Paul Moak (born July 8, 1979) is an American producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist currently residing in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Biography

Paul Greer Moak, III was born in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, on July 8, 1979. He learned music at a young age and began touring and recording with

artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

soon after, primarily as a

session guitarist A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...

but performing on other instruments as well.Discogs.com
''Album credits for Paul Moak as a session musician.''
2002–present. Over the years, Paul began to transition to the roles of producer,

, and mixer.AlbumCredits.com
''AlbumCredits.com Page for Paul Moak''
2002–present. He moved to Nashville, TN in 1998, where he had his first private studio. In early 2004, Paul opened "The Smoakstack" in Nashville with Will Sayles, a 1,760 square-foot recording facility consisting of three tracking rooms and a control room, as well as a lounge, kitchen, and bathroom. The studio used

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

HD 7, with twenty-four inputs/outputs and API/Neve sidecars. Outboard gear consisted of Telefunken, Altec, Neve, dbx and

Ampex Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name ''AMPEX'' is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excell ...

equipment. In 2009, Paul moved his studio to the former Platinum Labs facility in Nashville, re-opening it under the name, "The Smoakstack". Paul has produced, engineered, performed on, and written songs that have been featured on TV shows such as '' One Tree Hill'',''One Tree Hill'' Music
''Season 7, Episode 5 – "Your Cheatin' Heart"''
Original Air Date – December 10, 2009. '' Private Practice'',''Private Practice'' – Music Lounge – ABC.com
''Episode 401: "Take Two"''
. Original Air Date – September 23, 2010. and ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery teen drama television series created by I. Marlene King, which aired on Freeform (TV channel), Freeform from June 8, 2010 to June 27, 2017, based on the novel series Pretty Little L ...

''.''Pretty Little Liars'' – ABC Family Sound Booth
''Episode 121: "Monsters in the End"''
Original Air Date – 3/14/11. Some of Paul's credits include

Mat Kearney Mathew William Kearney (; born December 1, 1978) is an American musician born in Eugene, Oregon, and based in Nashville, Tennessee. So far, he has a total of five top 20 hits on the Adult Top 40 Chart. '' Just Kids'' was released on February 2 ...

Third Day Third Day was a Christian rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia in 1991. The band was founded by lead singer Mac Powell, guitarist Mark Lee (both of whom were the only constant members) and Billy Wilkins. The band's name is a reference to the ...

, The Blind Boys of Alabama,

Martha Wainwright Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. She has released seven critically-acclaimed studio albums. Wainwright is the daughter of musicians Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and the younger si ...

, Monroe/Dabbs, Lovedrug,

Jennifer Knapp Jennifer Lynn Knapp (born April 12, 1974) is an American-Australian folk rock and contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter, author, and LGBTQ advocate. She is best known for her first single "Undo Me" from her Gold-certified debut studio ...

, Matthew Mayfield and Griffin House. On October 19, 2010,

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

recording artists

(Provident/Sony) released their tenth studio album, ''

Move Move or The Move may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Move (company), an American online real estate company * Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer * Daihatsu Move, a Japanese car * PlayStation Move, a motion ...

'', which Paul produced. This album debuted at No 9 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 3 on Billboard's Rock Albums chart, marking Paul's highest-charting production work to date.Billboard.com. "''Move'' – Third Day (Album Info)" As of August 31, 2011, ''Move'' had sold more than 250,000 physical copies. Paul earned his first GRAMMY nomination at the

54th Annual GRAMMY Awards The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted ...

for his work producing, engineering, and co-mixing Leeland's album, '' The Great Awakening'', which was released on September 20, 2011.

The Smoakstack

Relocating his studio to the Berry Hill area of Nashville in 2009, Moak re-opened The Smoakstack at the former Platinum Labs facility, a 3,000 square-foot recording facility designed by recording engineer and studio designer Chris Huston. The control room monitoring was designed and tuned by Carl Tatz using his Phantom Focus System. The Smoakstack comprises a live room ( with ceilings), Control Room (), four isolation booths and a piano room.

Selected discography

House of Heroes House of Heroes is an American alternative rock band from Columbus, Ohio. They have released six albums: ''What You Want Is Now'' (2003), ''House of Heroes'' (2005), ''The End Is Not the End'' (2008), ''Suburba'' (2010), ''Cold Hard Want'' (20 ...

– " Cold Hard Want" (

Gotee Records Gotee Records is a record label of Christian hip-hop, based in Franklin, Tennessee in the United States. History The label was founded in 1994 by TobyMac, Todd Collins and Joey Elwood. The first album produced is Out of Eden's '' Lovin' th ...

) *

– ''Letting Go'' (Greylin Records) * Lovedrug – ''Wild Blood'' (Independent) *

– '' Nothing Left to Lose'' (Sony) *

Seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

– ''Rocks into Rivers'' (EMI CMG); ''The Silent Night EP'' (EMI CMG) *

– ''

'' (Provident/Sony) *

Relient K Relient K () is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and Brian Pittman during their third year in high school and time at Malone University in Canton. The band is named after guitarist ...

– ''

Collapsible Lung ''Collapsible Lung'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Relient K. To date, it is their only album not to be produced or co-produced by Mark Lee Townsend. Background and production In May 2012, the group posted that they were w ...

'' ( Mono vs Stereo) * Green River Ordinance – '' Fifteen'' (Residence Music)

References

External links

*
Razor & Tie Songwriter Page

Dicogs.com Page

AllMusic.com Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moak, Paul Record producers from Mississippi American audio engineers Living people 1979 births