One Watch, One Record: 14-Time GRAMMY® Winner Manny Marroquin
Welcome to our new series, where we sit down with collectors connected to the world of music, and talk about the watches that keep things ticking.
You may not have heard of recording engineer Manny Marroquin, but chances are, you’ve heard his work. Marroquin, who was born in Guatemala in 1971, emigrated with his family to the United States when he was nine years old due to the Guatemalan Civil War. They settled in Los Angeles, where Marroquin enrolled as a student at the Alexander Hamilton High School’s Academy of Music and Performing Arts. There, he was first exposed to the art and science of sound engineering, and he’s never looked back.
Since then, Marroquin has become one of the most sought after sound engineers in the world. He’s worked with a virtual Who’s Who of modern popular music, collaborating with artists like Rihanna, Kanye West, Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Post Malone, John Mayer, Maria Carey, John Legend, Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, and many more. Now 53, Marroquin has been nominated 38 times for GRAMMY® Awards, and is a 14-time GRAMMY® Award Winner, and has as well been awarded four Latin GRAMMY® Awards.
Marroquin’s also a musician in his own right – he began playing drums after hearing Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham’s work on the classic unnamed fourth LZ album known as Led Zeppelin IV, on the song “Black Dog.”
Along the way, Marroquin fell in love with watches. Unlike many watch enthusiasts in the music industry, his tastes in watches reflect his preference for working in the background and avoiding obviously flashy or ostentatious timepieces, but his watch collection is as much a reflection of his quiet pursuit of excellence, as his work at a mixing board.
Our latest new video series, “One Record, One Watch,” looks at music, the folks in the music industry who make things happen, and the watches they love and collect. In our first interview, the 1916 Company’s Tim Mosso recently sat down with Marroquin to talk music, Marroquin’s life and development as a collaborator with some of popular music’s most enduring talents – and watches.
We interviewed Marroquin at Larrabee Studios, the legendary LA recording facility which began as a single small studio on Larrabee Street in 1969 and which has since become one of the world’s greatest centers for music production, with Marroquin as its owner since 2005 (he began working there in 2001). It’s where Michael Jackson recorded “Dangerous,” but the list of its clients is nothing less than a comprehensive roster of dozens upon dozens of world famous names.
We were introduced to Marroquin through Wrensilva, a San Diego-based maker of high end audio consoles, which combine modern analog audiophile stereo systems with vintage style consoles (if you visit The 1916 Company in New York, you can see one of their consoles in our showroom).
In the lounge where Manny and Tim had their conversation, you’ll see in the background one of their signature stereo consoles – an M1 Larrabee Edition. It’s a classic example of mid-century hifi console design, including a storage area for vinyl records, and a great match for Larrabee Studios, which keeps a collection of vintage microphones in its inventory and prides itself on creating the welcoming ambience of “a five star hotel.” (If you’d like to find out more about the M1 and Wrensilva’s other hi fi consoles, check out their full catalog at Wrensilva.com).
This interview is the first in a new series of interviews we’ll be rolling out, which connect music with fine watchmaking and we can’t think of a more distinguished first guest than Marroquin. We hope you enjoy watching the interview as much as we enjoyed producing it, and thanks to Marroquin, Larrabee Studios, and Wrensilva for making it happen.