He’s a Guttenberg resident who has worked with influential music acts in all different genres. But he remains humble, trying to find his way in a changing industry in which record labels are fading amidst independent-made albums and iTunes uploads.
Most might say that Jim Caruana has an illustrious career, working with the likes of Beyoncé, with whom he won two Grammys.
Caruana, originally from upstate New York, went into radio and TV engineering after graduating college with a degree in telecommunications. But he yearned to work in the music industry. After reading an article about schools, he enrolled into what is now Full Sail University in Orlando, Fla.
After completing an accelerated program for music engineering, which entailed rigorous, almost around-the-clock classes, he moved with his college roommate to Guttenberg. He was able to land a paid internship at MSR Studios, and started work immediately.
“It’s way different from when I started.” – Jim Caruana
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This was around 1993, when Carey married music executive Tommy Mottola. As the head of Sony Records, Mottola opened Sony Music Studios. Sony needed a staff assistant, but they promised to pay Caruana as a sound engineer until that position opened up. He stayed with the studio until 2007, when it closed.
“I worked with everyone from Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, anyone coming up,” said Caruana. “It was from the ground up.”
Years at Sony
Caruana worked at Sony when urban music was rising in popularity.
“Earlier on, [one] of the great turning points in my whole career was working with someone who is brand new, like Timbaland,” he said. “Again, that music was so different for me, and I was like ‘this guy is a genius.’”
He said that assisting with Aerosmith was “incredible,” while Harry Connick Jr. was “a really funny dude.”
Caruana also helped record and mix many of the MTV Unplugged series at Sony Music Studios.
He also remembers when the women – then teens – of Destiny’s Child were first signed and walked into the studio.
“Next thing you know they were making these huge hits,” he said.
He worked at other studios like Daddy’s House Recording Studio, owned by Sean John Combs, or P. Diddy.
While he didn’t get any credit for it, his work with Aaliyah on the film soundtrack to “Romeo Must Die” was one of his big breaks as a sound engineer.
Caruana wound up recording most of the second and last Destiny’s Child album.
Working with Beyoncé
Right around this time, he started working with Beyoncé more and more on tracks like “Crazy in Love.” Her first two solo albums were also recorded with him at Sony.
“She is just incredible,” said Caruana. “She’s super, super talented. She just knows the vision.”
Caruana said it was unique for a performer to have so much control over her vision when she was actually in the recording booth, laying vocals down.
Though Sony has since closed, Beyoncé stayed with Caruana when he transitioned into freelancing.
Caruana won two Grammys when her albums “B’Day” and “I Am…Sasha Fierce” won for Best Contemporary R&B albums. He has attended the award show numerous times, since all three of her solo albums have been nominated for Best Record of the Year.
“You sit right down on the floor, get a limo, it’s pretty cool,” Caruana said. “I never thought I would win.”
He chose to share the moment with his son Samuel, who is a saxophone player at the age of nine.
“It’s one of these things in life, even if I did it once, I would have been happy,” he said.
Caruana has recently worked on her upcoming DVD, featuring footage from her most recent tour, and has worked on past DVDs for her as well.
In the booth
Caruana has worked with all types of music acts, like Wyclef Jean, Lauren Hill, and Andre 3000.
While he can’t give any names on some of the stranger occurrences in the booth, he said that most of his memories are good.
“I remember [Beyoncé’s] “Irreplaceable,” and knowing ‘Wow, I just recorded something,’” said Caruana.
Just being in the building at Sony enabled him to meet people like Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton and “see they are human beings.”
Working at Sony taught him how to record a rock n’ roll session and mix the audience into a concert performance. Often, for pop and R&B sessions, it was overlaying vocals onto an instrumental track that had already been recorded, he said. He is skilled at setting up microphones and drums or editing concert footage.
He also met his wife Mauricette, a singer and songwriter, at Sony.
A changing industry
After the economic crash of 2008, the weight of working as a freelancer hit Caruana. He said that he couldn’t depend on just one big client, and had to find business again, for the first time without a label behind him.
Now business is finally starting to pick up, with independent clients in the Midwest. He will also be recording a French artist in Los Angeles.
He has been recording rock more, something that was originally his passion.
“You are very much an integral part of the process,” Caruana said, explaining that getting back into recording rock has kind of made his career come full circle.
For now he enjoys seeing where his career will take him, spending time with his family and cooking.
“At this point it’s very less record label, which is why I’m kind of going through what I’m doing,” he said. “The pay[scales] are getting closer, they can get it on iTunes and go tour. So much cheaper, even without huge studios sales. With sales, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if it’s ever going to get better. It’s way different from when I started.”
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.