Meet the Grammy winning mixer and producer who has worked with Adele, Beyonce and Red Hot Chilli Peppers and is a visiting professor at Huddersfield University

“You sort of scoff at awards in your industry, sort of discount them,” reflects Scheps, who is also a record producer. “And then when you’re nominated for one, you really, really want it. Once you actually get one - they’re very clever when they make these trophies because they’re not huge but they weigh enough so that when you get them out of the box you really can’t quite believe it. It still awes me when I see them.”

Awarded in recognition of outstanding achievement in the music industry of the United States, the Grammys are a proud nod to the skill and versatility of Scheps. And yet the awards only hint at his success in a 30-year career, which has seen him work on projects for artists including Beyonce, Metallica, U2 and Johnny Cash.

Growing up on Long Island, New York, Scheps was a musical child, learning, at first, to play the French horn. That was later swapped for the trumpet, and an enjoyment for jazz. “I’d always wished I was in a rock band,” he says. “I wanted to play drums but my mom said no, it’s too loud.”

By the time he reached university-age, Scheps had discovered that record-making was “a thing” and so music engineering became his degree of choice when he left home to study in Miami.

“Normally the route [into the industry] would have been that you would go work at a recording studio at the very bottom of the ladder and work your way up,” he says. “But I got a job with an equipment manufacturer in the same industry.”

It turned out to be a good move, paving the way for him to tour as a technician with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

“At the beginning of your career, that’s a bit insane,” he reflects. “I was there as crew, I wasn’t in the band or anything, I was there to make sure stuff worked but it’s still a pretty good way to see the world.”

With Stevie Wonder, it meant travelling around Europe. “It was pretty amazing and we picked up a local orchestra in every city so each day, they’d rehearse and all these local musicians would sit near the back of the stage playing on Stevie Wonder songs. The English musicians were very well behaved and the Italian ones would just get up and dance. They didn’t play on every song and well Superstition, why wouldn’t you get up and dance?”

After a few years, Scheps went freelance, focusing on making records as a producer and mixer. He also founded his own independent record label. “The industry is very fulfilling if it’s what you want to do,” he says, “but it’s also really difficult, especially now, there are a million recording schools. When I went to college, there were only two college degrees in the United States for recording and now I think pretty much every university has some sort of degree in music technology or music production…There’s a lot of competition. But if you can’t imagine your life without doing it, you have to pursue it.”

The University of Huddersfield is among those offering such degrees and it has recently presented Scheps with an honorary doctorate in recognition of his services to international music engineering.

Scheps first visited circa 2018 to deliver an address on music research and today is a member of the university’s Music and Audio Production (MAP) research group in the School of Computing and Engineering.

Alongside the doctorate, he has been awarded the title of ‘Visiting Professor’ following nomination by lecturer and fellow mixer and producer Dr Mark Mynett, with whom he has been working. They’ve partnered on a project which seeks to define ‘heaviness’ in metal music, with collaborations from some of the genre’s leading producers.

Scheps is tight-lipped on the specifics of what else he’s working on, away from the university, but reveals he’s been doing music mixing for Atmos immersive audio experiences. “It’s something very different and very current,” he says. “And what’s good about it is you can sort of make up your own way of doing it because it’s only been around a few years. Everybody who’s doing it innovates in their own way.”

There’s no typical day for Scheps, who has called the UK his home for seven years after being based in Los Angeles. Much of his work now is at his home alone, where he juggles projects with music megastars with life’s mundanities like mowing the lawn. He’s modest about his success. “I’ve worked with a lot of great artists but also a lot of amazing record makers. I’ve been really fortunate,” he says.

As for having worked with people whose names are known around the world? “In some ways, it’s amazing and awe-inspiring, especially when you’ve been a fan. I was a fan of the Chilli Peppers since probably 1984-1985 and then I got to work with them 20 years later or whatever so that was pretty awe-inspiring.

“But at the same time, while you’re working with these artists, they’re just people in the studio working and so are you. I just treat them like I would anybody, with respect. We’re all there to do a job…and everybody is there because they’re good enough to do what needs to be done.”