Gloria Kaba is a Ghanaian-American sound engineer, producer, mixer, and writer whose impact spans over a decade. Renowned for her contributions to albums such as A Tribe Called Quest's We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service and Solange's groundbreaking A Seat at the Table, Gloria has made an indelible mark on the music industry. From her early days as an intern at Battery Studios, to her current role as Technical Director at Power Station at BerkleeNYC, Gloria's journey embodies a relentless pursuit of sonic excellence and collaborating with industry icons while championing emerging talent.
How did you get your start after college?
The first internship I did was at the indie label, 456 Entertainment. I think it was co-owned by Carson Daly at the time. This was in 2003, and I was searching the internet. I'm from North Jersey, and it was an easy commute. I knew that's where everything was happening. I cold emailed and got that internship. The next one I did was a major one through Sony, which ended up getting me my first job. I had applied for an A&R internship, and there were a million applicants. They said, “We think we have all the people we need,” but they were looking at my resume and saw that I was interested in production, and that I had a little bit of experience with software. I was taking recording classes in college. They were like, “Hey, we have a private studio called Battery Studios. We don't actually offer an internship to that studio, but we'll talk to the manager and see if that's something they'd be open to.” The manager at the studio was my first mentor. We got lunch last week.
Were you getting hands-on experience?
Not really. At the indie label, we were passing out flyers, printing copies, and mailing things. At the studio – just like with most studio internships – I was doing similar tasks that a runner would do: Making coffee, wrapping cables, and organizing the studios. But I loved that, because I was around people who were interesting to me, had loads of experience, and who I knew I could learn from. Once I graduated, I started cold calling and emailing studios. I got a call back from Legacy Recording Studios. I was friends with the hiring manager, and I do think that relationship definitely made me stand out there. The manager was very direct and transparent about the type of work and how difficult it is. I was not deterred by any of that. There were a few women on staff, so I didn't feel too out of place. The staff, especially at the lower levels, were super welcoming. I was running for three years and then assisted for another three years, which was a great experience. I got to learn from a lot of people. I took that as an opportunity to absorb everything I could. After six years, I decided to go freelance. A friend of mine from college randomly called me and said, “Hey, Q-Tip is finishing a studio in his house, and his engineer’s looking for another engineer to start assisting and trade off engineering.”
I'm listening to you talk about your life, and I don't know that I believe that there are coincidences.
I definitely believe that. I put that out there.
The traditional studio path still existed then. Do you still see that in New York?
There just aren't many major studios in New York anymore. There are not a lot of opportunities. But there's also this new tier that I'm seeing – especially if you've gone through the major labels – of a Pro Tools “op.” It’s someone who's done the assisting and they've gotten to the point where they're very skilled at running the software in the studio. They might be called in by an engineer to do the more tedious editing. You can make a living by doing that, so there are opportunities. It's also about relationships, but you have to be in the system to get hooked into those.
How'd you get involved with Berklee and Power Station?
A good friend of mine who came up at the same studio had gone on to teach at Berklee Valencia's master's program [in Spain]. He was brought on to help put the [Power Station] project together. The studio was going to remain open for a few years until all the renovation plans were in place, so he needed people who were experienced who he could plug in and run the studio. I was one of the people he called on. I started as an engineer and moved into management as the years went on. I manage the staff, do the scheduling, and work with clients to put together all the details of their session, while also making sure everything on the technical side goes smoothly. It was pretty difficult, coming out of COVID. We're doing these large-scale sessions, and we had to adhere to all these rules about spacing. For a session that could fit in our Studio A, we were often splitting into three different rooms and having to run those sessions simultaneously. We had to be up on our game, as far as video capabilities and staffing. We have three tracking rooms and one mix room. On any given day, we can have all three rooms going at one time. We do a lot of events because of the space.
I noticed there are a lot of women working there. Did you have a hand in that?
I did have a hand in it. We opened in 2021, and I had a heavy hand in hiring. My colleague, Ian Kagey, said, “We're going for a diverse staff.” I'm proud about that. I do make it known to them that we are not representative of the wider industry. People coming right out of school and into Power Station, I think they have this feeling that it's always going to be fair.
Spoil them now, because when they get into leadership positions they're going to know what it's supposed to be. I am such a crazy fan of Solange’s A Seat at the Table. What was that experience like?
That came through Q-Tip. He had been working with Solange for a few years before I came onboard with him. She was at the tail end of the album, and we were in the middle of working on A Tribe Called Quest, finishing up some ideas they had already started. Then the project came out, and we were like, “Oh my god. This is one of the best albums of the last ten years.” It was pretty casual. I remember her recording vocals just on a [Shure SM]57. I remember her picking Q-Tip’s brain, because he has an encyclopedic knowledge of music. I'm really proud that I can say I was a part of that project.
You're stepping into the producer role these days. What's that looking like for you?
It's something I've been doing for the past few years. One of the bigger projects I've done is Nathalie Joachim. She's a classical flautist who also makes electronic music and sings in English and Creole. It was my first project where I got to zoom out and see it as a whole, guiding the artist on arrangements, lyrics, and production ideas. It was a great experience. When I produce for artists, I usually play more roles than producer. It depends on what the project calls for, or what the artist wants me to contribute. For the things I'm creatively involved with, I have no problem engineering it. It's just a natural thing that I slipped into.
I wanted to ask you about your mom. Did her being from Ghana influence you musically?
I don't think it did initially, but when I get into some Afrobeats production I definitely borrow from those sounds I was hearing when I was much younger. I feel I can appreciate it more now, as an adult. Nathalie's Haitian-American. She said that she reached out to me because of my work with Solange, but also because I'm a first generation American and because of something that's going to be in me naturally. It's going to change the way I hear things, and rhythmically, how I can express yourself. I don't see it in an obvious way, but I'm sure it's something that is woven into the fabric! 
