the sound of a multitude of songs for some of today’s chart-topping artists (Post Malone, Lil Uzi Vert, and Ty Dolla $ign to name a few). During his time as a Temple University student, Ben Thomas balanced it all: his music, coursework within his Entrepreneurial Studies and Innovation Management major, along with an internship at Anthony Bell’s (a renowned producer) former studio, Studio Breed.
The studio internship afforded him the opportunities to engineer “Insecure” for Jazmine Sullivan and Bryson Tiller, and work on R&B powerhouse Brian McKnight’s album, Genesis. His work on these releases rewarded him with three NAACP Image and Soul Train Award nominations. Keep reading our latest Local Artist Spotlight featuring Ben Thomas with more about his production projects, working with artists, and of course, how Philly has influenced his music!
PPRG: How did you get into the music industry and is this always something you knew you wanted to do?
BT: I first started doing music when I was in middle school because I did not want to be in the school play. After continuing doing music and engineering throughout high school for plays and assemblies, I opened my first studio in my mother’s basement in 2013. During college at Temple, I ran a studio out of my apartment and also worked multiple internships both in music and outside of music. I was always going back and forth with whether to do music full time or to continue down a more traditional business based path. After I graduated I told myself I would try to be a full time engineer for a year, if it did not work, I would go back to a regular job. That was over 2 years ago, and I will never look back!
PPRG: We’re glad you took that chance! So during your career, you’ve worked on tracks for some of the biggest names in the game; Lil Uzi Vert, Post Malone, Chill Moody, Ty Dolla $ign. What is your stand-out behind-the-music story?
BT: I believe that so much of the blessings that have happened to be have come from being in the right place at the right time and always willing to say “yes!” when people ask me to do stuff. I got the opportunity to work with Ty because I answered the call when no one else did. That first session that him and I did together went well, so that allowed the studio to gain more trust in me and hire me from being an intern. I worked my way up at the studio to become the senior engineer, a position I held for 1.5 years until 2019. When I worked with Jazmine Sullivan for the first time, I was sent to her house to help set up her home studio. When it became clear that she was not going to record herself, I took initiative and decided to offer my services to come back and record with her whenever she wanted. I did not think she would say yes, but she ended up calling me to come back regularly for over 3 years.
PPRG: With many artists working with you regularly, do you have a signature element that you add to each song you produce?
BT: No not really, I try to make the artist shine in the best light possible and give them whatever type of track or song they are looking for. At the end of the day, it is their name on the front of the project not mine. It is my job to be of as much support as possible.
PPRG: What is your favorite part within the recording and mixing process?
BT: My favorite part of the record making process is getting to see people happy when the ideas that were in their head are translated to the speakers. That is why I do what I do. I want to help people get their ideas out.
PPRG: How has the transition to virtual meetings impacted your production routine?
BT: Thankfully the transition has come at a weird time for me because I recently closed my production studio as I am building out a larger studio space so I was already planning on not doing any in-person work at this time. All of the work I have been doing has been remote work. Either people sending me their songs to work on or occasionally doing screen sharing sessions to record or fix people’s computers.
PPRG: You’ve been immersed in Philly and its music scene for a while. How has Philadelphia’s culture shaped your approach to your music?
BT: This city has some of the best music culture in the world. There is not a major touring artist that does not have someone from Philadelphia performing with them. There are also so many different types of music from Philly. This rich culture is hard not to influence you and having relationships with some of these great musicians really makes my music better. I always have a world class player ready at a phone call! Not just the musicians but some of the greatest producers ever are from here. I have had the blessing to collaborate with Pop Wansel, Charlie Heat, Mike Zombie, Anthony Bell, Ivan Barias and so many others that I looked up to growing up. It is amazing to be able to call these people friends and mentors now.
PPRG: Are there any Philly artists who have influenced you?
BT: Yes! I love so many great artists in the city and have been blessed to work with some of the greats including: Lil Uzi Vert, Meek Mill, Chill Moody, Bri Steves, Peedi Crakk, Tierra Whack, Shawn Smith, Armani White, Donn T, and so many others.
Visit Ben Thomas’ website , and follow him for upcoming music releases on Instagram and Twitter.
