About
Zab Spencer is the professional name of Graham Spencer Carr, music producer, audio engineer, and the founder of Zab Spencer Music.
Born in Trinidad and Tobago and raised partly in Brooklyn, New York, I grew up surrounded by music that does not respect genre boundaries. Trinidad's culture carries African, East Indian, Chinese, French, Spanish and British influences, all of it absorbed into the music. At any given gathering you might hear soca, calypso, hip hop, rock, dancehall and classical music in the same room on the same night. That kind of cultural plurality shapes the way you listen. It instilled early that a good song is a good song, regardless of genre, a principle that has informed every project I have worked on since.
Graham Spencer Carr, Zab Spencer Music, London
My first professional studio experience was at Sir George Martin's Air Studios in London, working with CBS Records' pop-rock band Roachford, the UK's first Black British pop-rock act signed to a major label. I became their keyboard and drum technician, sang on recordings, and toured the world with them for twelve years. The most significant period was the recording of their 1994 album Permanent Shade of Blue at Rockfield Residential Studios in Wales, the studio where Queen recorded Bohemian Rhapsody. I programmed all the keyboards and drums, working directly with producer Gil Norton, who went on to produce the Foo Fighters' The Colour and the Shape. That album became Roachford's most successful release. I received Platinum and Gold discs from Columbia Music. The band ended their run as Columbia's most successful UK signing after twelve years with Sony.
From there the career extended through stage management at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London, working with Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira, jazz icons Ron Carter and Abbey Lincoln, and African legends Miriam Makeba and Papa Wemba. I later became tour manager for British Asian composer Nitin Sawhney during his Beyond Skin tour, which supported Sting across the UK and toured independently through Europe. Five years at the Arts Council of England followed, developing and diversifying the UK music sector from an institutional level.
Then Los Angeles, composing under the Zab Spencer name. I placed original productions with a major Hollywood publishing house and continued composing for film and television sync while tour managing world music artist Natacha Atlas across the US and Canada. In 2011 I remixed her track Taalet for the Mounqaliba-Rising album. DJ Garth Trinidad at KCRW Los Angeles played it on every weeknight show for almost two months. The trailer cue Angel's Mercy, featuring Natacha Atlas on vocals, was licensed for a major online campaign for the cult video game Dark Souls II. Elements of my sound design were licensed for NBC Universal's TV promotional campaign for M. Night Shyamalan's Split, the USA box office number one thriller. That same year I interned at Larrabee Studios in North Hollywood, one of the leading mixing facilities in the world, where I trained alongside some of the finest engineers working in the industry. Learning in that environment, at that pace and at that standard, was an education that no course or qualification can replicate.
Zab Spencer Music is the practice I have been building since those early years in Los Angeles. I mix and master for independent artists across a wide range of genres. The common thread is not the style of the music but the seriousness of the person making it. I work with artists who care deeply about how their music sounds and where it goes.
I have worked in Dolby Atmos since before most independent engineers were thinking about it. In collaboration with engineers at Dolby Laboratories in London, I developed the first Pro Tools template for Steelpan panorama in Dolby Atmos, a project that required mapping the spatial behaviour of the instrument across an immersive audio framework for the first time. We build on that technical foundation with every Atmos project we take on.
I am a Grammy voting member of the Recording Academy and a media advisor to the University of Trinidad and Tobago. My credits are verified through Muso.AI. The numbers are there if you want them. What they represent is thirty years of consistent work, at a consistent standard, across an unusually wide range of contexts.
Every project I take on starts with a conversation. Not because I need to vet anyone, but because good work starts with understanding what the music is, what it needs, and what the artist is trying to achieve. The mix follows from that. It always does.
Credits independently verified by Muso.AI, the industry standard database used by labels, publishers and production companies.
37 million streams across projects. Top 10% of mixing engineers worldwide by streams. Top 10% of mastering engineers worldwide by streams. 128 verified credits, 94% more than the industry average.
Streaming certifications: 2 gold and 7 silver across releasing projects. Physical sales certifications: Platinum and Gold from Columbia Music for work on Roachford's Permanent Shade of Blue.
Grammy voting member, Recording Academy. Class of 2023.
I worked directly with engineers at Dolby Laboratories in London to develop the first Pro Tools template for Steelpan panorama in Dolby Atmos. Dolby Atmos work is finalised at TYX Studios, Tileyard London, a purpose-built Atmos suite with 7.2.4 Neumann monitoring and Audient ORIA immersive audio technology.
I serve as a media advisor to the University of Trinidad and Tobago, a commitment to developing music professionals and infrastructure in the Caribbean region.
Music enhances our emotional engagement. It becomes the backdrop to our life experiences, the soundtrack to moments we carry with us. That is what it is for, and that is what I aim to serve when I work on someone else's music. Not my preferences. Not a house sound. The music itself, and what it is trying to do.
I keep the energy positive in everything I do. I am always aware of the obstacles, in a project, in an industry, in a career, but I choose to focus on the outcome. That orientation tends to produce better work and better working relationships. It also means that when I take on a project, I am genuinely invested in it.
Want to talk about your project?
Every project starts with a conversation. I want to understand what you are making before we talk about anything else. Get in touch and we will take it from there.
Music, Mixing & Mastering for artists | Film & TV, Post production and sound design | Dolby Atmos & Spatial Audio. For music and film
Working with Steelpan music? Visit Steelpan Audio Works, our dedicated practice for Steelpan recording, mixing and mastering. steelpanaudioworks.com
Zab also takes on a small number of advisory and consultancy engagements each year, working with artists, labels, educational institutions and industry organisations on projects that draw on his broader experience. If you have something in mind, get in touch.