Originally living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Cooley was originally a member and keyboardist of Milwaukee bands Wild Kingdom and Citizen King. Cooley moved to Los Angeles to learn recording and production.[5] He worked with producer Eric Valentine, assisting in sessions and eventually moving on to producing on his own. Most notable is Silversun Pickups’ debut and sophomore albums, Carnavas and Swoon. Cooley credits his interest in production and mastering with his interest in the genres of jazz, R&B, hip hop, funk music and collecting vinyl records.[1]
Cooley founded Elysian Masters in 2001. Stones Throw Records gave Cooley his first opportunity in mastering records and he would master all of the label's recordings at the time, including recordings from J Dilla, Peanut Butter Wolf, Madvillan and Madlib.[1][3]
In 2013, Cooley turned his focus completely to mastering, and masters both new releases and archival recordings at Elysian Masters studios in Los Angeles. Some of his notable mastering and remastering credits are Issac Hayes' Shaft, Hot Buttered Soul and Black Moses, Paramore's After Laughter, M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, Wolf Alice's Visions of a Life, Bob Marley's Exodus box set, Madvillain's Madvillainy and J Dilla's Donuts.[1][6]
Cooley is both a member of the AES (Audio Engineering Society) and IASA (International Association of Sound and Visual Archives).
Awards and recognition
Cooley remastered the soundtrack for the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2013.[7][8][9]
He's also mastered Ziggy Marley's Fly Rasta, which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2014 and M83's Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, which was nominated for Best Alternative Album for the 2012 Grammys.[7][8][10]
He also mastered Silversun Pickups' Carnavas (nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy, 2009), Wolf Alice, Visions of a Life (winner, 2018 Mercury Prize) and the soundtrack of Wild Wild Country (winner, Documentary or Nonfiction Series, 2018 Primetime Emmy Awards).[11][12][13]
